Subscribe Now
To AudioFile magazine
And SAVE $5!
Your print subscription
Gets you complete
Access to all online
Content and benefits

Previous Features:

Sound Beginners

Directing Audiobooks

Laughter in the
Headset

Audio University

On the Road

The Magic of Audio

Out of the Box

Art & Craft of Narration

Audio Drama Today

Sounds of Suspense

Digital Demystified

Feature

Into the Ear of the Storm: Audiobooks bring stories of wild weather close to home.

Are you a weather junkie? You know the type--people who stare at the sky instead of the road on their morning walk, who notice the instant the sea breeze kicks in during an afternoon at the beach, who check the Weather Channel every day. Pilots, fishermen, farmers, and travelers often succumb to the syndrome, but fascination with potentially disastrous weather is by no means exclusive to them.

Whether you're a storm-starved soul or looking for great stories well told, you can find satisfaction in any number of weather-related audiobooks. Recent releases include HALSEY'S TYPHOON, which covers the massive Typhoon Cobra that hammered Admiral William "Bull" Halsey's Pacific fleet in December 1944; Douglas Brinkley's THE GREAT DELUGE, a long look at Hurricane Katrina; and Anderson Cooper's DISPATCHES FROM THE EDGE, which has sections covering Katrina and the great tsunami of 2004.

All convey a central message: that the energy, force, and determination of Mother Nature cannot be contained, and often cannot be anticipated with sufficient accuracy to protect the places she chooses to destroy. The passages that cut straight to this deep-seated fear are first-person accounts from people who have experienced severe weather phenomena and lived to tell their stories. Notable for its emotional power is Linda Greenlaw's THE HUNGRY OCEAN. Greenlaw's audio performance stands out because she tells us, in her own words and her own voice, exactly what it was like to hold her boat and crew together during one of nature's strongest displays of energy, at times when they were hanging on for dear life.

While most of the books included here are not first-person narrations, they do feature first-person accounts of storms from 1880 to present day. Many contain enough science to satisfy the serious student, and all plunge the listener into the maelstrom, be it near the top of Mt. Everest or the chasm of the deep. So grab your galoshes and jump right in.--Ruth L. Lind

AUG/SEP 07
(c)2007 AudioFile Publications, Inc.

Audiography

BLIZZARD!
Jim Murphy, read by Taylor Mali
Read Review

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDGE
Anderson Cooper, read by the author
Read Review

EPIC: STORIES OF SURVIVAL FROM THE WORLD'S HIGHEST PEAKS
Clint Willis [Ed.], read by Rick Adamson, Eric Conger, et al.
Read Review

THE GREAT DELUGE
Douglas Brinkley, read by Kyf Brewer
Read Review

THE GREAT HURRICANE: 1938
Cherie Burns, read by Anna Fields
Read Review

HALSEY'S TYPHOON
Bob Drury, Tom Clavin, read by Eric Conger
Read Review

THE HUNGRY OCEAN
Linda Greenlaw, read by the author
Read Review

ISAAC'S STORM
Erik Larson, read by Edward Herrmann
Read Review

THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD
David McCullough, read by Edward Herrmann
Read Review

KRAKATOA
Simon Winchester, read by Simon Winchester
Read Review

THE PERFECT STORM
Sebastian Junger, read by Stanley Tucci
Read Review

RED SKY IN MOURNING
Tami Oldham Ashcraft, read by the author
Read Review

ROUGH WATER
Clint Willis [Ed.], read by Rick Adamson, George Guidall, et al.
Read Review

STORIES FROM THE STORM
Carter Hooper, Celia Collins, et al.,
read by Carter Hooper, Celia Collins, et al.
Read Review

STORM: STORIES OF SURVIVAL FROM LAND AND SEA
Clint Willis [Ed.], read by Terrence Aselford, Rick Forcheaux, et al.
Read Review

TYING DOWN THE WIND
Eric Pinder, read by Patrick Cullen
Read Review

THE WEATHER MAKERS
Tim Flannery, read by Drew de Carvalho
Read Review

WEST WITH THE NIGHT
Beryl Markham, read by Anna Fields
Read Review