1994. 250 pp, ills. This story of Hurricane Andrew that devastated Florida in 1992, plus other great hurricanes of the past, will certainly enthrall anyone interested in this most violent of nature's forces. Hardcover. <P>
The author will get few arguments that the scariest place is directly in the path of an onrushing Category 5 hurricane. Fisher ( Fire and Ice ), chairman of the department of marine geology and geophysics at Florida's University of Miami, gives a lucid, detailed, scientific explanation of hurricanes--what they are, how they form and wreak havoc and how we might modify or avoid them. Interspersed is an account of his experiences during Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
<P>Hurricanes occur only in the Atlantic Ocean (typhoons in the Pacific) and are characterized by counterclockwise rotation. Fisher notes that Army and Navy pilots who pioneered in tracking hurricanes laid the foundation for modern understanding of the storms. Examining forecasting and current research, he also observes an increasing potential for more frequent hurricanes. Illustrations. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. <P>From Library Journal<P>Fisher (geophysics, Univ. of Miami) is the author of nine previous nonfiction books on geology and cosmology and seven novels. He is also a Dade County homeowner whose house was directly in the path of Hurricane Andrew's heaviest winds. His lively firsthand account of the 1992 hurricane that devastated south Florida and Louisiana offers readers a historical overview, a simple but comprehensive description of the known meteorological and physical processes that govern hurricanes, and commentary on the ineffective enforcement of building codes and mishandled disaster relief response by local and federal bureaucracies.<P>
Readers will identify with Fisher's hour-by-hour description of his wild night of worry during the peak of the storm: Will the patio doors be sucked out of their tracks by the low pressure? Will the turbine fans be blown off the roof? Will flying debris be thrown through vulnerable windows?
