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Isaacs Storm

by Erik Larson (Goodreads Author)

4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 · rating details · 13,023 ratings · 1,311 reviews

On September 8, 1900, a massive hurricane slammed into Galveston, Texas. A tidal surge of some four feet in as many seconds inundated the city, while the wind destroyed thousands of buildings. By the time the water and winds subsided, entire streets had disappeared and as many as 10,000 were dead--making this the worst natural disaster in America's history.

In Isaac's Stor

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Published (first published April 28th 1999)

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Sep 17, 2007 Nathan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People who live inland.

Shelves: history, science

Ever want to read a nonfiction tragedy about a presumptive meteorologist? Exactly. Still, Isaac's Storm is an engaging cautionary tale, and one with a bit of relevance for America today. In fact the book is almost foreshadowing in that it was published just a couple of years before Hurricane Katrina. The writing in this book is not nearly as tuned as it is in The Devil in the White City, but Larson is still better at this than nine of ten nonfiction writers. Side note: when Katrina hit, several...more

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Mar 29, 2012 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I became a fan of Erik Larson after reading Devil In The White City. As a bit of a history buff, I love the way he makes you feel as though you are really in whatever time period he is writing about. This book was especially interesting to me because I have been to Galveston and visited the hurricane museum. Since Erik Larson loves to give a lot of background details I had a hard time getting into the book (a problem I also had with Devil in the White City). But once the hurricane started to get...more

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Jan 30, 2008 Phyllis rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Such a great historical account of the Galveston, Tx Hurricane of early 1900s. It was great.

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Jul 10, 2012 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. A non-fiction look at the 1900 hurricane that wiped out Galveston, Texas promised to be interesting history, but I did not expect to be as swept up by it as I was (no pun intended).

The book starts slow with an absurdly detailed description of how a hurricane forms. Eric Larson is a fine writer, but he wasn't always able to convey the weather science in a clear way. His clumsy metaphors in these parts were often more distracting than helpful, like wh...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book but since I read it after Devil in the White City you can't help but compare the two. This book suffers some; one from being an earlier book and two while you can really get a feel for his style already and how he draws you into a real life story as if it's a novel and he displays a tremendous ability to create true life descriptions and characters based on research, journal entries, and other sources such as biographies, it isn't as polished as his current work.

I enjoyed re...more

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Nov 30, 2008 Rachel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Erik Larson delivers every time. He has the rare ability to take historical events and weave together yarns that in the end feel like you're reading a page-turning novel. In "Isaac's Storm" Larson takes us to a thriving seaside city in Texas circa 1900, to a time when people felt they could 'control' nature. He paints the story of how the infamous hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas, on September 8th of that year devastated not just a whole community but also destroyed people's faith in man's ab...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Britt Daniel added it · review of another edition

My great grandfather left Galveston after the 1900 storm and moved to central Texas. He was a lawyer for the Santa Fe Railroad. I lived in Galveston 5 years during medical school and my internship. This book was great, tragic, interesting, sad, illuminating, and detailed. Larson includes a map of destruction at the first of the book and I lived in an area of total destruction in a small garage apartment in 1966. Anyone who ever lived in Galveston knows what happens every time there is a big rain...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Lauri Sholar rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Really more like 3.5, but I'll round up. Another great book by Larsen, this time focused on the great Galveston hurricane of 1900, or Isaac's Storm. Truly a fascinating read, particularly dealing with the politics of weathermen at the time, and the hubris (not unlike now) of the age.

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Feb 02, 2009 Patrick Gibson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: lovers of disaster

Shelves: history, the_apocalypse, truth_sort-of

The Isaac in question is Isaac Cline, a Galveston meteorologist at the turn of the last century who lacked the tools and wherewithal to predict one of the most destructive hurricanes to hit the Americas since record keeping. The author picks a dozen, or so, compelling people to follow as the monster storm builds, approaches then devastates the island. His research is detailed and exact. The writing is concise. The description of the strike is comparable more to a thriller than historical fiction...more

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Apr 13, 2013 Jon Manchester rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, non-fiction, south

This is the true story of a hurricane in 1900 which essentially wiped out Galveston, TX. At the time, Galveston was a significant port and the "Staten Island" of the West. A lot of immigrants entered the U.S. through Galveston and significant wealth accumulated in the town due to shipping. In fact, Galveston was trying to outmaneuver Houston and establish itself as the commercial center of the Southwest. Larson explains how weather forecasting back then was more art than science and the weather...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Richard Sutton rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hubris Meets Devastation & Leaves Us a Warning...

