Rain: A Natural and Cultural History

This ranks among the group of particularly successful popular science/history books I've read. It is ordered well, and gifted at covering topics in enough depth to get you interested (vs too little information or too much given to one event/issue) and yet still feel like a full picture. The writing is good, with bits of humor which come across as natural rather than forced.

The book is divided into five sections, which cover different aspects of rain and our relationship with it, with a very good introduction about the origins of rain (why we have it and Mars and Venus lost it, the transformation of earth, etc...). One section deals with the early weather recorders and studiers and the invention and marketing of rain gear. Another covers show more American Rain with chapters on Thomas Jefferson (and the poor placement of Monticello when it came to water access), the insane belief that 'rain follows the plow' by which the great plains were settled (a region formerly called the Great American Desert before a brief wet period), and the rainmakers that showed up during droughts (including those who tried to practice actual science, not just the outright charlatans).

I really enjoyed reading it, learned a lot of new information and made notes on books covering some topics in more depth (a home run for me and any similarly broad non-fiction work). My favorite factoid being about the origin of the "Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night..." phrase coming from Herodotus's descriptions of Persian couriers (favorite partly because my mom was a mail carrier for most of my life).

This review is based on an ARC copy of the book, and I do hope the final edition has included some pictures and maps. show less

It's raining and I've been complaining even though I'm at work and it really shouldn't matter. After reading Rain: A Natural and Cultural History, I know I should be grateful for those wonderful drops especially since we're three inches behind for the year and I need to put in a garden. This is a well-written look at the meaning of rain to our culture. Barnett ponders the mythology, the associated rituals, the literary response, the science and the history of man's relationship with rain. Too much, or the lack thereof has had a profound effect on civilization and our very existence. No more complaining about the rain, go out and dance in it.

Summary: Rain is something that shapes each of our lives - whether by its abundance or its lack or just by getting caught out without an umbrella - yet it is something that most of us know relatively little about. In this book, Cynthia Barnett is out to change that, discussing rain's role on our culture, starting with the rains that filled the oceans on primordial Earth, and how the lack of rain may have shaped our species' evolution. She then moves through the relationship between rain and religion, weather forecasting in its early and modern forms, the effect of droughts on agriculture and American history and the effect of the monsoon elsewhere, cloud seeding, rain as depicted in art and literature, architecture designed with rain in show more mind, and the likely effects of global climate change on our relationship with the water that falls, proverbially, into each life, at least a little.

Review: I love me a good rainy day, so I was a natural fit for this book. And it was especially appropriate after moving from somewhere with occasional good solid steadily rainy days to somewhere with almost daily brief torrential downpours - at least during the summer when I read this. This book also ticks a lot of my non-fiction boxes: microhistory on a unique topic, a blend of science and culture and history, a good source of trivia, some exotic locations, etc. (Not to mention references to some of my favorites: Douglas Adams, Ray Bradbury, Doctor Who.) Barnett writes smoothly and engagingly, and seemed equally comfortable writing science as she did writing a travelogue. But what I most enjoyed about this book was the new perspective she gave on something so familiar. I learned a lot of history, sure, and brushed up on a lot of the science. But what I really took away from this was the moments of "Huh, you know, she's right, we have a bunch of specific scientific terms for things like cloud formations, but no shared lexicon when it comes to types of rain." (This was one of the Douglas Adams references, to So Long and Thanks for All the Fish.) I also thought her ideas about the relationship between rain and religion - that religions that were born in arid agricultural regions tend to be monotheistic, with God as a paternal figure that can give or withhold the precious rain, while regions that experience the yearly innundation of the monsoon tend to be polytheistic, and tend to have a cyclical vision of birth and death and rebirth - were fascinating. I don't know how well they would hold up under intense scrutiny, but it's certainly something interesting to consider. On a less grand scale, I also never realized before reading this book that the Morton Salt slogan "When it rains, it pours" slogan was a pun on the fact that the salt doesn't clump (and thus will pour) in humid weather. So in general, I quite enjoyed this book, although of course there were some parts that I found less interesting and thus somewhat slower going than others. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: If you like meterology, microhistories, or just a good rainy day, you'll probably find something in this book that you didn't know before. Worth the read. show less

