Publisher's Weekly Review
Environmental journalist Barnett (Blue Revolution: Unmaking America's Water Crisis) examines how dramatic flood and relentless drought have made their mark on human lives. She packs her persuasive volume with plenty of solid history, but her style in this exploration leans much more toward the lyrical in understanding how rain-whether dreary, cleansing, or unrelentingly wet-has become a core anchor of the human condition. Barnett draws inspiration from a wide range of sources: the music of Seattle's grunge bands; the poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Emily Dickinson; the drive to predict and control that spurred the actions of early weather trackers, rainmaking charlatans, and government cloud-seeders; the urge to blame that brought women to their deaths in the witch trials of Europe; the creative ambition displayed by the inventor of the Macintosh coat; and the scent-making magic behind monsoon-ravaged India's earthy petrichor attars or America's obsession with the synthetic smell of "rain-themed products." There are also some odder quirks in the account, particularly her discussion of bizarre phenomena such as rains of frogs and a bit of ill-placed Indian travelogue at the end. Nevertheless, Barnett beautifully evokes universal themes of connecting cycles of water, air, wind, and earth to humankind across time and culture, leaving readers contemplating their deeper ties with the natural world. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In the dramatic overture to this spectacularly vivid, all-encompassing history of rain, environmental and science writer Barnett (Blue Revolution, 2011) describes young, still burning-hot Earth deluged with torrential downpours that lasted thousands of years and made life possible. Barnett then explains how the building blocks of rain: sun and ocean, wind and terrain conspire to create drizzle, thunderstorms, monsoons, and every other form of rain humankind has welcomed, cursed, and prayed for. Drawing on archaeological discoveries, myths, sacred texts, and literature, Barnett asserts that as rain goes, so goes civilization. She chronicles catastrophic droughts that doomed sophisticated societies in the Indus Valley, Mesopotamia, and beyond, and offers a galvanizing account of the connection between Europe's unremitting rain during the Middle Ages and the surge in witchcraft executions. On home ground, Barnett keenly portrays settlers, farmers, and rainmakers caught up in the nightmares of the Dust Bowl and the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. She dispenses strong medicine in her incisive discussions of acid rain, polluted storm-water runoff, water shortages in major cities, and the current and dire rise in extreme storms and droughts, then sweetens the brew with lively histories of meteorology, the raincoat, and strange rains of fish and frogs. Like John McPhee, Jared Diamond, and Elizabeth Kolbert, Barnett illuminates a crucial subject with knowledge, energy, conviction, and a passion for mind-expanding facts and true stories.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2015 Booklist
Choice Review
By combining interesting stories focused on a common theme, Barnett, an environmental journalist and author of Blue Revolution (CH, Mar'12, 49-3823), successfully connects the physical nature of rain with its influence on human culture through time. She begins her five-part book by describing scenes such as the storms of early Earth, paleoclimatic impacts on human evolution, and religions' association with rain and drought. Next, she explores the development of the atmospheric sciences over the years, introduces the influential people and organizations involved, and details the importance of rubber and other materials used in the manufacture of rain gear. She depicts the influence of rain and drought on American history, including agricultural expansion westward, the Dust Bowl, attempts to control flooding along the Mississippi River, and various attempts to make rain. The book goes on to discuss rain's prominence in the arts, e.g., in poetry, music, and film, and efforts to solve the problems of urban storm water runoff. Finally, Barnett describes bizarre rain events such as frog rains, fish rains, red rain, and many more. By blending her accounts about rain's influence on humans with those of others, she delivers an enjoyable read for all levels. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All library collections. --Jennifer B. Huffman, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Library Journal Review
Starred Review. The weather plays into our lives in countless ways. If we say it's raining cats and dogs (United States), shoemakers' apprentices (Denmark), old women and walking sticks (Wales), or husbands (Spain), rain conjures up some of the strangest and most vivid descriptions. Covering these idiomatic expressions, the economic significance of rain in India and around the world, the influence of rain on writers and artists, and more, Barnett (Blue Revolution) explores every facet of the substance. A seamless blending of personal narrative with scientific and cultural explanations makes the book both informative and entertaining. Fans of Mary Roach will recognize a similar ease of style and interjection of wit into what could easily become a boring topic. Barnett succeeds in producing a text that is accessible to every reader, from the environmental scientist to the parent choosing whether their child needs to wear a raincoat that day and everyone in between. VERDICT Recommended for anyone who has ever experienced drought, flood, drizzle, or gully washer. Readers of all ages and experiences will find something to appreciate here.-John Kromer, Miami Univ. of Ohio Lib., Oxford, OH (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.