For me, Erik Larson is a sure thing. I try to read something new he's written each year, as it usually helps me in my own occasional research, as his scholarship and approach are incredibly well-conceived. Isaac's Storm, of course is no different. Larson writes historical non-fiction with a voice as rousing and moving as the best fiction. He chooses subjects that illuminate unexpected parts of our culture and our collective consciousness, in u...more Hubris Meets Devastation & Leaves Us a Warning...

For me, Erik Larson is a sure thing. I try to read something new he's written each year, as it usually helps me in my own occasional research, as his scholarship and approach are incredibly well-conceived. Isaac's Storm, of course is no different. Larson writes historical non-fiction with a voice as rousing and moving as the best fiction. He chooses subjects that illuminate unexpected parts of our culture and our collective consciousness, in unique ways.

Following on the recent devastation of parts of Long Island and New Jersey in Sandy's wake, it seemed the right time to read of the terrifying power of nature in the storm that laid waste Galveston, TX on the eve of the Twentieth Century. Larson meets the challenge of describing that heady time and the prevailing attitudes of the day in such clarity that the post-storm emptiness and confusion, resounded in my heart. I was equally repelled, terrified and deeply moved as the story of one man and the beginnings of the US Weather Service becomes a tragedy of unparalleled scope. It was a fast read, and one where I actually enjoyed reviewing and reading his footnotes and comments after completion.

Larson also touches briefly, on the fact that just as Americans felt they had harnessed nature to their own ends in 1900, we are also lulled into complacency today, as huge homes are built in barrier island communities all along our shores. His conclusion should stand as a powerful warning. But there are other warnings to be aware of.

My family and I used to have a favorite anchorage, to enjoy a weekend aboard. It lay in the wide, still harbor off of Watch Hill, RI. One day, walking ashore there, I chanced upon a monument to the losses of Napatree in the 1938 hurricane. I learned that a medium sized, shore community had once stood where, today, only a long sand strand of several miles remains. And the harbor we once enjoyed anchoring in so much? It became the grave of the entire town and many of its residents when the 1938 storm swept it clean. We need to keep their memory alive, and the memory of the lives lost in Galveston so that we might learn to respect what can happen when a weather pattern forms off West Africa at the end of Summer. Satellites images and computer-modeled storm forecasts can't save us if we tempt fate. No one can be that lucky forever. (less)

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Mar 22, 2013 Jenn M rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Isaac's storm was a good read. The author Erik Larson did a great job of weaving together the information from various sources to illustrate the life of Isaac, the US Weather meteorologist stationed on Galveston Island during the 1900 Hurricane that devastated the Texas gulf coast with large loss of life. Weather forecasting and prediction was in its infancy at this time; hurricane prediction was virtually non-existent...no storm tracking planes, Doppler radar, continuous 24-hour coverage from m...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson is a book that chronicles the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. It can be divided into three main sections: a background of the United States Weather Bureau, the occurrence of the storm, and the recovery of the town. While parts of this book seem to drag on, in the end it is a good book. Many people and accounts were taken into consideration when this book was written. While this helps to support the main point, I often found myself confused as to who the author was refe...more Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson is a book that chronicles the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. It can be divided into three main sections: a background of the United States Weather Bureau, the occurrence of the storm, and the recovery of the town. While parts of this book seem to drag on, in the end it is a good book. Many people and accounts were taken into consideration when this book was written. While this helps to support the main point, I often found myself confused as to who the author was referring to. However, the fact that he includes so many tragic accounts helps in proving how devastating this storm truly was. In a way, Larson’s constant jumping from person to person could also signify the confusion the residents of Galveston were going through throughout the storm.
While the personal stories covering the time of the storm were very interesting, I feel that Larson spent too much time before its occurrence talking about how the Bureau operated. In some aspects, it helped to know that it always told their workers to undercompensate, helping lead to the complete surprise of the hurricane. Despite this, the readers probably do not need to know how a barometer works and all the ins and outs of weather forecasting. I feel that this time would’ve been better devoted to the time and recovery after the storm which, in the book, seemed to be lacking. Larson mostly stuck to telling about the time immediately after the storm. He didn’t mention much about the long terms effects it had on the Weather Bureau, who could’ve helped lessen the effects of this storm had they not withheld and blocked information.
Isaac’s Storm tended to focus too much on how the Weather Bureau worked and not enough on the aftereffects of the hurricane. It also went back and forth between many people, leading to confusion. Despite these things, the accounts were interesting and well written, and the amount of evidence Larson was able to accumulate really helps to show how awful this disturbance was. After consideration of all this, the good things about this book heavily outweigh the bad, with a bit more organization it would’ve easily gotten a five star rating.
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Nov 13, 2012 Christine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hs-ap-adult, adult, non-fiction

