Rain: A Natural and Cultural History

Who knew there could be a thrilling, page-turning book all about rain? From wide swaths of interplanetary time to details such as the stench of the early attempts to waterproof capes or the rain-themed lyrics in Kurt Cobain's music—this exploration of the essential force that makes our planet kept me reading way too late night after night. Barnett's book is important. And reading it might make you the smartest person in the room.

This book is a very encapsulating book about rain. It covers a variety of topics of how rain helped shaped our lives and it's history. The author gives us a look into the geography of rain - for example, why Seattle gets the misnomer of being the rainiest city. We also learn about how ancient peoples dealt and moved with the rain. I found the lexicography section of rain to be very interesting also and the various ways different cultures around the world express downfalls of rain. Also covered is how products came into being due to people wanting to keep themselves dry and also the possibly human anthropological aspects of rain. And so on. Definitely a in-depth look at rain, and a fascinating read!

Natural history, science, culture, poetry, music, philosophy, travel, this book has it all plus more. I am a rain lover and have done some of my best work sitting at a table on my back porch watching and listening to the wonder of rain. My local library sent me an email recommending this book. When I tried to get it from the library all copies were out and there were many holds for when it came in. I waited almost a month for it and it was well worth it. Cynthia Barnett has written a book that everyone can find something new and interesting. I must say I did get bogged down in the section on rainmaker but that might be because of my skepticism. The other sections held my interest intensely. I was especially enamored by the lovely and colorful description of Ms. Barnett's trip to the Cherrapunjee Holiday Resort in the Rainiest Place on Earth. Over all I believe that anyone interested in rain will enjoy this book.

A fascinating read about the mystifying, wonderful, and sometimes toxic thing we call rain. Barnett has given us a well researched and documented tour through history and around the world to deepen our understanding of how rain has impacted us--and how we have begun to impact rain. Beautiful writing. Highly enjoyable.

This book is such a good read, entertaining yet insightful and thought provoking.
It's a fascinating read, from the civilizations built around rain - or the lack of - to how important it is to our daily life.

I do wish that some pictures were included, the book is so fascinating ( I know I always say this with books of this type ).
However the descriptions are very detailed so you can imagine the images.

I enjoy books like this and thank her for her style - entertaining and educational without beatings over the head with warnings and how we all should protect the environment -(which we should!) I would put this right up there with another favorite of this genre book of mine "The World Without Us".

*****
Jim

Rain: A Natural History weaves together planetary science, geology, early earth history, meteorology, human history, cultural studies, travel stories, and even poetry into an entertaining and fascinating account of rain and our relationship to it. The book is beautifully written--vivid, sometimes humorous, and almost poetic without being flowery. It’s easy to fall under its spell. I especially enjoyed all the history and the sections on how depictions or evocations of rain rain have enhanced various works of literature, music, painting, and movies.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through LibraryThing. Review opinions are mine.

There are not enough stars to rate this book! I’ve always relished the rain, thunderstorms and had no idea what to expect in this book. I was just thoroughly overwhelmed! I had to read it in small steps so as to absorb what the author was saying and sharing. From the birth of planets, the Garden of Eden, all the ancient Rain Gods --- she just doesn’t stop --- the book includes literature, poetry, popular ads – the federal government’s attempts at controlling rain – the making of umbrellas, the rivers, storms – dust storms …. And a tree that grows on nothing but rain….an absolutely breathtaking exquisite history of RAIN, its people and their cultures!

Read this during a storm, read this during a drought, or read this on any day and you're bound to learn something. Cynthia Barnett's Rain is not exactly what I was expecting, but I am glad to have read this lengthy book that relates literature, music and more to the meteorological and environmental story of rain. It is more like a shower than a storm and for that I am glad. I drank the chapters as I traveled with the author. As with any journey, there are times I wished to hurry up and move on to the next place, but for the most part, this trip was enlightening.

Who would have thought that a nonfiction book about rain could manage to maintain my interest throughout its almost-300 pages? This one certainly did, but then it is about much more than "just" rain.

It began with a lovely quote from Ray Bradbury, but the author's own words were quite wonderful too. It is obvious that she developed a great love and respect for the subject, that it became close to her heart.

