"Offers entertaining and science-based observations on the wind, from the world's first forecasts, to Chaos Theory, wind-riding spiders, wind-sculpted landscapes and wind-generated power. By the best-selling author of Cold and Heat,"--NoveList.The gnashing teeth of an oncoming storm. Wind-launched missiles and wind-tossed airplanes. Sand dunes and the Dust Bowl, shipwrecks and wind-riding spiders, weather forecasting, wind power, windmills, and wars; on page after page of his brisk and fascinating book, Bill Streever reveals wind's real nature--and its history-shaping force. Seeking a deep immersion in his subject, Streever will go to any extreme. So, after a three-day course, this novice sailor set out on a vintage fifty-year-old sailboat named after Don Quixote's horse, and sailed east from Texas to Guatemala over 43 days and 1000 miles. How better to explore and experience the winds that built empires, the storms that wrecked them, and the surprising history and science of moving air? From history's great violent storms to the impacts of weather on life and business, from wind's energy to its power to give and destroy life, this is a thrilling read.

--Adapted from dust jacket.