This far-ranging book begins with the creation of the earth, the weather that might have ranged in the early millennia of earth's existence, and the development of life in the primordial landscape. He then covers the atmosphere, clouds, rain, storms, hurricanes, wind, weather forecasting, seasons, ice ages, climate change, and dramatic weather's role in human history.
Mr. Dewdney is a poet and his finesse with words shows on every page. He incorporates quotes and references to poems, stories, and novels throughout the book. He even quotes from my favorite Lucy Maud Montgomery novel, The Blue Castle.
It's a book best for more mature readers, though I think you could adjust on the fly if you wanted to read it aloud to multiple ages. There are, for example, descriptions of people dying due to lightning strikes or hypothermia, which young children may find upsetting.
I'm still considering options for high school science, but this is now at the top of my list for a spine on meteorology. I think, paired with some labs of measuring weather indicators and working with forecasting ideas, it could be a good term (twelve weeks) of earth sciences.
Mr. Dewdney is not a Christian, but he is generally pleasant when describing Christian beliefs. This mainly is an issue in the first chapter when he discusses the beginning of life on earth.
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