Reading the Glass

'Brimming with knowledge and experience . . . delightful'

TRISTAN GOOLEY, DAILY TELEGRAPH

'A fabulous compendium of terror and disaster, expertise and courage'

ADAM NICOLSON, author of The Seabird's Cry

'Evokes panoramas of sea and land with confident flair'

WALL STREET JOURNAL

What's in a cloud? What separates a tropical storm from a winter blizzard? And what exactly is El Niño? Elliot Rappaport, a captain of traditional sailing ships, has spent three decades at sea, where understanding weather is the difference between life and death.

From the icy seas of Greenland to the turbulent waters of the Strait of Gibraltar, from the powerful squalls near the equator to the ancient Polynesian explorers who ventured eastward against trade winds, Reading the Glass combines science and memoir to reveal the remarkable story of how weather has shaped our oceans, our history and ourselves.

'An extraordinary book by a modern-day Melville . . . I can't recommend this book highly enough'

MARK VANHOENACKER, author of Skyfaring

'A gripping account of what weather is, how it feels to be in the middle of it, and what we can expect going forward!'

BILL MCKIBBEN, author of The End of Nature