Tornado Alley: Monster Storms of the Great Plains

After searching and searching and searching, never finding the technical descriptions of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms that I wanted, I finally decided to check this book out after reading Sean Pratt's customer review on March 11, 2001. I was so excited about what I had heard that I had the book shipped Next Day Air. I'll tell you what, that extra fourteen dollars was well worth it! Never have I found a book that I thought to be so informative, descriptive, well illustrated and gorgeous photos. If I could have, I'd have given this book six stars instead of five!No, this book is not for someone who wants to just look at pictures and not care on how storms and tornadoes develop, the history of warning systems, etc. This book is for the serious storm enthusiasts. This book is actually better than I thought it would be. After purchasing other books on tornadoes, they mostly show pretty pictures of the different types of tornadoes or pretty pictures of supercells... Nuh-uh. Not this book. Although some of those pretty pictures are still there, there are far more charts, diagrams and tables to be relied upon."Tornado Alley" also concentrates highly upon the history of weather services, from the first tornado warning (hey, I did know that the first tornado warning went out over 50 years ago, but I DIDN'T know that it was private and not allowed to go public. Saying tornado on the television was like cussing!), to TOTO (the real DOROTHY from Twister), I just can't tell you everything there is to this book. It's simply unbelievable, that a book like this made it into my hands.I cannot stress enough on how scientific this book is compared to what some people would believe to be cool. It'll take you into serious depths of storm development, etc. You just really have to have it. This book has not earned a place on my bookshelf, however, it has earned a place next to my bed. Don't wait, get it today! You won't be let down if you want more than pretty pictures!~Natalie Kilpatrick

I've had an avid interest in meteorology since I was a small child, and my bookcase is full of various weather-related books. However, Howard Bluestein's "Tornado Alley: Monster Storms of the Great Plains" is among my most favorite. While, it's more on the technical side of the topic, it still provides easily understood diagrams and stories about the tremendous storms in the midwest US.Howard Bluestein, a professor at Oklahoma University, is a very experienced and highly regarded severe weather expert. This book definitely does his work and research justice as he walks you through information and stories regarding his experiences. Inserted among the stories are detailed photographs and diagrams, which are displayed in excellent quality. All of the information is technically accurate and it offers a plethora of knowledge about the subject of severe weather and the discipline needed to accomplish the task of researching it in the field. As the book progresses, he slowly eases the reader into the more technical information, so you don't seem deluged by intricate terminology and equations.Overall, this book is extremely helpful for most people. While it may not be suited to those just beginning to learn about meteorology, it is a great source of information for most people who hold an interest. I highly reccommend this book to anyone looking to expand their weather reference collection.

Prof Bluestein is someone whom I have admired a lot as a meteorologist and a storm chaser. So naturally, I expected equally much from this book. And he has met my expectations. With few books available on the market by storm chasers themselves, especially in Singapore, such books are not cheap. But this one is really worth a buy, not only to keep as a reference (or to make your bookshelf look pretty), but also for many more enjoyable reads. Though a bit technical, I could understand most of the text. Up-to-date, detailed, serious but interesting. And the beautiful, stunning photos were a bonus. Though the layout was a little clumsy in presenting pictures and dense text, the content still stands out. Unlike Faidley's more graphic 'Storm Chaser', it concentrates more on the scientific, technical part of severe storms and depicts storm chasing (more realistically) as a demanding, stressful, mostly boring but fulfilling hobby and not as a journalist's joyride.

Prof. Bluestein has managed to provide both a sense of the thrill of tornado chasing and a superb treatment of the science issues in the operational and research aspects of tornado understanding. Persons can read the book purely for the "thrill" aspects (and be totally awed by the stunning photographs) and/or can be drawn into this wonderful encapsulization of how the scientific method is yielding "fruit" with respect to our comprehension of supercells and tornadoes. I am using this book in my present non-majors "disasters" class and intend to use it as supplementary reading in my Severe Weather Seminar. I have been chasing since 1985 and know Howie well. Congratulations on an excellent contribution.