The Weather Machine

This fascinating book reveals the existence and origins of surely one of our species’ greatest creations, and Andrew Blum is the perfect writer to share both the remarkable human stories and the astonishing technical wizardry behind it all -- MARK VANHOENACKER, author of Skyfaring It’s easy to … overlook the monumental achievement [weather forecasts] represent … The Weather Machine asks us to pause and marvel at … one of humankind’s greatest accomplishments * New Yorker * Revelatory … convey[s] the technical brilliance and political significance of an achievement that hides in plain sight. The machine’s complexity alone is off all familiar charts … Blum does an excellent job * Telegraph * I strongly recommend th[is] book, which is a fascinating glimpse of a mysterious world -- Tim Haford, author of The Undercover Economist Blum’s wonderful book succeeds in making the science and industry of forecasting the weather … at once vitally human, technologically awesome and urgently, thrillingly relevant * Royal Geographical Society * Sharp, stylish and often surprising. In this absorbing book Andrew Blum tracks the development, from wild dream to astonishing reality, of the quietly revolutionary technology that shapes our everyday lives -- PETER MOORE, author of The Weather Experiment Exhilarating ... a hurricane-force tour of one of the most astonishing but under-appreciated facets of the modern world -- LEWIS DARTNELL, author of Origins Written with an ease and beauty that will captivate anyone who is simply curious about how things work and came to be' (Literary Review) * Literary Review * A vivid account of the history and evolution of the modern daily forecast... Blum is a sharp analyst and engaging guide, adept at translating difficult concepts in meteorology and computer science for the uninitiated * Economist * Andrew Blum’s excellent book describes a global meteorological machine that uses scientific models of the atmosphere to convert observations into ever more accurate speculations – or forecasts – of future weather … all described in lively detail * Financial Times * Totally fascinating to anyone with even a passing interest in weather or technology * Gizmodo * [A] compelling survey of meteorological acceleration from nineteenth-century hand-drawn charts to the trillions of calculations per second performed by today’s supercomputers * Times Literary Supplement * Andrew Blum is a master of revealing the hidden systems behind technologies we take for granted. In the The Weather Machine he takes on the daily forecast, and the result is deeply researched, tightly written, compulsively readable and totally fascinating -- SETH FLETCHER, author of Einstein’s Shadow