What do you think?
Rate this book
The Coming Storm
Tornadoes, cyclones, tsunamis…Weather can be deadly—especially when it strikes without warning. Millions of Americans could soon find themselves at the mercy of violent weather if the public data behind lifesaving storm alerts gets privatized for personal gain. In his first Audible Original, New York Times best-selling author and journalist Michael Lewis delivers hard-hitting research on not-so-random weather data—and how Washington plans to release it. He also digs deep into the lives of two scientists who revolutionized climate predictions, bringing warning systems to previously unimaginable levels of accuracy. One is Kathy Sullivan, a gifted scientist among the first women in space; the other, D.J. Patil, is a trickster-turned-mathematician and a political adviser. Most urgently, Lewis’s narrative reveals the potential cost of putting a price tag on information that could save lives. Please note The Fifth Risk includes the entirety of The Coming Storm.© 2018 Michael Lewis (P) 2018 Audible Originals, LLC
3 pages, Audible Audio
First published July 31, 2018
70 people are currently reading
3195 people want to read
About the author
Michael Lewis
42 books15.1k followersMichael Monroe Lewis is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to Vanity Fair since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. He is known for his nonfiction work, particularly his coverage of financial crises and behavioral finance.
Lewis was born in New Orleans and attended Princeton University, from which he graduated with a degree in art history. After attending the London School of Economics, he began a career on Wall Street during the 1980s as a bond salesman at Salomon Brothers. The experience prompted him to write his first book, Liar's Poker (1989). Fourteen years later, Lewis wrote Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (2003), in which he investigated the success of Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics. His 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game was his first to be adapted into a film, The Blind Side (2009). In 2010, he released The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. The film adaptation of Moneyball was released in 2011, followed by The Big Short in 2015.
Lewis's books have won two Los Angeles Times Book Prizes and several have reached number one on the New York Times Bestsellers Lists, including his most recent book, Going Infinite (2023).
Lewis was born in New Orleans and attended Princeton University, from which he graduated with a degree in art history. After attending the London School of Economics, he began a career on Wall Street during the 1980s as a bond salesman at Salomon Brothers. The experience prompted him to write his first book, Liar's Poker (1989). Fourteen years later, Lewis wrote Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (2003), in which he investigated the success of Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics. His 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game was his first to be adapted into a film, The Blind Side (2009). In 2010, he released The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. The film adaptation of Moneyball was released in 2011, followed by The Big Short in 2015.
Lewis's books have won two Los Angeles Times Book Prizes and several have reached number one on the New York Times Bestsellers Lists, including his most recent book, Going Infinite (2023).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 731 reviews
August 2, 2018
Great, concise story about weather and data science. Some interesting backstory about the current administration. Had me taking baby steps by deleting Accuweather from my phone. Worth a listen. Lewis always has the best information about topics. Recommended.
November 8, 2019
The most relevant audiobook of the year.
The unsung heroes at NOAA will likely save your life someday (soon).
Or not.
Check out Audible’s informative page: https://www.audible.com/pd/Science-Te...
September 10, 2018
At this very moment there is a hurricane heading towards me and it occurs to me that maybe this was not the best time to read this book. While very short, it's very much worth your while. I only wish it was 5 times as long.
This isn't a book about climate change or the growing threat of severe weather. It's much more about how weather predictions have changed and the massive troves of data NOAA gathers. It's also a quiet indictment of the current administration and the many opportunities they've squandered as we've just started to consider this data and what it can teach us. (If I still had the Accuweather app on my phone, I'd be deleting it. YIKES.) Weather data is so connected with public safety that any attempts to privatize it or monetize it have truly horrifying consequences.
Just as the country has only begun to discover what we can do with the weather data the government collects, the book has only started to answer the question. I really, really enjoyed this book but I also really, really wanted 10 more hours of it.
This isn't a book about climate change or the growing threat of severe weather. It's much more about how weather predictions have changed and the massive troves of data NOAA gathers. It's also a quiet indictment of the current administration and the many opportunities they've squandered as we've just started to consider this data and what it can teach us. (If I still had the Accuweather app on my phone, I'd be deleting it. YIKES.) Weather data is so connected with public safety that any attempts to privatize it or monetize it have truly horrifying consequences.
