Book Review: "The Man Who Caught the Storm"

Yesterday, I finished reading The Man Who Caught the Storm by Brantley Hargrove. Here is a brief review. My rating? 5 Stars. 

The book begins a little slowly but picks up quickly and turns into a compelling read. As a meteorologist and storm chaser, I was impressed by the thorough research and scientific accuracy. It is very refreshing to read a book of this nature and find it to be accurate.

While I knew of Tim, I did not know him personally other than to say hello at a couple of conferences. That stipulated, this portrait of the man and his work ring true. I believe this book will be interesting to all who might be interested in the story of an outstanding scientist who pushed the envelope too far and became the first storm chaser (along with his son and a friend) to be killed by a tornado.

The only concern I have is whether a reader who is not a weather aficionado will be able to completely follow the chapters regarding his last storm chase, which involved the El Reno (Oklahoma) Tornado in 2013.

The reader reviews at Amazon do not point to a problem in that regard. However, if you are interested, there is a video forensic analysis of the El Reno Tornado here. Especially helpful in the analysis is the movement of Tim's car in relation to the location and path of the tornado. That leads me to the only thing I didn't like about the book: the omission of photos. They would have been appreciated, especially since the text specifically mentions photographs on a number of occasions. The book is so well written that I have kept the rating at 5 Stars but I did consider grading it down due to the lack of both photography and illustrations.

Note: If you search around the internet for more information on this terrible event, you will undoubtedly come across this National Geographic Special. While it is better produced than the above, it has several scientific inaccuracies and cheesy sound effects.