This is a non-fiction about the hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900 and killed 8,000+ people. It is also about how Meteorology and the National Weather Service came into existence. Before I start criticizing, let me begin by saying I would definitely recommend the book. It is fascinating stuff. I found it very interesting reading once you get past the first 50 pages.

I have spent many weekends in Galveston. I attended the Historical Homes Tour several years running and have been in some of the...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Sheleen Addison rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was an amazing coincidence to pick this book up and start reading before the occurrence of Hurricane Sandy. Reading the book and then following the news on all that was going on in New York and the Eastern Seaboard was like jumping from one era to another and made me keep checking my atlas to see the whereabouts of the various places mentioned.
Living in the middle of Africa we don't experience storms like this but I have always been interested in the weather phenomena. The extremes and forces...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Karen Glass rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While sitting in Coney Island during Hurricane Sandy, I read Isaac's Storm by the light of a candle.. The flickering light and the howling 75 mph winds added an incredible sense of reality to the story of the Galveston Hurricane of Sept. 9, 1900. It was also a story of the beginning of the U.S. Weather Bureau and the early science of forecasting weather.

I was taken by the sense of “optimism” facing the hurricane. It was impossible for many to believe a hurricane would hit Galveston; there was a...more

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Oct 12, 2012 Evan Finder rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Issac's Storm is a great book. It takes place in 1900s Galveston, Texas. The protagonist is Issac Cline.Issac Cline is a resident meteorologist of the U.S. Weather Bureau. He attempts to find the meaning of several storms, when America is hit bay a massive hurricane.
This story tells about the troubles that storms cause, the consequence of arrogance, and has a thrust for adventure. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a thrilling adventure. It has much to say about the massive hurrica...more

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Sep 25, 2012 John Frazier rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Once again author Erik Larson has chosen some really esoteric--and fascinating--subject material (although this was written before the other Larson efforts I've read).

Isaac Cline is the resident meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau, stationed on the coastal island of Galveston, Texas in 1900, when the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history puts the sea-level community squarely in its sights. The only problem is that Cline and his fellow weather geeks are hamstrung by the limits of forecasting...more Once again author Erik Larson has chosen some really esoteric--and fascinating--subject material (although this was written before the other Larson efforts I've read).

Isaac Cline is the resident meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau, stationed on the coastal island of Galveston, Texas in 1900, when the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history puts the sea-level community squarely in its sights. The only problem is that Cline and his fellow weather geeks are hamstrung by the limits of forecasting and technology to recognize it with sufficient warning to prevent a catastrophe of nearly unfathomable consequences. Worse yet, by the time Cline and others realize what's hit them, thousands have literally been left in its wake.

Although we're told the outcome on the book's front cover, Larson manages instill ample drama through a tremendous amount of research that lays the backstory for Cline, the Weather Bureau and many of the thousands of Galveston residents who literally lived at the edge of fate and disaster. There had been hurricanes--enough to sound a few alarms when the nascent tropical storm passed over Cuba on its way west. Enough to make prognosticators believe that once it skirted the southern tip of Florida it would gradually wend its way back to the northeast and back out over the Atlantic again.

Obviously, they were all deadly wrong. In his typically fluid style, Larson moves us along at a clip even faster than the Category 5 hurricane that lays waste to all manner of persons and property in its path. Along the way we not only become invested in Cline, but in the stories of his Galveston neighbors and businessmen, virtually all of whom were operating with even less foresight than he. The one flaw in this story is a supposed conflict between Cline and his brother, who also worked for the Weather Bureau. Though Larson alludes to possible differences and jealousy between the two (as though this could've somehow impacted the outcome of the story), it's never really substantiated and, ultimately, makes little difference in this real life horror story.

