SCPL Online NonFiction Book Club discussion

If you've had the chance to look into the first few chapters of The Man who Caught the Storm, I'd love to find out what your first impressions are!

When you picked up the book, how did you think it would read? Like a weather advisory or a text book or a biography?

Personally, I find it's a mix of all three! The initial story in the prologue about the catastrophic events that happened in Jarrell, Texas immediately caught my attention and alerted me to the seriousness of the tornado season in the American mid-west. The fact that tornadoes alone claim, on average, the lives of 80 people every year is staggering. The fact that these storms killed 316 people in a single day in 2011 was a number that was difficult to grasp.

Don't get me wrong, I realize that there are other natural disasters that have claimed more lives than this - the recent earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia being the most devastating of late.

Tornadoes, however, are natural disasters that are arguably the most unpredictable of severe storms. Scientists, meteorologists and tornado chasers still do not know what makes a weak tornado strong and what storms will produce tornadoes and which ones will not. All these unanswered questions are the reasoning behind why Tim Samaras became a tornado chaser. He was in awe of severe weather and understood the mortal impact these storms could have on innocent townspeople, like those in Jarrell and any other town or city that was unfortunate enough to be in the tornado's path.

Let me know your opinions of the book so far and what you're hoping to find out!

When I first started reading this book it caught my interest right from the beginning. I was a bit worried it might be too technical for me since my background is in the humanities but it read like a narrative. I'd heard about Tim Samaras on the weather network and wanted to learn more about his work. He was a fascinating person. It was really interesting to learn how he got involved in storm chasing.

Hi Julie, thanks so much for your comments!

I completely agree with you. My background is in history and anything from the 500's in the library makes a little bit nervous to read. (Although I had a strange interest in meteorology when I was a kid and, if math and I were better friends, I might have gone in that direction!)

Brantley Hargrove definitely writes this book as a story to be told rather than a weather professional's textbook. (He's also written a few other severe weather tales - I'm kind of excited to get my hands on those!) Granted, there is some terminology in the book that does seem overwhelming at times, but it is important to include in order to understand both Tim's passion for tornadoes and the scientific progress towards understanding them better.

I agree as well that the story behind Tim's beginnings in storm chasing is quite remarkable. The fact that he was a ham radio operator at age 12 was quite telling for the things to come!

I'm finally getting started on this book and I'm really enjoying it. This is another great example of why I love this bookclub. I would never have picked this book up on my own but I know it will be one that I will remember for a long time. I'm liking the way the author ties personal details of Samaras (who I hadn't heard of before) with the accounts of devastating storms and the technical details of this weather phenomenon. I look forward to learning more about Samaras and tornadoes!

Hi Marcella!

I am about 3 discs in on the audiobook version, and I am loving it so far! I will admit that some of the technical jargon is a bit outside my scope (I'm another with a humanities background), but that isn't spoiling my enjoyment of the story one bit. The writing is fantastic - as you and Julie both mentioned, the author really knows how to engage a reader right from the start. I do have an interest in weather, but like Heidi, I probably wouldn't have picked this one up on my own. So thanks for picking another good one :D

Thank you so much for your excellent feedback Heidi and Diana! Book clubs are all about breaking through personal preferences and generating a new genre! But you're right, it's all in the way that the author tells the story (even if there is scientific jargon) and Brantley Hargrove definitely accomplishes this.

I hope you both continue to enjoy the book!

~Marcella

SCPL wrote: "Hi Julie, thanks so much for your comments!

I completely agree with you. My background is in history and anything from the 500's in the library makes a little bit nervous to read. (Although I had..."

I feel the same way! If i could do math i would have considered something more scientific as well :)