Review
------
“[An] aesthetically charged and deeply researched account .
. . a wild rainstorm of a book, pelting the reader with ideas and
inspiration.”—Nature
“A gorgeous and illuminating illustrated study of weather in all
its tempestuous variety . . . [Lauren] Redniss’s combo of fact,
folklore, and vibrant etched copperplate prints enthralls.”—O:
The Oprah Magazine
“Eerily beautiful . . . If weather is our favorite default
conversational subject, [Redniss] takes anything but a default
approach. Thunder & Lightning contains plenty of scientific
explanation (including more than a few nods toward global
warming), but also far-flung personal stories that illuminate the
beauty, wonder and chaos inherent in the elements.”—The New York
Times
“Magical . . . Redniss has . . . shown us how human beings live
with nature—fighting, coexisting, taming, predicting via leech
barometer and radar and intuition. . . . She is, to use a
contemporary word, a curator: arranging information with a
distinct aesthetic and a point of view.”—The New York Times Book
Review
“[A] twenty-first-century genius . . . Lauren Redniss is
inventing a new literary genre. The artist brings her intrepid
reporting and sharp intelligence to subjects as wide-ranging as
Marie Curie, gay soldiers in WWII, and now stormy weather. . . .
[Redniss is] a reporter, a painter, a social historian, a
biographer, and a feminist who creates stories and tableaux that
are published as books, which are at once sexual and prim,
grotesque and romantic, scientific and soft. . . . The reader
willing to put herself fully in Redniss’s hands will be rewarded
with a delicious feeling of being enveloped by a phenomenon that
eclipses the chiming trivialities of daily life.”—Elle
“From Superstorm Sandy to the California drought, weather is a
constant presence in our lives, shaping the way we think,
feel—and vote. Lauren Redniss’s latest, Thunder & Lightning:
Weather Past, Present, Future, takes a deep dive into human
efforts to grapple with the elements, with forays into mythology,
commerce and politics. Combining etchings and text—the National
Book Award–nominated author and artist designed her own font for
the book—Thunder & Lightning lends a graphic-novel-like allure to
some of nature’s most curious paradoxes.”—Vogue
“Lauren Redniss is one of the most creative science writers of
our time—her combination of beautiful artwork, reporting, and
poetic prose brings science to life in ways that words alone
simply cannot. Thunder & Lighting is a fascinating meditation on
how climate affects the earth’s landscape and the lives
inhabiting it, but also how the landscape of a book—the layout of
its text, the images on its pages—impacts the telling of a story.
This is an important book about a topic that couldn’t be more
important to us all.”—Rebecca Skloot
“In Thunder & Lightning, Lauren Redniss combines her own dual
punch of expressive art and impressive erudition to give an
entirely new take on all that happens above our heads. This is an
illuminated book that is also an illuminating one.”—Adam Gopnik
“Lauren Redniss’s Thunder & Lightning is such a strange and
wonderful thing, the work of a first-class mind that refuses to
submit to any categories or precedent. It’s the way you wish
science would always be taught—with a mix of stories and facts,
legend and hard science.”—Dave Eggers
“Beautiful and totally original.”—Elizabeth Kolbert
Read more ( javascript:void(0) )
About the Author
----------------
Lauren Redniss is the author of Century Girl: 100 Years in
the Life of Doris Eaton Travis, Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld
Follies and Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and
Fallout, a finalist for the National Book Award. She teaches at
Parsons the New School for Design.
Read more ( javascript:void(0) )