Notwithstanding the 100-years plus of technological advances that now enable meteorologists to track hurricanes minute-by-minute and with amazing accuracy, I have one piece of advice for anyone contemplating a move to Galveston or any other coastal community: Read this book first. If that isn't warning enough, stay tuned.

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Aug 13, 2012 Justin Offermann rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: history buffs; weather buffs; general reading public

Shelves: history, non-fiction, history-american, history-modern

I picked this book up largely based on my previous enjoyment of Larson's Devil in the White City and In the Garden of Beasts. I actually found the first third or so a bit dry, even tedious, but it really picks up as the storm itself approaches and by the time it lands to wreak its devastation I couldn't put it down.

It's a story of nature's vast capacity for violence and man's equally vast capacity for hubris in the face of it. Isaac Cline, a meteorologist heading the Galveston, TX station for...more

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Jun 20, 2012 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

If you happen to read my reviews on a regular basis, then you should probably be familiar with the fact that I love to read books about disasters. I think that there are few things in this world more fascinating than the sets of various circumstances that lead to something going horribly wrong.

Isaac's Storm is an accounting of the September 18, 1900 hurricane that devastated the city of Galveston, TX. To date, it remains the deadliest natural disaster ever to strike the United States. Larson - p...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Mark Fortner rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As frequent visitors to Galveston, my wife and I had occasion to visit the Great Storm museum that tells the story of the deadliest hurricane in history and how it destroyed the city of Galveston. I had heard that after the hurricane leveled the city, that the city was raised to a height sufficient to insure that it could never be wiped out again. We ourselves had lived through two hurricanes in Houston, but none of them compared to ferocity of this storm. What didn't know was the story of the C...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Marc Weitz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Readers of Erik Larson's other books will know what to expect from this: a well-written, informative, and dramatic narrative non-fiction. This book chronicles the events and people who were part of the 1900 hurricane that devastated Galveston, Texas. Like his other books, this book too follows two converging stories. One story is the hurricane and hurricanes in general: their history, their science, and those outside of Galveston who failed the people so greatly. The second story is the people i...more