The back cover to my LT review copy of Rain says, "rain is a conversation we share." Yes, it binds us regardless of who we are -- friends, family, or strangers. But as Barnett's book shows throughout, that sharing transcends mere weather circumstances; it binds us through associations and deeper meanings. The book runs the gamut -- it is a cultural history after all -- but I was particularly drawn into the ninth chapter, "Writers on the Storm." Barnett touches on Morrissey in rainy Manchester and Kurt Cobain in equally rainy Seattle, artists who both played a big part in my musical evolution and who are bound by rain -- obvious now, but not something I'd considered before. Not every chapter clicked for me, but in a book like this there show more is something for everybody. show less

Rain: A Natural and Cultural History by Cynthia Barnett held my attention from the first paragraphs. Invoking the use of rain in the works of one of my most beloved authors, Ray Bradbury grabbed my attention. But her beautiful and descriptive use of language held it, and I found this book difficult to put down. Every single chapter is filled with facts, history, unexpected bits of trivia and it is entertaining, throughout !

The author used rain to link everything from the creation of our planet, to popular literature, to historic and biblical events. She brought to our attention the connection of rain to everything from the plauge to migration and use of agriculture in various parts of our world. Even film, filmakers, poets and poetry show more make an appearance, as does, of course, science. The very lengthy notes make it clear just how much research has gone into writing this book. The compilation of these notes into a beautiful story about one of the most important elements of our survival is something only a gifted author can accomplish.

We all know in some small part of our mind that we need rain to survive. But Rain: A Natural and Cultural History makes it very clear just how much we need it, and explains in very readable chapters just how much and exactly why it matters, and how everything is connected with rain.I mean Rain, because of there is any word in our language tht deserves to be capitalized Rain is the word, and rain what drives so much of history, of life itself. The opposite of Rain, Drought, also has a distinct impact. An impact that most of us give little thought to, unless we are the ones experiencing it.

Climate change, is it real, does it matter? Do you care? I strongly recommend this book ! It is as beautifully written as it is informative. show less

As a weather geek, I was intending to add Ms. Barnett's book to my "specialized" section, to add to my books about snow and wind and clouds and forecasting and storms, but this book proved to be so much more. It is an absolutely marvelous compilation about every aspect of rain that any one could think of and extends far beyond the mere act of precipitation itself.
a short (very short) list of the subjects covered in this most enjoyable book include: why our fingers wrinkle; the effects of drought on ancient civilizations; incredibly delayed sea voyages in he age of sail; witchcraft trials and the weather; a (short) history of radio (and then television) weather forecasting programs; the history of rainwear; the invention of windshield show more wipers (spoiler alert: it was a woman); Thomas Jefferson's mistake on the mount; Frank Lloyd Wright's "appreciation" of rain; Manifest Destiny; the lack of regard for black laborers working on Mississippi levees; the contenious history of Rain Making, including the U.S. miliary's attempt to flood the Ho Chi Minh Trail; the origin of the Post Office Motto; rain and the arts (with a short but intense dive into music, from Chopin to Morrissey); a terrific section on the chemistry of that magic "smell of rain", both before and after a storm and the magic of Indian perfumers and the clay and sands of their native Kannauj District in Uttar Pradesh; the folly of channelizing rivers and streams in Florida and Southern California, it's disaterous results and the beginnings of attempts to rectify yet another man-made disaster; rains of fish and frogs, red rains and black rains; the deadlyLondon Fogs; and, finally, the effect of climate change on that Mecca of rain, Cherrapunji, India. In short, nothing is left out.
This book is like that fount of all knowledge, the legendary Junior Woodchuck Guidebook, but with it's scope narrowed to rain. An absolutely marvelous read, a must for weather lovers and an indispensable tool for newcomers to the joy of reading about weather and climate. show less

Дождь за окном – самое время пристроиться где-нибудь в тепле с чашечкой чего-нибудь погорячее и начать про этот самый дождь читать. Для этого занятия как раз подойдет книга, собравшая немало премий и рассказывающая об этих осадках немало такого, о чем ни в школе не учат, ни Гидрометцентр не просветит. Дождь из рыбин, регулярно выпадающий в Гондурасе, породил популярный фестиваль; американский show more метеоканал-сенсация (в него, как и в MTV, сперва никто не верил) был куплен за 3,5 млрд долларов; в Индии особой популярностью пользуются духи с ароматом дождя, а капли воды, падающие с неба, на самом деле похожи на парашюты, а не на привычные конусы. Дождь помогает некоторым орхидеям размножаться, армия США разрабатывала против него операции, а Фредерик Шопен лучше всех «сыграл» дождь в прелюдии «Дождевая капля». Дождеведение действительно получилось занимательным: непогода пролетит за чтением незаметно, если конечно вы не в Уганде на озере Виктория, где грозы грохочут 242 дня в году. show less