New book on the life of Tim Samaras

[Bill Hark]

I found this review of an upcoming book about Tim Samaras and TWISTEX. It looks interesting though I've been disappointed with previous books written about storm chasers by non-chasing journalists and authors. I will definitely be reading it.

http://www.cowboysindians.com/2018/03/the-man-who-caught-the-storm/

Bill Hark

 

[John Olexa]

Well it does look like this author at least spent some time chasing & learning from chasers , so hopefully that helps in his writing.

 

[Jeff Duda]

Have you read "Tornado Hunter"? It was co-written by Tim. It's something more like two books in one - interlaced chapters about specific chases (I think events of 2008 are highlighted) with chapters about the history of tornadoes and research. Some interesting stuff in there.

https://www.amazon.com/Tornado-Hunt...qid=1521488155&sr=8-3&keywords=tornado+hunter

This new one looks very cool, too. I'll make sure to grab a copy.

 

[Alex Elmore]

Have you read "Tornado Hunter"? It was co-written by Tim. It's something more like two books in one - interlaced chapters about specific chases (I think events of 2008 are highlighted) with chapters about the history of tornadoes and research. Some interesting stuff in there.

I read this book a couple years ago and it was great. I highly recommend reading it if you have the time. As Jeff said, it covers chasing from various view points: historical, actual chasing, and storm victims if I remember correctly.

 

[Mark Blue]

Wasn’t circa 2008 when you were part of the team Jeff?

 

[Jeff Duda]

Wasn’t circa 2008 when you were part of the team Jeff?

2008-2010, yes. But I am not in the book, nor did I contribute anything to it.

 

[Randy Jennings]

Brantley Hargrove, the author of the new book Bill is talking about, has written about Tim Sanaras before in an article for the Dallas Observer: http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/the-last-ride-of-legendary-storm-chaser-tim-samaras-6430527 . That article may give us a taste of what the book will be like. The article also talks Dan Robinson's experiences that day as well.

 

[John Farley]

I thought there would have been a thread about this by now, but I cannot find one. If there is, Mods please feel free to move this post to the right place.

I just finished reading The Man Who Caught the Storm: The Life of Legendary Tornado Chaser Tim Samaras, by Brantley Hargrove. I would strongly recommend this book to everyone. Even though I thought I knew quite a bit about Tim before reading this book, I learned a lot by reading it, especially about the details of the various scientific research projects with which Tim was involved. The book is very well-written - I could not put it down (except to go chasing last Friday when there were finally storms within driving distance). One interesting factoid - the author was not a storm chaser before he wrote the book, but he went chasing with some of Tim's friends and colleagues as he was working on the book, to learn more about the culture of chasers - but he got hooked enough on chasing in the process that he has continued to chase since finishing the book.

You can get the book through the usual online booksellers and probably in the larger chain bookstores.

 

[JamesCaruso]

Just ordered from Amazon. Thanks for letting us know, I was not aware of it until I saw your post. I hope to get to it before embarking on my own chase vacation this year.


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[Rachel Donoghue]

I have checked out this book at my library and I couldn't get to it right away. lol Two other people had checked them out, fortunately for me, I was third in line and was excited when I picked it up. (Walked all the way to the library and back and it was totally worth it. ) I definitely recommend this book. I'm not even finished with it yet but I can't put it down, as the book was very well written in my opinion. I will be buying this book off of EBay or Amazon for my birthday. It is a must have.

 

[Bill Giles]

What John said. I bought the Kindle version last week and stayed up until 2:30 in the morning to finish it in one sitting. Very well written. Of course I'm a sucker for the subject matter, so maaaybe there's a bit of bias.

 

[Brian G]

I'm listening to it on Audible.

 

[Warren Faidley]

I'm so glad Tim got the credit he deserves. I'll listen to the audio book while traveling to ground zero.

 

[Jeff House]

Wall Street Journal reviews The Man Who Caught the Storm by Brantley Hargrove https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-ma...ers-1525468349?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1 but it might have a paywall. Cowboys link might not work with some security software. Enjoy!

 

[JamesCaruso]

Thanks for calling attention to this Jeff, I subscribe to the online WSJ but hadn’t noticed this.

For those who can’t access the WSJ review without a subscription, its author (Mark Yost) writes favorably about the book, and about Tim and his contributions to the science of tornado analysis/forecasting.

One line that encapsulates his review of the book itself: “Mr. Hargrove weaves a tale with just enough background, just enough science and just enough adventure to keep us reading.”