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Apr 17, 2012 Kurt Porter rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History gives the reader an insight into the Galveston hurricane of 1900. It explores the storms development, to the death and destruction it caused on its path in to history as the deadliest hurricane to ever hit the United Sates. Using historical records, journals, and eyewitness accounts, the book illustrates how hurricanes where perceived at the time, and why the hurricane of 1900 was so deadly. Isaac's Storm demonstrates the scien...more Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History gives the reader an insight into the Galveston hurricane of 1900. It explores the storms development, to the death and destruction it caused on its path in to history as the deadliest hurricane to ever hit the United Sates. Using historical records, journals, and eyewitness accounts, the book illustrates how hurricanes where perceived at the time, and why the hurricane of 1900 was so deadly. Isaac's Storm demonstrates the scientific community and the countries hubris at the time by believing that they knew all there was to know about their world, and that any aberrance from this was purely coincidental.
Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History was written by Eric Larson who is known for his work in non-fiction. Larson grew up in Freeport, Long Island during the hurricane prone years of the late nineteen fifties and sixties, which makes him the perfect author to write a book on the Galveston hurricane of 1900. He studied Russian history at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated summa cum laude in 1976. Later Larson attended the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, graduating in 1978. His first job was writing for The Bucks Country Courier Times in Levittown, Pennsylvania covering such subjects as murders and witches. Larson then began writing for various newspapers and various national magazines, including The New Yorker, Harper's and Atlantic Monthly. Larson has taught non-fiction writing at San Francisco State University, Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, and the University of Oregon. Larson learned of the 1900 hurricane while doing research on a murder and was instantly interested. Through that interest, he was compelled to write Isaac's Storm to inform people of the hurricane. He currently lives in Seattle with his wife, three daughters, and an assortment of pets.
In Isaac's Storm, Larson is attempting to demonstrate how in the early part of twentieth century man’s hubris lead them to believe that they knew all there was to be known about science, hurricanes, and the natural world. In addition, he attempted to demonstrate that man’s hubris was one of the major contributing factors to why the Galveston hurricane of 1900 was so destructive and deadly. Larson illustrates how the people of Galveston had become complacent and believed that a major hurricane would most likely never hit the island. Their hubris is demonstrated by the fact that they had approved the construction of a seawall, but the seawall had never been built due to complacency, and their refusal to believe a storm could greatly damage the city. The book demonstrates how the Weather Bureau believed that they were the only people with enough knowledge to predict a hurricane, the path it would follow, and that they believed that they knew everything there was to know about hurricanes. Larson demonstrated this several time throughout the book how the weather bureau had an over abundance of confidence by their banning of telegraph messages from Cuban weather officials who were declaring a hurricane, and later by refusing to raise storm flags even when they knew the storm had not followed the weather bureau’s predicted path. Then Isaac Cline’s hubris becomes evident in his studies and adventures showing he had learned all there was about to know about the science of meteorology. After all he had witnessed such things as streams of frozen fish, and hail the size of a full grown man’s fist he was lead to believe that he had seen all that the natural world could throw at him. It was through these experiences that he believed he had gained an understanding of how the weather worked that no one else had or could understand. This understanding guided him in his predictions about the Galveston hurricane of 1900, which resulted with total inaccuracy. Larson Indicates that hubris of the early twentieth century lead to the great tragedy which ended up costing many people including Isaac Cline a great deal and made the Galveston hurricane the most deadly in United States history.
Larson does an excellent job of presenting the events that leading up to, during, and the aftermath of the storm in comprehensive informal manner. Anyone interested in the event surrounding the storm of 1900 may read the book and be able to appreciate the storms historical impact. Occasionally, the book seems a bit slow, but due to the use of detail and eyewitness events, the reader becomes fascinated and may feel as if they were there. For the most part of the book, Larson presents the event in an easy to follow narrative. Throughout the book, the author does place a negative bias towards the Weather Bureau, but this seems justifiable due to their pomposity leading up to the events, which in the end costs thousands of people their lives. There are some inconsistencies mainly surround Isaac Cline accounts including the question: Did he ride his buggy up and down the beach warning curious on lookers to leave and seek refuge, and there for save hundreds maybe even thousands of lives, or is this a veneer that Isaac applied in the following years?. We will never truly know. Larson’s primary source for Isaac's Storm was the Rosenberg Library located in Galveston with over 4,000 photographs, hundreds of letters, personal accounts of the storm, and an extremely detailed map of Galveston in 1899. Secondary sources include the archives of the Weather Bureau at the Archive Annex located outside of Washington, the Library of Congress, and Isaac’s memoir Storms, Floods, and Sunshine, which did not give an insight into Isaac, but did give him an insight into the mindset of early twentieth century Americans.
Ari Kelman an Associate Professor of History, University of California Davis, best known for his work in the fields of Historical Memory, The Built Environment, and US Environmental History said about Isaacs’s Storm “tension builds in a violent crescendo; people of character, later called heroes, emerge; villains are unmasked.” Larson shows the reader who these heroes and villains are, and the role they played in the history of the hurricane of 1900. Kelman goes on to say “These are the building blocks of gripping narrative.” Larson uses these “building blocks” quite well, keeping the reader interested, and anxious to see what will happen on the next page. (Reviews in American History, 34, June 2006, 222-230)
In conclusion, Larson demonstrates to the reader how the hubris of man in the early twentieth century played a major role in making the Galveston hurricane of 1900 much deadlier than it should have been. Larson shows the reader how this hubris affected the decisions made both good, and bad, and how they changed the lives of those who lived through the storm, and the lasting effects that the hurricane of 1900 had not only on Galveston, but the nation.

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Jun 24, 2011 Jon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book and author were highly recommended to me by a friend. I had never heard of Erik Larson, but after the recommendation, suddenly his name seemed to pop up everywhere, highly praised for a number of books. This one is the meticulously researched story of the hurricane that destroyed Galveston in 1900. It is without doubt an exciting page-turner with a lot of vividly described detail not only about the storm, but about everyday life in America in 1900. It has a large cast of characters, mo...more

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May 30, 2011 Spencer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

This book tells the story of the deadliest natural disaster to ever hit the US and the weatherman, Isaac, who failed to forecast it. In the Fall of 1900, a monstrous hurricane hit Galveston, Texas, completely inundating the city with water and killing between 6,000 and 10,000 people. The water level in the city rose 30-40 feet high and, along with winds between 150-200 mph, wiped out most of the city. There was little to no advance warning of the coming storm, but it wasn't so much because of th...more