Just as the country has only begun to discover what we can do with the weather data the government collects, the book has only started to answer the question. I really, really enjoyed this book but I also really, really wanted 10 more hours of it.
April 18, 2022
The Coming Storm is the second Audible-exclusive book excerpt I have listened to. Usually now Amazon gives you the chance to sample the books you are considering buying. Audible here gives us/me (not you, you weren’t given Audible as a birthday present, were you? I didn't think so!) about a ninety-minute taste of this book, what would seem to be a series of excerpts or the beginning of storylines about the weather, read by its author, Michael Lewis (Moneyball, The Big Short, Money Culture).
Lewis has two objects here; the first is to let you know that we have more weather data than ever, though the far right is trying to privatize that information for the greed of the few at the expense of the many, along the lines of most ongoing privatization efforts. The National Weather Service and NOA are undermined by private “weather data” vultures such as Accu-Weather, who occupy very dangerous territory as they seek to repress free access to weather data to sell it to us. Climate change is creating the worst weather in history, where thousands are being killed by the most violent storms and heat ever, and weather profiteers, with the help of richly funded right-wing media reports to make their case, are convincing millions to get storm insurance and related information.
The second issue Lewis highlights in this book is to introduce us to meteorological heroes seeking to both make this potentially life-saving information available for free to the public, and to research why it is, even with the best of information, people do not seek shelter or believe things are as bad as they are. Psychological issues. Our history of following the Farmer’s Almanac, of saying oh, that tornado is coming but what are the odds it kills me? You know, they predict the weather wrong more than half the time, so we can ignore those sirens, which is no longer true. And right-wing media that says that the worsening weather is anti-biz fake news.
This is an introduction to some usefully provocative issues in our times. The title says that it is a “coming” storm, but it and they are already here.
I guess it is really a three star excerpt, pointing to a more ambitious project, but it's provocative and usefully disturbing, so because of the importance of the topic, I'll give it four stars. It's really just a tantalizing introduction to privatization and public resistance to public safety.
Lewis has two objects here; the first is to let you know that we have more weather data than ever, though the far right is trying to privatize that information for the greed of the few at the expense of the many, along the lines of most ongoing privatization efforts. The National Weather Service and NOA are undermined by private “weather data” vultures such as Accu-Weather, who occupy very dangerous territory as they seek to repress free access to weather data to sell it to us. Climate change is creating the worst weather in history, where thousands are being killed by the most violent storms and heat ever, and weather profiteers, with the help of richly funded right-wing media reports to make their case, are convincing millions to get storm insurance and related information.
The second issue Lewis highlights in this book is to introduce us to meteorological heroes seeking to both make this potentially life-saving information available for free to the public, and to research why it is, even with the best of information, people do not seek shelter or believe things are as bad as they are. Psychological issues. Our history of following the Farmer’s Almanac, of saying oh, that tornado is coming but what are the odds it kills me? You know, they predict the weather wrong more than half the time, so we can ignore those sirens, which is no longer true. And right-wing media that says that the worsening weather is anti-biz fake news.
This is an introduction to some usefully provocative issues in our times. The title says that it is a “coming” storm, but it and they are already here.
I guess it is really a three star excerpt, pointing to a more ambitious project, but it's provocative and usefully disturbing, so because of the importance of the topic, I'll give it four stars. It's really just a tantalizing introduction to privatization and public resistance to public safety.
September 10, 2018
Michael Lewis writes with his usual engaging thoroughness about the Commerce Department, NOAA, and the National Weather Service. He explains the way in which they use big data to solve important problems, and their ongoing fight against the commercialization and privatization of this weather data. It’s under three hours long but it’s chock-full of such revelatory facts and meaty interviews that it often feels like A full length book. However, it did seem to lack the organization that readers have come to expect from a typical Lewis project. If you have an audible subscription this is one you shouldn't miss!
