Weather Elements

Abstract

JUDGING by the fact that this book has been reprinted five times since its first publication in April 1937, and has now been revised, it has proved very popular in the United States. The public interest in meteorology is probably much greater there than in Great Britain ; for one thing, the atmospheric phenomena are often more violent, culminating in disastrous tornadoes, floods or droughts, and the more specialized agriculture is so organized that favourable or unfavourable weather may make the difference between wealth and comparative poverty to a large agricultural population. In England our famous 'samples' are more easily balanced out by the more diversified farming. Secondly, in recent years the rapid growth of civil aviation has given many people an interest, amateur or professional, in the weather. Finally, the average American appears to be more addicted to the accumulation of varied knowledge than his equivalent in Great Britain ; he is more ready to spend money on relatively expensive books, but in consequence he prefers a book which can be absorbed quickly and does not call for pro-longed and intensive study.

Weather Elements

A Text in Elementary Meteorology. By Prof. Thomas A. Blair. (Prentice-Hall Geography Series.) Revised edition. Pp. xvii + 401. (New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1942.) 5 dollars.