WEATHER

An overview of weather in The Nature Company Guide series that is rather holistic in its approach, yet difficult to access for the solid information its audience will need. Burroughs, Richard Whitaker, Ted Robertson, Eleanor Vallier-Talbot, and Bob Crowder each write one or more of the eight chapters on "The Nature of Weather," "Weather-watching Through the Ages," etc. Topics within each chapter are treated in double-page spreads of seven or eight short but difficult paragraphs accompanied by several small full-color photographs, drawings, and charts, further set off by proverbs, poems, and quotations pertaining to weather. The authors include intriguing information, but much of it can be found only by leafing through the text and not in the combination glossary/index, e.g., an excellent "Table of International Weather Symbols" is not listed, nor is a chart naming clouds, nor one on the layers of the atmosphere. The foreword recommends taking this handsome volume along on a picnic; it's true that it is more of a browsing book, with limited usefulness in the classroom.