October 4, 2018
ETA: Apparently, AccuWeather really, really doesn't like this book. See the comment thread to this review.
This Audible Original is a short work by Michael Lewis, who's written a lot of good non-fiction about economics and politics, including The Big Short and Boomerang, and yet another upcoming Trump book, The Fifth Risk.
The Coming Storm is partly about weather prediction and how the government is (and is not) dealing with it, but a lot of it is about the emerging field of data science, a term that used to have a highly specialized meaning and now is everywhere. Anyone who munges an Excel sheet today is called a "data scientist," and universities are offering degrees in Data Science, but a few years ago, this was just a word for someone who processes lots of data and tries to answer questions with it, until our computing power and the emergence of Big Data enabled us to answer questions that no one would have every thought to try to answer just by looking at millions of samples and plotting trends.
It turns out that data is good for lots and lots of things besides actuarial tables - predicting the weather, for example, and perhaps more importantly, predicting people's reactions to the weather and how best to keep people from dying.
Where the story gets interesting (and political) is where business enters the picture. Some of you may remember a few years ago whenMitt Romney (ETA: my bad, it was Rick Santorum. Harder to remember details sometimes after listening to an audiobook) sponsored a bill to make it illegal for the government to issue weather reports. He wanted this to be purely a commercial service - why should the government be offering for free something that private companies were doing for profit? The government isn't supposed to compete with private enterprise!
Well, the problem is those private companies got their data from the government, so the American taxpayer would actually be paying twice - once for the government services that collect weather data, and then again for the privilege of seeing it.
The CEO of AccuWeather, who was behind this scheme, is now the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US government agency responsible for all weather services. So basically, Trump put a fox in charge of the hen house. His mandate seems to be explicitly to destroy the agency and its taxpayer-provided services.
This is a recurring theme in Lewis's book, such as when the U.S. government's chief data scientist (an office created by Obama) waits to meet with Trump. And waits, and waits. Trump never talks to government scientists. He doesn't care what they have to offer, or what they could tell him.
The data scientist himself is an interesting person, as are several of the other people profiled in this book, all of them "rogues" who figured out how to do things no one had ever done before, with information. All of them sidelined by the current administration and its hostility to science and anything that would threaten profits for Trump's friends.
Sad.
This Audible Original is a short work by Michael Lewis, who's written a lot of good non-fiction about economics and politics, including The Big Short and Boomerang, and yet another upcoming Trump book, The Fifth Risk.
The Coming Storm is partly about weather prediction and how the government is (and is not) dealing with it, but a lot of it is about the emerging field of data science, a term that used to have a highly specialized meaning and now is everywhere. Anyone who munges an Excel sheet today is called a "data scientist," and universities are offering degrees in Data Science, but a few years ago, this was just a word for someone who processes lots of data and tries to answer questions with it, until our computing power and the emergence of Big Data enabled us to answer questions that no one would have every thought to try to answer just by looking at millions of samples and plotting trends.
It turns out that data is good for lots and lots of things besides actuarial tables - predicting the weather, for example, and perhaps more importantly, predicting people's reactions to the weather and how best to keep people from dying.
Where the story gets interesting (and political) is where business enters the picture. Some of you may remember a few years ago when
Well, the problem is those private companies got their data from the government, so the American taxpayer would actually be paying twice - once for the government services that collect weather data, and then again for the privilege of seeing it.
The CEO of AccuWeather, who was behind this scheme, is now the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US government agency responsible for all weather services. So basically, Trump put a fox in charge of the hen house. His mandate seems to be explicitly to destroy the agency and its taxpayer-provided services.
This is a recurring theme in Lewis's book, such as when the U.S. government's chief data scientist (an office created by Obama) waits to meet with Trump. And waits, and waits. Trump never talks to government scientists. He doesn't care what they have to offer, or what they could tell him.
The data scientist himself is an interesting person, as are several of the other people profiled in this book, all of them "rogues" who figured out how to do things no one had ever done before, with information. All of them sidelined by the current administration and its hostility to science and anything that would threaten profits for Trump's friends.
