Treading on Thin Air: Atmospheric Physics, Forensic Meteorology, and Climate Change; How the Weather Shapes Our Everyday Lives

In this mix of memoir and popular science, Austin, founder and president of WeatherExtreme Ltd., takes readers on a global tour and up into the heights of the stratosphere to learn about weather, climate, and how it affects our planet and our lives. "Weather is tied to profits, margins, demands, inventory, planning, and retail expansion," Austin writes, illuminating the rationale behind creating her own company to put her degree in atmospheric physics to work. She has studied cloud chemistry, weather modification, and the structure of the upper atmosphere. As a forensic meteorologist, Austin has been an expert witness in hundreds of legal cases, explaining how weather can be a factor in murder investigations, tornado destruction, and deadly auto and plane crashes. Austin jumps from topic to topic over the course of the narrative, but what her book lacks in structure, it makes up for in raw enthusiasm, whether she is discussing the evidence for climate change, chiding the media for failing to get their science correct, or encouraging more women to take up science careers. This far-ranging book should whet readers' appetites for learning more about meteorology and its surprisingly broad applications. (May)