Tornado Hunter: Getting Inside the Most Violent Storms on Earth

by Stefan Bechtel, Tim Samaras

Of all nature's weapons, tornadoes are among the most unforgiving, and here is an unforgettable portrait of these storms and one extraordinary man who challenged them, and produced the first-ever photographs snatched from a rampaging twister's black heart.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Memoir, Science Nature

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Heidi J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read. I learned quite a lot! I was surprised to learn just how much we still don't know about tornadoes. My biggest complaint about this book was that occasionally it seemed repetitive, and the order of the chapters was baffling to me. (The jumping back and forth in time occasionally was odd, especially when a more dramatic situation was narrated first, leaving the following chapter to feel kind of anticlimactic.)

[Lanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book about as much as it pulled on my emotions. Reading the quotes of Tim and reading his stories was emotionally heavy, when this book was written they had no idea that Tim would be dead within a decade later. Destroyed by what he loved so much and the storm took others he held dear with him. He pressured throughout this book just how much he cared for his fellow storm chasers and team mates. I'm sure the last moments of his life he wished he was alone and not with his son and friend. My heart still aches for his family, especially his wife.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

[Jessica Madden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first half of this book and I learnt so much about tornadoes. But then when I began reading the second half of it, I started to grow bored and it wasn't gripping me anymore.

[Keith Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool book on tornados.

[Patrick Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid introduction into the world of storm chasing, but the book probably reads faster for those who are more familiar with weather science.

[Don Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love reading about tornadoes. Book was interesting but near end just got tedious. Too long. I quit with about a quarter to go.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read though it definitely didn't age well in spots, since it did come out several years before Tim Samaras, Carl Young and Paul Samaras perished at El Reno.

[Olivia Plasencia · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book started off really strong with interviews from people that survived a tornado that hit their small town, it them lost a lot of momentum. The writer seemed to be a little all over the place with the topic of weather and we even took a long side trip on chasing lightning. I almost stopped reading it but then it got to the history of Mr. Fujita, who as many know created the scale for tornados. This books was interesting but it seemed to be all over the map. When the writer follows the team on the storm chases I felt that part of the book was just too boring. Still the book was written with deceased storm chaser Tim Samaras so I felt like I needed to finish it. The writer just tackled the subject too broadly but even so I did enjoy some parts a lot would rather those chapters with five stars, while other chapters would barley get two. It's sad to read Tim's thoughts on safely since he was killed in a chase years after the book was completed.

[pianogal · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new favorite weather book. Seriously. This is a great mix of storm chasing and science. And Tim Samaris was a freakin' genius. It's somewhat heartbreaking after the events in El Reno last year. But after reading how careful Tim and his team always was (there's a whole chapter one having an escape plan for pete's sake), it just goes to show how monstrous the El Reno storm was. That's the take away - even the most prepared and careful chaser can run into trouble if the storm is big enough and behaves so unusually.

One bittersweet moment - Tim makes an offhand comment that he hopes if a tornado does get him, that it's not a wimpy one. It took the widest tornado on record to do it. Still sad, but at least you know he was doing what he loved to do.

Thanks Tim and team for all the work you did to keep us safe!

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book shortly after Tim Samaras' death, thinking it would really interesting to read about storm chasing from Samaras' perpective. I've watched, and enjoyed, Discovery Channels Storm Chasers which features Samaras' and I wanted to read about storm chasing form his perspective.

Well, Tim Samaras didn't write this book. I might have liked it better had he written it and while it does talk about Storm Chasing, there's a lot of just basic science stuff in there which, if you'e watched weather related television shows, you already know. It was redundant to me and occupied at least half of the book.

The first half of the book which is mostly focused on storm chasing is very interesting, but you could skip the second half and have a better experience..

[Alex Hartwell]

Filled with entertaining and realistic descriptions of real life storm chases by the legendary Tim Samaras, this book was fun to read and I finished it in two days -- mainly because there's a lot of information to skim over regarding meteorological history and Samaras' childhood and teen years. I didn't expect this to be as much of a biography as it turned out to be.

The book didn't give me much information about storms and tornadoes -- just the basics were discussed here, which I guess was the point. So getting right to it, this book is more of a pop science book in that its job IS to entertain you, rather than teach you. I thought there would be interesting takeaways from someone with Samaras' stature.

A fun read, but not much more.

[Sandra Strange · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have any urge to see a tornado, even by proxy, this book's for you. It details the story of Tim Samaras and many other "tornado hunters," who risk life and limb, sacrificing time and livelihood during tornado seasons, to search out, photograph and study tornadoes. Readers will learn about this kind of devastating storm as the author tells the history of those studying this phenomenon, throwing in harrowing tales of some of the most devastating storms that have destroyed towns and lives during the last hundred years.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book, and not just because it's about a subject for which I already have an intense passion.

Samaras is a man with passion, and that comes through very clearly. The subject material is obviously very tornado-focused, but does a great job of balancing content, making it accessible for both the lay person with very little knowledge and the seasoned meteorologist or storm chaser.

Plus, the Hokie Storm Chasers get a mention, and you can never go wrong with that.

[Rozanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a badly written book. The author constantly repeats himself, sometimes using the exact same metaphor and exact same wording he used in the previous chapter. Somehow this guy manages to make tornadoes boring.

Avoid this book.

[Andrea Kepner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will admit that I picked up this book after seeing Tim Samaras on Season 3 of Storm Chasers, but I was pretty sure I'd enjoy it anyway since the cowriter was Stefan Bechtel (F5). I was not disappointed.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

RIP Tim Samaras
I absolutely love storms and watching TWISTEX and the team on Storm Chasers. I would have preferred if the book had more about Tim and his life in it. It did have some dull parts but over all I loved it

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting (and slightly self-serving) look at tornadoes and tornado hunting. Very cool photographs and an interesting history of Fujita (the guy who categorized tornadoes).

[David R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an especially deep treatment of the subject, but it is consistently interesting and well-paced. It is more revealing about the personalities of storm chasers than about the science.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excelent first-person accounts of tornado hunters, along with easily understood explanations of the science of tornados.

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information, enjoyable read.

[Keith Veeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

RIP Tim Samaras

[Dana Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative. Great stories by great storm chasers.