Sad.
August 18, 2018
This turned out to be an insightful look 'behind-the-scenes' at the politics and considerations of weather data collection and reporting, specifically: access to the data, responsibilities of the government to warn/protect its citizens and its track record on neutrality in managing it. You will hear about the viewpoints and motivations of different parties, such as NOAA, Public Weather Service, NASA, and profit players like Accu-Weather. It was surprising to learn how much interaction/influence there is going on between government players and profit players, and the current attempts on both sides to direct/manipulate the conversation. If you're not a fan of the current administration's actions in the area of environment, this book will definitely raise your ire even more :(
It took a bit of time for the author to get to the heart of the matter, so don't give up if you're wondering what the point is when you start listening. It's a valuable listen for sure, but a frustrating one realizing the current administration is taking us steps backward in a time when this topic becomes even more critical to society as climate change speeds up, the planet warms, and large-scale weather events become more significant.
It took a bit of time for the author to get to the heart of the matter, so don't give up if you're wondering what the point is when you start listening. It's a valuable listen for sure, but a frustrating one realizing the current administration is taking us steps backward in a time when this topic becomes even more critical to society as climate change speeds up, the planet warms, and large-scale weather events become more significant.
August 14, 2018
This short account of how data helps us, and is kept from us, was riveting. Weather data has long been collected by NOAA, and paid for with our tax dollars. Some entrepreneurial types created a way to sell this data back to American consumers via weather apps and websites. Shockingly, they also found ways to make sure that the free government data was buried and in many cases, NOAA and other entities were prohibited from sharing this data. Weather can kill - tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes and more. This conspiracy to sell Americans information that we've already paid for is genius and diabotical. And we, the American taxpayers, are the chumps making these guys rich.
This is one of the stories in this short audiobook. I wish it were available in print form.
It is related to Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, a book which tells the story of the destruction of the Louisiana coastline. Locals continue to support the forces destroying their area and livelihoods. At the core of both books is the role of data and science in saving our lives, and our environment. Compelling.
This is one of the stories in this short audiobook. I wish it were available in print form.
It is related to Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, a book which tells the story of the destruction of the Louisiana coastline. Locals continue to support the forces destroying their area and livelihoods. At the core of both books is the role of data and science in saving our lives, and our environment. Compelling.
September 30, 2018
Michael Lewis, best known for his financial journalism ("Moneyball," "The Big Short," etc.) has been commissioned by Audible to produce a series of long-form pieces about how well U.S. citizens are served by the large, bureaucratic agencies (Department of Agriculture, Department of Health and Human Services, etc.) that often receive little more than back page coverage in print newspapers. His first entry is "The Coming Storm," which looks at the Department of Commerce, and in particular the National Weather Service, a sub-agency of NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Lewis' main point is that the Weather Service has become increasingly adept at forecasting meteorological threats, and that the hard-working scientists who collect and analyze the data upon which those forecasts are based deserve more credit than they receive for the lives and property they've saved. It's an inspiring tale, filled with heroic characters like Cathy (Kathy?) Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space, who moved from NASA to NOAA when her career as an astronaut ended. She is determined to find ways to make Americans pay more attention to the warnings issued by the Weather Service when life-threatening weather is imminent, and Lewis does a good job of explaining her dedicated public service. At the same time, Lewis seems overly eager to portray the Trump Administration officials like Wilbur Ross as bad guys whose only desire is to find ways to exploit public data for private gain. He profiles Barry Myer (Meyer?), the Trump-appointed chief of NOAA, who ran a privately-owned forecasting firm, Accu-Weather, before joining the government. For Lewis, it's prima facie evidence of wrongdoing that Accu-Weather packages and sells forecasts to corporate clients, including healthcare systems, insurance companies and the news media, using data paid for by U.S. taxpayers. What's odd is that one of his heroes, Stanley Weinberg (sp?), built a business that sells crop insurance based on public weather data. Lewis mentions in passing that Monsanto bought Weinberg's business for $1.1 billion dollars. However, I get the feeling that Lewis doesn't consider that particular use of public resources for private gain to be a problem, mostly because, like Lewis himself, Weinberg is a typically anti-Trump Silicon Valley billionaire. This somehow justifies the profiteering at public expense. Be that as it may, "The Coming Storm" is a well-told tale about the myriad ways that our government serves the public interest. I'll look forward to Lewis' next entry in this Audible series.
