Title: Isaac's Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in Human History
Author: Erik Larson
First of all, I was a huge fan of Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City: Murder. Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America so I had had my eye on Isaac's Storm (no pun intended) for a while. But after moving to Texas and living through last fall's hurricane season (including an evacuation to Dallas), I felt like this was one I should read, if only to scare the holy crap out of myself.
In reading the book, I discovered that about 25 years ago, the town directly south of us had 48 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. I think we'll be buying that optional flood insurance that I've been telling Eddie we don't really need. If we got 48 inches of rain, I'd be typing at my computer desk underwater.
All joking aside, Larson, like in Devil did a great job of understanding and making understandable his protagonist. In fact, as a die-hard fiction reader, it was easy for me to forget that I was reading non-fiction when reading both Isaac's Storm and In Cold Blood. And a true story that reads like fiction is the best kind of story of all.
--originally published 3/17/06
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