Man vs. Weather: Be Your Own Weatherman

by Dennis DiClaudio

Book Overview

A humorous and practical guide to the history and science of understanding the weather, including how to build your own barometer

For as long as man has walked upon this earth, he has been forced to survive under the cruel tyranny of weather. Let's face it: there is no escape. Now, in Man vs. Weather, humorist Dennis DiClaudio offers up the knowledge to beat weather at its own game. Rooting through conventional wisdom, discovered...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143113631
• ISBN13: 9780143113638
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Fun series of books

DeClaudio has written several "Guide Books" that are excellent to leave laying around for guests to pick up, turn to any page and get a smile. He has basically taken a subject and then bull dog through the topics that are most apt to make the reader squirm (and laugh out loud). Lots of fun. I'm using the same review of all books in the series. No matter which ones you choose you'll enjoy equally.....bg

An Informal View of Weather

This type of composition may not suit everyone, but I find the very informal presentation, almost smart-alecky in places, humorous and rather refreshing. The author manages to combine hard facts with a youthfully casual candor. I wonder that the editor and publisher let him do it. This is a different way of learning global weather basics and is suitable for both the young and the young at heart.

Excellent conversation starter.

Anyone who knows me personally can tell you that I am a bit of a weather enthusiast. I have been known to sit and watch the weather channel for hours on end. Yes I do realize that that is only acceptable behavior after the age of 80, but what can I say? My name is Holly, and I am a weather addict. Let me start out by saying that this book is quite funny. It approaches the mundane topic of weather from a really entertaining angle. At the same time it manages to teach about even complex topics in weather. I never cared about the jet stream until I read this book. Now I know exactly how it works and why. I have tried explaining my new found knowledge to others, yet fail miserably, as I cannot serve up the info with such finesse as the author does. The book is broken up in to chapters, each building upon the last. The first chapter dissects the atmosphere. After reading about the tropopause you will know what you are looking down at every time you get on a plane and look out the window wondering why the clouds seem to be hitting their heads on an invisible ceiling. Feel free to blurt out "Wow! What a great view of the tropopause!" People will wonder if a genius is among them. Then in the end it covers our dysfunctional relationship with weather. Including, but not limited to, the weathers insatiable appetite for human destruction. Smart, funny, well-written and informative, this book is a must. Weather enthusiast or not.

Dennis DiClaudio = funniness

Dennis knows where to put the commas and where to put the words. It also helps that he writes the way god intended us to write -- funny. clear. informative. but most importantly, funny. I suggest you buy this book. It makes a great gift.