November 18, 2018
The book starts off with the Joplin Tornado which killed about 150 people in the town of Joplin, Missouri in 2011. The question that vexes weather scientists and others is why did so many people disregard the warnings provided the government? These people were living in the so called 'Tonado alley' and knew the dangers that tornadoes posed. The rest of the book is devoted to finding the answer to this conundrum.
Michael Lewis then gets into the stories of the people involved, the challenges faced by them and how they deal with them. The two main characters are Kathryn Sullivan, the head of the NOAA and the first american woman astronaut to walk in space and DJ Patil, the first Chief Data Scientist of the USA, have lead interesting lives and the way they deal with various challenges and setbacks in their lives is inspirational. Then, Michael Lewis gives us an understanding of NOAA, the NWS and the Department of Commerce. He then talks about the unbridled venality of the Trump administration and how they have tried to make Barry Myers, the CEO of Accuweather, the head of the NOAA. Like so many other instances in the trump administration, this is a clear conflict of interest. Michael then explains why this conflict of interest is bad and what it would mean if the weather data collected by the US agencies was not made public or not collected in the first place. The book ends with some behavioural studies on why people did not trust the government. There are basically three factors - the common person does not understand data, they do not understand probabilistic thinking and they do not think that a tornado will actually hit them. I would suggest reading the book to get a more deeper look at what these insights mean
Michael Lewis weaves a great tale in the Coming Storm. Like his others books, Michael Lewis injects life into an otherwise dull and dreary topic by focusing on people and what makes them tick. I actually finished the book at home by putting it on my audio system and listened exclusively to it since the bits I had heard in my commute made me quite curious.
That said, The Coming Storm is not without its faults. For one, it is too unbalanced. The government agencies all come out of it smelling of roses while he paints the private enterprises with the same evil brush. That said Accuweather seems to be quite evil and I for one will not be installing it on my phone.
The second problem is the inordinate praise for Big Data while not devoting enough time to its dangers.
The third issue I had was that it was a little bit difficult to keep track of all the characters and the multiple jumps back and forth in time. I started listening to it in my commute and I could not devote enough attention to this structure, which is more suited to a text form.
And a general observation on the audio book. Michael Lewis does the narration and while it is good, it would have been nice to have more voice characters.
The Coming Storm is a good non-fiction book which gives us a new found respect for those people who are committed to woring for the public good and specifically, weather forecasters and scientists. And I would love to hear more about Kathy Sullivan and DJ Patil in their own books.
Michael Lewis then gets into the stories of the people involved, the challenges faced by them and how they deal with them. The two main characters are Kathryn Sullivan, the head of the NOAA and the first american woman astronaut to walk in space and DJ Patil, the first Chief Data Scientist of the USA, have lead interesting lives and the way they deal with various challenges and setbacks in their lives is inspirational. Then, Michael Lewis gives us an understanding of NOAA, the NWS and the Department of Commerce. He then talks about the unbridled venality of the Trump administration and how they have tried to make Barry Myers, the CEO of Accuweather, the head of the NOAA. Like so many other instances in the trump administration, this is a clear conflict of interest. Michael then explains why this conflict of interest is bad and what it would mean if the weather data collected by the US agencies was not made public or not collected in the first place. The book ends with some behavioural studies on why people did not trust the government. There are basically three factors - the common person does not understand data, they do not understand probabilistic thinking and they do not think that a tornado will actually hit them. I would suggest reading the book to get a more deeper look at what these insights mean
Michael Lewis weaves a great tale in the Coming Storm. Like his others books, Michael Lewis injects life into an otherwise dull and dreary topic by focusing on people and what makes them tick. I actually finished the book at home by putting it on my audio system and listened exclusively to it since the bits I had heard in my commute made me quite curious.
