18 Miles

The Epic Drama of Our Atmosphere and Its Weather

By: Christopher Dewdney

Narrated by: Angelo Di Loreto

We live at the bottom of an ocean of air - 5,200 million million tons, to be exact. It sounds like a lot, but Earth’s atmosphere is smeared onto its surface in an alarmingly thin layer - 99 percent contained within 18 miles. Yet, within this fragile margin lies a magnificent realm - at once gorgeous, terrifying, capricious, and elusive. With his keen eye for identifying and uniting seemingly unrelated events, Chris Dewdney reveals to us the invisible rivers in the sky that affect how our weather works and the structure of clouds and storms and seasons, the rollercoaster of climate. Dewdney details the history of weather forecasting and introduces us to the eccentric and determined pioneers of science and observation whose efforts gave us the understanding of weather we have today.

18 Miles is a kaleidoscopic and fact-filled journey that uncovers our obsession with the atmosphere and weather - as both evocative metaphor and physical reality. From the roaring winds of Katrina to Palladio’s architectural triumph, La Rotonda, Dewdney entertains as he gives listeners a long overdue look at the very air we breathe.

©2018 Christopher Dewdney (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Atmospheric anecdotes

A good natural science book that anyone of any meteorological background can enjoy.

In some ways it sounds like a textbook, but not stuffy. It is often entertaining.

I have heard some of the anecdotes before, some were new to me. I may use some later for my course. It is worth a listen.

The narrator sounded a little like Rod Sterling, but that is not a bad thing.

The chapters are not titled and are actually mis numbered. Chapter 1 is an introduction, so that the real Chapter 1 is listed as Chapter 2 and so on.

Great listen for an earth science lover

This book is fantastic!! I have learned so much, listened to it three times!! If you love weather, check it out

My favorite go to book for weather and natural science.

Just a great book ,well written and easy to fall into.
Narration was perfect.
You guys should do another book:)

10% science, 90% other stuff

I was hoping to learn weather science. And I did, 10% of the time. But the other 90% was biographies of scientists, references to rain in poetry and literature, lots of "when I was a boy" stories, etc...... On the other hand, Angelo Di Loreto is a superb reader, making the most boing passages more interesting.