The story covers rain and its relatives over the history of time, how it has and does affect us physically, culturally, politically. It explains in a very clear way why what we used to call global warming but now more commonly call climate change can make the wet areas wetter and the dry areas drier, the cold colder and the hot hotter.

The prognosis is not good. The prognosis is frightening.

Some of it I knew, like Rick Perry's solution:

"At Texas A&M University, the atmospheric scientists said global warming was making the hellish conditions worse. The governor of Texas, Rick Perry, was skeptical of the professors. But he could sink his black-leather boots into prayer. Perry called upon his fellow Texans to join him in three days' prayer for rain."

Congress has not been our friend in solving the issues:

"In recent years, Congress has resembled the rainmaking 1890s more than the emissions-lowering 1990s - ears open to the influential uninformed rather than its own scientists. U.S. Senator John Inhofe of Oklahoma, perhaps the most prominent national opponent of meaningful legislation to reduce fossil-fuel emissions, has said that humans cannot possibly control the climate because only God can do that." I am not as kind as the author - these people are not uninformed, they just choose to not believe the evidence they are given.

Still, this book is about rain, too much, too little, and its affects. Its about culture around the world shaped by rain. It is not foremost a political book. It's about witchcraft and rainmakers, evolution and plagues. For a book about rain, it has an amazingly wide and interesting scope.

Our decisions about trying to control rain and its effects have devastating consequences. Writing of southern California, the author states, "Now, imported water from the Sierra to the north and the Colorado River convinced the region to divert all its rain to sea and rely on someone else's."

"An estimated 85 percent of Los Angeles in urbanized, 65 percent of it paved over - sealed by impervious surfaces. Every subdivision and shopping mall, parking lot and pancake house prevents rain from soaking back into the ground. The rain that used to find its natural course to the aquifer or sea is now channeled, given a new name - "stormwater"- and poisoned as it rushes over dirty streets and down gutters."

This book caused me to Google several of the things the author mentioned. If you have never heard of the Double Decker Tree Bridge, it is well worth searching for images.

While I wanted to learn more about the subject of rain and weather, I was afraid this book would be dry, no pun intended. It was not. It was fascinating but more frightening than a Stephen King novel.

I was given an advance reader's edition of this book for review. The quotes may have changed in the published edition.

Cynthia Barnett has produced a well-stuffed book that lives up to its title. Rain in the form of flood and drought has shaped history and prehistory in obvious and non-obvious ways. Settlement patterns were driven by available water, even before the rise of agriculture. Witches were often accused of producing or withholding rain. Meteorologists have been considered kin to astrologers in the past, but are now scientists or TV entertainers. There have been lots of nutty theories about what causes rain. We now have less nutty theories, or so we think. Portland and Seattle are no rainier than most of the US, but they are cloudy a lot which fools people. And so on.

Lots of points to make, each tricked out with a human interest story or two before we're on to the next, which is one problem with the book My main problem, however, is the language. The book jacket calls it "lyrical". I call it overdone and beset with too many adjectives. Too many clauses per sentence, too much indirection. A bit of a paradox, with the sentences bogging down while the topics go by too fast.

If you haven't read much history or science, there is plenty of interesting material here. Unfortunately the language and style get in the way. You may find Barnett's writing style more congenial than I do. Read a few pages and you'll know if this book is for you.

I very much enjoyed Barnett's survey of human history and how it was (often drastically and catastrophically) affected by rain, or the lack thereof. I also enjoyed her writing style and found it lyrical and engaging. However, I do have three issues with the book. First, some of her science is questionable. For example, on page 212 she states that lightning breaks oxygen down from two atoms into three to form ozone. How can you break a two-atom molecule into three atoms? She, or her editor, obviously mixed up (and/or left out) two or three sentences that would have explained that when each of the two atoms were split apart by lightning, they then joined with a two-atom molecule of oxygen to form ozone (O3). Secondly, I would have preferred if she followed a straighter timeline, rather than jumping back and forth in time. And lastly, I think her tangential forays into rain in music snd art add nothing to the book. I would have preferred if she had stuck to history and science. However, even with these negatives, the book was very enjoyable and contained a great deal of good information.

Rain: A Natural and Cultural History

by Cynthia Barnett

Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Crown (April 21, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0804137099
ISBN-13: 978-0804137096

If you're someone who loves non-fiction, especially informational non-fiction about natural phenomenon, you will love this book.