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Apr 25, 2011 Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, bookcrossing

This book reminded me of Fastnet, Force 10 - just a storm close to the South coast of Ireland, where the storm caused dozens of people to die in a boat race 30 years ago. It's very close to my favorite spot of Ireland, Cape Clear, where one needs to go with a ferry, and where if the weather is really bad there is no way in or out. But there... people know the sea is stronger than the man. Houses are built on higher ground, making it more tsunami proof too than Kinsale (where a tsunami around a h...more This book reminded me of Fastnet, Force 10 - just a storm close to the South coast of Ireland, where the storm caused dozens of people to die in a boat race 30 years ago. It's very close to my favorite spot of Ireland, Cape Clear, where one needs to go with a ferry, and where if the weather is really bad there is no way in or out. But there... people know the sea is stronger than the man. Houses are built on higher ground, making it more tsunami proof too than Kinsale (where a tsunami around a hundred years ago caused massive damage). If it's a bad weather, you stay out of the sea. Man is smaller than the sea.

I did enjoy the book, and the style it was written. It seemed a bit slow first, but I think building the story was needed, as so many things were different back then. The crescendo worked well.
How the weather forecasts were made, how the communication between the weather stations happened, the weather forecast politics...
I liked the detailed descriptions of the time - it's too easy to forget how slow the communications were back in those days, decades before the internet, and before airplanes or helicopters were able to help people in need of quick help. Galveston in 1900 seemed like an awesome city; perfect weather most year, beach, hotels, big things happening there, and a growing, multiethnic city in Texas. In America, where a man can do anything, from business to conquering the nature.

I liked some parts of Isaac (doing his job properly), but I hate his not admitting his incompetence and mistakes (for a man in any other profession except kind of responsible for the weather safety in a coastal city prone to tropical storm outcasts it would have been excusable not to recognize the coming storm). Like when he tries to cover his actions by telling how he warned thousands of people when he clearly did not. (If he would have warned those thousands of people in that morning, would more of them have survived? I think so, even if it seems unlikely they would have been able to get out of Galveston island). Or I guess I'd have liked Isaac more if simply would have admitted that he did not see the storm coming that strong, and NOT lied about things he didn't do.

Now, while writing this (not when reading the book), I suddenly remember my last days of living in Cork in 2009. It wasn't a tropical storm or a tsunami, but it was raining for a week, and downtown had in some (streets) areas over 10 feet of water, Cork having its worst floods in 800 years. On my last day of work, I was ready to catch the usual bus, on the South side of the river, but the traffic was cut, and I couldn't pass the river. The water was too high, and where I should have gone to catch the bus, the road was a river. After insane acrobatics to get to the other side of the city, having to cross the river, finally in the afternoon we made it. And then the flood caused the city's water to have to be cut. Brown water had mixed with the tap water in the water treatment plant, causing Cork to be out of water for 10 days (boy I'm glad we flew out of Dublin so at least I could get here fresh). - But the Cork experiences would make another interesting book, even if there weren't lives lost.

It's not just Cork, Kinsale, or some other city with the arrogance of man being stronger than the sea or nature. I could add Naples and Salento (both close to Vesuvio, which also killed Pompeii 2000 years ago - I don't mind living close to areas prone to hurricanes or earthquakes, but I'd be scared to live in Naples because of Vesuvio), Thailand (tsunami 2004), New Orleans (2005), Japan (2011, tsunamis and earthquakes) and many more places on the list. How prepared can you be? How prepared should you be? Galveston is every few on the path of some major hurricanes, so how should it be built different? At least now there is the sea wall, but I'd look at how the cities are and have been built in Cuba, and in the Caribbean in general. How can they be built stronger, or in a way to minimize the loss of human lives in a deadly storm? What is an acceptable risk for rebuilding a city in a place where it'll likely be hit by a tornado or a volcano in the next X years?