That said, The Coming Storm is not without its faults. For one, it is too unbalanced. The government agencies all come out of it smelling of roses while he paints the private enterprises with the same evil brush. That said Accuweather seems to be quite evil and I for one will not be installing it on my phone.
The second problem is the inordinate praise for Big Data while not devoting enough time to its dangers.
The third issue I had was that it was a little bit difficult to keep track of all the characters and the multiple jumps back and forth in time. I started listening to it in my commute and I could not devote enough attention to this structure, which is more suited to a text form.
And a general observation on the audio book. Michael Lewis does the narration and while it is good, it would have been nice to have more voice characters.
The Coming Storm is a good non-fiction book which gives us a new found respect for those people who are committed to woring for the public good and specifically, weather forecasters and scientists. And I would love to hear more about Kathy Sullivan and DJ Patil in their own books.
August 5, 2018
Not Lewis’s finest. I’ve enjoyed previous books because they were so well laid out and organized and interesting. I didn’t like his last book that well either.
Hopefully he’ll get back to his old style of writing. If not his next book will be my last.
This book jumped all over the place. He also politicized the topic. Obama = good. Trump = bad. (Of course)
The section on big data was interesting though. Glad it was short.
Hopefully he’ll get back to his old style of writing. If not his next book will be my last.
This book jumped all over the place. He also politicized the topic. Obama = good. Trump = bad. (Of course)
The section on big data was interesting though. Glad it was short.
August 4, 2018
As an economist and a data analytics professional, I loved this book. It highlighted the role of data and how important it is to use the data to increase our knowledge and to improve our decisions. It is sad to see how this administration is destroying one true national wealth.
August 3, 2018
I was a big fan of Michael Lewis books, especially "The Big Short." Unfortunately, he has "written" an audio book which is no more than a political polemic designed to derail President Trump's nomination of Barry Myers -- a very good man and well qualified nominee -- to be administrator of NOAA.
How do I know? I'm retired from AccuWeather. I've known Barry since the late 80's.
Just about everything he writes about commercial meteorology is wrong. How wrong? Try this: http://www.mikesmithenterprisesblog.c...
Before we go any farther, I am a fan of the National Weather Service and am the author of a book full of praise about them: https://www.amazon.com/Warnings-Story...
In spite of what Mr. Lewis has written, there is a valuable role for commercial meteorology. The job of the NWS is to warn of storms for the public at large. The role of commercial meteorology is to take care of specific paying clients. There is more about that here: http://www.mikesmithenterprisesblog.c... There was a commercial meteorologist on the set of "Gone With the Wind" and it seemed to work out okay. When you get the weather from a TV meteorologist, you are NOT getting it from the NWS but from that commercial meteorologist.
We've lost a huge opportunity. Mr. Lewis could have interviewed people in the private sector of meteorology (he didn't) and written an important book examining the weather industry in the United States. I would have loved to read that.
How do I know? I'm retired from AccuWeather. I've known Barry since the late 80's.
Just about everything he writes about commercial meteorology is wrong. How wrong? Try this: http://www.mikesmithenterprisesblog.c...
Before we go any farther, I am a fan of the National Weather Service and am the author of a book full of praise about them: https://www.amazon.com/Warnings-Story...
In spite of what Mr. Lewis has written, there is a valuable role for commercial meteorology. The job of the NWS is to warn of storms for the public at large. The role of commercial meteorology is to take care of specific paying clients. There is more about that here: http://www.mikesmithenterprisesblog.c... There was a commercial meteorologist on the set of "Gone With the Wind" and it seemed to work out okay. When you get the weather from a TV meteorologist, you are NOT getting it from the NWS but from that commercial meteorologist.
We've lost a huge opportunity. Mr. Lewis could have interviewed people in the private sector of meteorology (he didn't) and written an important book examining the weather industry in the United States. I would have loved to read that.