It's a great solid, beautiful, thoroughly-researched book. And I do mean "thoroughly-reserched." The author writes about Rain in all its forms, function, manifestations, causes, effects, power, powerlessness, cultural, historical forms. Seriously, there is the cinematic power of rain. There is evolution and rain. There is cosmology and rain. There is literature and rain. There is religion and rain. There is geography and rain. There is history and rain. Rain has changed history, destroyed kingdoms, been responsible for great literature and great films.

It deals with rain as a chemical, mathematical, biological, nutritional, artistic, and powerful entity. I seriously cannot tell you how well-researched this book is. But in addition to that, this is one beautifully-written book.

As a Christian I really liked the discussion of Earth's evolution and rain. Not that the author is a Christian. (There are a few moments when I got antsy with some typical dismissive anti-religion sentences but overall, she was pretty respectful.) But the way Barnett descrbes how rain affected Earth's formation, it reminded me of the Genesis Creation account where Earth is described as having a watery firmament around it. The description of the effect of a great flood also reminded me of the story of Noah's flood where water came up from inside the earth.

Again, this is not a religious book. But the author does make one see how wonderful and magical and powerful rain is. I received this book for free in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Barnett's last two books, Blue Revolution and Mirage, made me optimistic about Rain. I was not disappointed. As a professional water nerd, I love the unexpected ways she traces the story of the rain that falls upon us as it starts its movements through our lives. As a professional writer, I was entranced by her tradecraft. Barnett is such a good researcher, and an even better writer and storyteller.

Her chapter about Uriah Oblinger, his wife Mattie, and family trying to make a go of it in the 19th century Great Plains is a perfect example. If you've read U.S. water or environmental history, you know the story of the myth that "rain follows the plow", and the damage the myth caused eager farmers setting out to make a new life in a place far more difficult than they realized. But with the Oblinger's letters, Barnett has told it in a new, fresh and loving way.

Since rainy days have always been my favorite type of days, I thought I'd like this book far more than I did. Unfortunately, it was simply too much information about rain, jumping from one topic to another. Moreover, the section on music was terribly disappointing. Even though the author was born in the 1960s, she concentrated on how rain affected musicians like Steven Patric Morrissey and Kurt Cobain. Although she did mention the Door's Riders On The Storm, I could only think about all the other rain songs she could have mentioned in that chapter of the book.

*Rainy Night In Georgia

(Note: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

Great history and travelogue, and insightful contemplation on rain's place in our lives and environment and climate. My full review is posted at http://hydro-logic.blogspot.com/2015/04/book-review-rain-by-cynthia-barnett.html

This book is subtitled “A Natural and Cultural History”, and indeed there is a lot of history. There is a good amount of the history of scientific discoveries about rain and weather, indeed, that makes up the bulk of the book. Barnett mainly focuses on details of many historical events relating to rain, and less on the actual science.

There is less about the culture surrounding rain, and it has little on current cultural connections to rain.

Unfortunately, I found her writing style in this book to be wordy and often tedious. I didn’t find this book to be an enjoyable as many other books in the genre that focus on a seemingly minor topic in depth. Barnett’s Blue Revolution: Unmaking America’s Water Crisis was a very informative and powerful book that was written in a more engaging style.

Cynthia Barnett will take you around the world in her book RAIN, providing a perspective that's both scientific and whimsical.
Her love and knowledge of the subject is both academic, and cosmopolitan. Neither overly preachy regarding climate change or textbook-dry, this is an entertaining and provocative read.

This book is such a good read, entertaining yet insightful and thought provoking.
It's a fascinating read, from the civilizations built around rain - or the lack of - to how important it is to our daily life.

I do wish that some pictures were included, the book is so fascinating ( I know I always say this with books of this type ).
However the descriptions are very detailed so you can imagine the images.

I enjoy books like this and thank her for her style - entertaining and educational without beatings over the head with warnings and how we all should protect the environment -(which we should!) I would put this right up there with another favorite of this genre book of mine "The World Without Us".

*****
Jim

I always enjoy books that look at history from different angles. The story of RAIN is not one that I've ever really thought of.

I really like that the author explores it from so many different cultural perspectives.

Easy to read and now I want to read her other books.