Published by Dennis Dobson, 1962, Hardback in Dust Wrapper. 1st Ed.
Condition: Good in Good Dust Wrapper. Ex-library with usual marks, numerals to the spine, pocket to the pastedown, slip to the ffep, stamp to the reverse of the title page. Edges of the text block lightly spotted. Previous owners’ inscription to the first blank which has the top corner clipped. Text complete, clean and tight.
First British Edition. [First Published: Viking, 1960] From the cover: The thunderstorm is natures most powerful and complex manifestation. Even its dimensions are outsize, writes Thelma Harrington Bell. The storm cloud may tower above the earth to a height of from six to ten miles, making the tallest mountain look small by comparison. As it moves over the land, a single thunderstorm can cover sixty square miles with its dark canopy.
Here is the complete story of this exciting exhibition of weather, from the early superstitions, when it was believed that gods rode the storm and held the dreaded flaming bolt of white fire under their control, to modern times, when large manufacturers of electrical equipment are creating man-made lightning in high-voltage laboratories to study lightnings habits.
There is a detailed description of the building of a thunderhead one of the round, swelling masses of cumulus clouds which appear above the horizon when conditions are right for thunderstorms, and frequently develop into thunderclouds with easily understood diagrams so that the reader can see what is going on. There are fascinating accounts of men who have flown inside the churning cloud-shafts of a thunder-head and lived to tell the story, which has added to our knowledge of these clouds.
Lightning conductors; fulgurites; how to avoid the damages of lightning; and good, bad, and curious characteristics of thunderstorms are some of the other subjects considered in this comprehensive book.
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