Description

A fascinating insight into the science of weather and the strange wild and wonderful world of life at sea

Whats in a cloud What separates a tropical storm from a winter blizzard And what exactly is El Nio Elliot Rappaport a professional captain of traditional sailing ships has spent three decades at sea where understanding weather could be the difference between life and death In Reading the Glass he offers a sailorseye view of the moving parts of our atmosphere and unveils the larger patterns it holds global winds storms air masses jet streams and the longer arc of our climate

Told through a series of tall ship voyages Rappaports narrative takes listeners from the icy seas of Greenland to the Roaring Forties places where one can experience all four seasons in an hour He navigates the turbulent waters of the Strait of Gibraltar en route to storied port cities of the Mediterranean In the vast tropical Pacific he crosses the equator where heat moisture and unsettled winds churn out powerful squalls and drops anchor in isolated ports of call He explores wide swathes of ocean to explain how the trade winds have carried ships westward for centuries and how ancient Polynesian explorers pushed back the other way

Written in stunning prose brimming with wisdom curiosity and humour Reading the Glass brilliantly blends science and memoir to reveal how weather has shaped our oceans our history and ourselves

P 2023 Penguin Audio