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Mar 18, 2011 Lori L (She Treads Softly) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Both my adult son and I would put Erik Larson's Isaac's Storm on our lists of top nonfiction books that everyone should read. We often refer to it in conversations. Not only is it about the devastating hurricane that hit Galveston in 1900, but all of the mistakes made that prevented any prediction of a hurricane. It's a brief history of weather forecasting. It's about how hubris and ambition can sometimes prevent accurate gathering of data. It's about how the combination of personalities in the...more

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Feb 17, 2011 Charmaine Anderson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Some books have so much educational value that it’s a plus when they also entertain, which was so with “Isaac’s Storm.” This book was somewhat of a documentary told in a sparkling way so that it felt like a novel. Erik Larson tells the story from 3 fronts even though they intertwine as the story moves along:

1. Isaac Cline’s life is developed from beginning to end as a weatherman, a medical student, a scientist, a Sunday School teacher and a family man. He was highly motivated, and even driven in...more

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Nov 15, 2010 Frank Elliott rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a engrossing and deeply tragic book. It is all about the devastating Galveston Hurricane on September 8, 1900. At that time, there was no advanced warning for hurricanes and no regional weather to focus on nearby multiple state forecasting. Meteorology was a new science. Tens of thousands of lives would have been saved with just a couple of days advanced warning. There was none because all weather related activities came out of Washington D.C. People did not move out of Galveston in tim...more This was a engrossing and deeply tragic book. It is all about the devastating Galveston Hurricane on September 8, 1900. At that time, there was no advanced warning for hurricanes and no regional weather to focus on nearby multiple state forecasting. Meteorology was a new science. Tens of thousands of lives would have been saved with just a couple of days advanced warning. There was none because all weather related activities came out of Washington D.C. People did not move out of Galveston in time and the city was destroyed by storm surge that was higher than two story buildings. Because of the disaster, the National Weather Service was firmly established and regional weather bureaus were started. Isaac Cline is generally recognized as the person who did this. The book is not a boring recount of facts and dry material, but tells the story of some of the many lives destroyed.

The book centers itself around the life of Isaac Cline, a weatherman. He was the first person to establish reliable frost forecasts, but like almost all people of his time, did not understand hurricanes. They could only be understood well later with new technology and new scientific understanding. This was a time before aviation and photography/film was just in its infancy. The wonderful retelling of the tale of the Great Hurricane is embedded in the culture of the early twentieth century. There is quite a bit of thinking about what might have happened if only there was more communication with nearby areas in the Caribbean. Engineering Schools were first being established and beginning to separate themselves a little from agricultural engineering, but this was way before the separation of science into many scientific specialties of today. The findings of many new sciences were finding their way into the discourse of educated people. Unfortunately, communication was still extremely primitive. Their were no radio's or radio stations. There were no telephones or instant communications to share many sentences or much detailed information. For rapid communication, we had only the telegraph. It was used for brief, very truncated communications. Mr. Isaac Cline had downplayed the idea that a hurricane could ever overwhelm Galveston and no break wall had been built around Galveston.

I loved this book because it is a story with keen lessons even for us today. Think of all the lives that were lost in Katrina in 2005. People had been warning about that potential disaster for many years. There were warnings several days in advance that this might well be a catastrophic storm. Unfortunately New Orleans lower areas were not evacuated. Isaac's Storm is a book about learning lessons from a disaster and then taking action based on the new sciences. We as a society would do well today to revisit what happened in Galveston. In 1900 people learned and adapted. We were not a polarized society and regarded science and learning very highly. Today we polarize issues such as oil well safety or climactic change and there is little or no adaptation to show that our society has learned important lessons. Read Isaac's Storm or listen to it in an audio book. It will keep your attention and if you are like me, introduce you to critical thinking. What did they believe wrongly that led to this storm becoming a disaster? How did the people involved act in counterproductive ways? How would you have acted differently and why? (less)

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Sep 09, 2010 Julie Ekkers rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-ficition

This book is about the hurricane that decimated Galveston, Texas in 1900. There's quite a bit of science in it, but it's pretty accessible. There's also quite a bit of history about Galveston of course, but also the Weather Bureau in its infancy and weather forecasting, also in its infancy at that time. The later chapters detailing the storm surge and the aftermath are particularly good (and harrowing). Very blunt, sort of just-the-facts writing, which suits that material perfectly. Some of the...more

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About Erik Larson

Erik Larson, author of the international bestseller Isaac's Storm, was nominated for a National Book Award for The Devil in the White City. He is a former features writer for The Wall Street Journal and Time magazine, where he is still a contributing writer. His magazine stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's and other publications.

Larson has taught non-fiction wri...more

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Books by Erik Larson

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

The Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities

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