Wind: How the Flow of Air Has Shaped Life, Myth, and the Land

An accomplished science writer offers a captivating examination of the physics of the wind and its enormous impact on the earth, human history, and the human psyche, showing how the collision of molecules can topple an empire. 10,000 first printing.

History

DeBlieu, Jan

World

Houghton, mifflin, harcourt

Siroccos, Santa Anas, monsoons-the wind has as many names as moods. Few other forces have so universally shaped the earth and patterns of human exploration. Jan DeBlieu brings a poet's voice and a scientist's eye to Wind, showing how the collision of a few molecules can lead to the creation of religions, the discovery of continents, the destruction of empires.

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Mariner Books

Siroccos, Santa Anas, chinooks, monsoons … the wind has as many names as moods. Few other forces have so universally shaped the lands and waters of the earth and the patterns of exploration, settlement, and civilization. Few other phenomena have exerted such a profound influence on the history and psyche of humankind. In Wind, Jan DeBlieu brings a poet's voice and a scientist's eye to this remarkable natural force, showing how the bumping of a few molecules can lead to the creation of religions, the discovery of continents, and the destruction of empires. She talks to survivors of a deadly tornado in Iowa, tries hang gliding over North Carolina's Outer Banks, climbs sand dunes in Oregon and slickrock formations in Utah—everywhere exploring the effects, subtle and brutal, comforting and terrifying, of the wind.

Wind: Library Edition

Science & Math

Environment

Blackstone Pub

Hatteras Journal

In 1985 Jan DeBlieu moved to Hatteras Island and took up residence in the old home of one of the Outer Banks' most historic families. For more than a year she explored the island's dunes, marshes, waters, and towns to study its complex natural cycles, its fragile ecosystem, its bird, plant, and marine life, and the seasonal routines of its stoical residents. In Hatteras Journal she writes evocatively of a harsh but alluring world, where "in summer the sea oats explode with tawny seeds, the black shimmers glide over Pamlico Sound, the loggerheads heave themselves ashore on silent nights." Along with her perceptive observations about the natural life she encounters, she describes the futility of former government policies such as dune construction, the dangers of peat mining to the sounds and bays, the efforts to protect loggerhead turtles on Bald Head Island, and the evolution of Hurricane Gloria and its effects on the barrier islands. This is a vividly rendered account of the rigors and rewards of dwelling in a habitat where only the most resilient forms of life―natural and human―manage to prevail. Jan DeBlieu is the author of four books and dozens of articles and essays about people and nature. Her first book, Hatteras Journal (Fulcrum 1987), is considered a regional classic on the Outer Banks. It was reprinted in paper by John Blair, Publisher in 1998. Meant to Be Wild (Fulcrum 1991) was chosen as one of the best science books of the year by Library Journal. Wind (Houghton Mifflin, 1998; Shoemaker &amp; Hoard 2006) won the John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Natural History Writing, the highest national award given for a volume of nature writing. Year of the Comets: A Journey from Sadness to the Stars was published by Shoemaker &amp; Hoard in Spring 2005. All Jan’s books remain in print. Year of the Comets was released in paper in December 2006. Most of Jan’s work explores the subtle ways we are shaped by the landscapes where we live and work. She has contributed essays to many national publications, including The New York Times, Audubon, and Orion. In the spring of 2003 Jan was named the Cape Hatteras Coastkeeper for the North Carolina Coastal Federation, a grassroots environmental group that works to protect coastal waters from pollution. A longtime environmental activist, in the late 1980s she helped form a group that successfully kept oil companies from drilling off the Outer Banks. She lives on Roanoke Island with her husband and son. “Not since Ben MacNeil wrote The Hatterasman in the 1950s has that bare bone of sand between Bodie and Ocracoke islands been written about so affectionately, intelligently, and well.” —Norfolk Virginian-Pilot

Lois Lovejoy

Americas

Blair

Siroccos, Santa Anas, chinooks, monsoons ... the wind has as many names as moods. Few other forces have so universally shaped the lands and waters of the earth and the patterns of exploration, settlement, and civilization. Few other phenomena have exerted such a profound influence on the history and psyche of humankind. In Wind, Jan DeBlieu brings a poet's voice and a scientist's eye to this remarkable natural force, showing how the bumping of a few molecules can lead to the creation of religions, the discovery of continents, and the destruction of empires. She talks to survivors of a deadly tornado in Iowa, tries hang gliding over North Carolina's Outer Banks, climbs sand dunes in Oregon and slickrock formations in Utah--everywhere exploring the effects, subtle and brutal, comforting and terrifying, of the wind.

Blackstone Audiobooks

The wind has sculpted Earth from the beginning of time, but it has also shaped humans—our histories, religions and cultures, the way we build our dwellings, and how we think and feel. In this poetic, acclaimed work, Jan DeBlieu takes the tempests of her home, the North Carolina Outer Banks, as a starting point for considering how the world’s breezes and gales have made us who we are. She travels widely, seeking out the scientists, sailors and sages who, like her, are haunted by the movement of air.

Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

In 1985, Jan DeBlieu moved to the barrier island of Hatteras off the coast of North Carolina. For more than a year she roamed the island's dunes, marshes, waters, and towns to study its complex natural cycles, its fragile ecosystem, its bird, plant, and marine life, and the seasonal routines of its stoical residents. The result is nature writing of the first rank.

Nature & Ecology

Fulcrum Pub

Jan DeBlieu's landmark work on captive breeding is a riveting analysis of one of the most controversial issues of our time.

Meant to Be Wild: The Struggle to Save Endangered Species through Captive Breeding

Earth Sciences

Fulcrum+ Publishing

Biological Sciences

Year of the Comets: A Journey from Sadness to the Stars

On the clearest nights in the darkest places you can see two thousand stars. On what scaffolding are they hung, Jan DeBlieu began to wonder. Her husband was sick. She needed signs of order and beauty. And in every moment thousands of neurons fire in our brains, giving rise to our waking thoughts and dreams, our wishes and emotions. Can we map the complexities of either the internal or external cosmos that defines who we are? These two polarities, the deep inner path and the vast gaze outward, became of immense importance to Jan DeBlieu in the spring of 1996, with the appearance of the comet Hyakutake, the first of two great comets to visit our night sky within a year. That spring, her husband had begun a long slide into a clinical depression. One night, unable to sleep, she stepped outside and found herself staring at a great comet, an encounter that created an intense desire to learn all she could about the stars, space, celestial events of grand proportions and the structure of the universe.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

Counterpoint

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by DeBlieu, Jan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by DeBlieu, Jan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by DeBlieu, Jan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Wind: How the Flow of Air Has Shaped Life, Myth, and the Land

Wind: How the Flow of Air Has Shaped Life, Myth, and the Land

Wind: Library Edition

Hatteras Journal

Wind: How the Flow of Air Has Shaped Life, Myth, and the Land

Wind: How the Flow of Air Has Shaped Life, Myth, and the Land

Hatteras Journal

Meant to Be Wild: The Struggle to Save Endangered Species through Captive Breeding

Meant to Be Wild: The Struggle to Save Endangered Species through Captive Breeding

Year of the Comets: A Journey from Sadness to the Stars