Volcano Weather: The Story of 1816, the Year Without a Summer

by Henry Stommel

classic chronologyl of the event

Genres: History, Science, Nonfiction, American, Geology

177 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Eddie Whitlock · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another book that may have started as a dissertation or academic paper and was expanded. As is often the case, it was probably better without the padding.

The first three chapters cover most of the pertinent information. The later chapters get into reviews of the exxagerations about the event, detailed statistics and claims of correlations with other historic events.

The most interesting point was unexpected: Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein during this event. That alone makes my having read it worth the time.

[J.P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very dull treatment of an interesting topic. In 1815 the eruption of Mt. Tambora in Indonesia threw so much debris into the atmosphere that it cut down on incoming sunlight which in turn lowered temperatures and changed the weather across the planet. Numerous facts but next to nothing from the human interest side and how people were affected

[spoon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got really random at the end in what seemed like suss methods? I started skimming b/c I got board and didn't feel like figuring out exactly why is was suss. In any case - the narrative notes on research at the end were interesting! researching this stuff was so much harder and in the archives before digitization etc. Glad I'm done~

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, this book did not disappoint. As a genealogist I found the book to deliver what I expected, a glimpse into the events that occurred after the eruption of the volcano, Mt. Tambora, in 1815. I have ancestors who lived in Maine and New Brunswick as well as Germany during this time.

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mount Tambora may not have caused 1816 to be "the year without a summer," but it most certainly had a part to play in it. While not the most definitive treatment, the Stommels give a reliable account of how Tambora's eruption placed many of the elements in motion that led to a very cool summer in parts of Europe and North America. They don't attribute it all to a single cause, but this book reminds us that we humans are in thrall to the forces of nature in a way we are only beginning to comprehend. Definitely worth the time to read this little book. You may find more here: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.

[Dayna]

I believe I forgot to mark this. I think I tried reading it and it was a list of weather reports clumsily woven together in the attempt of some kind of narrative. Never finished.