August 7, 2018
michael lewis doing michael lewis things - you may be shocked to hear this but the trump administration may not be 100% altruistic in its policy and personnel decisions - which includes a shithead of mythical extent trying to *paywall the weather*
this is short; owing to graceful oblique narrative and also i think there is some kind of sequel coming? idk but this is 100% worth 2.5 hours, especially if you get it free as an audible subscriber
this is short; owing to graceful oblique narrative and also i think there is some kind of sequel coming? idk but this is 100% worth 2.5 hours, especially if you get it free as an audible subscriber
August 8, 2018
Very disappointing effort from a very good writer. This is little more than a political hack job, don't waste your time.
September 10, 2018
The age of Big Data is upon us, and mostly what we hear are the troubling and potentially terrifying consequences of business and government having easy access to all of our data. That's a real problem that we have to devote time and attention to dealing with.
Yet Big Data can do many other things, many of them very beneficial. The misnamed Department of Commerce collects enormous amounts of data about, among other things, the weather. Before the growth of the internet into its modern form, that data mostly sat on paper, and later on tape, and eventually some of it on servers, in the bowels of NOAA--the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, inside the Commerce Dept. Then a grad student with the foresight to see how useful vast stores of data could be went looking for weather data to test out a theory for his research, and stumbled upon a hole in the Commerce Dept. systems that let him download that data and work with it.
He didn't even know that it was the Commerce Dept. he'd gotten into. He had no idea NOAA was part of Commerce.
This book is a discussion of how much weather forecasting has improved because of NOAA's research and data collection, and what they and other clever people have been able to do with it.
It's about why people still discount National Weather Service warnings that could save their lives.
And it's about the private corporations that are trying to lock up that data so that, after you the taxpayer have paid for that research and data collection, you would then be required to pay again, to for-profit companies, for any use of that weather, including getting weather forecasts.
You may think you get your weather news from your local tv station or Accuweather or the Weather Channel, or your favorite weather app (I have several, for different purposes), but all that data comes from the National Weather Service, which is to say NOAA.
I happen to like how the Weather Channel repackages that information, but you and I and everyone with internet access can get the same information directly from NOAA's websites.
Also, Accuweather is lying to you when they say they're more accurate than NOAA. They're cherry-picking particular dates and locations when their meteorologists did a better job of interpreting NOAA's data than the National Weather Service did. That will happen sometimes; someone who knows nothing about horse racing will sometimes bet on the right horse when the expert picks the wrong one. It happens.
With weather forecasting, it doesn't happen often. And that data? Accuweather wouldn't have it if your tax dollars hadn't paid for NOAA to gather it.
Michael Lewis gives us a clear, lucid discussion of what's going on and what it all potentially means.
And also why you should not roll your eyes at the weather forecast, no matter whether you get it from the National Weather Service, or from one of the for-profit companies repackaging it for you.
Highly recommended.
I received this audiobook at no cost from Audible as part of their Audible Originals program, and am reviewing it voluntarily.
Yet Big Data can do many other things, many of them very beneficial. The misnamed Department of Commerce collects enormous amounts of data about, among other things, the weather. Before the growth of the internet into its modern form, that data mostly sat on paper, and later on tape, and eventually some of it on servers, in the bowels of NOAA--the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, inside the Commerce Dept. Then a grad student with the foresight to see how useful vast stores of data could be went looking for weather data to test out a theory for his research, and stumbled upon a hole in the Commerce Dept. systems that let him download that data and work with it.
He didn't even know that it was the Commerce Dept. he'd gotten into. He had no idea NOAA was part of Commerce.
This book is a discussion of how much weather forecasting has improved because of NOAA's research and data collection, and what they and other clever people have been able to do with it.
It's about why people still discount National Weather Service warnings that could save their lives.
And it's about the private corporations that are trying to lock up that data so that, after you the taxpayer have paid for that research and data collection, you would then be required to pay again, to for-profit companies, for any use of that weather, including getting weather forecasts.
You may think you get your weather news from your local tv station or Accuweather or the Weather Channel, or your favorite weather app (I have several, for different purposes), but all that data comes from the National Weather Service, which is to say NOAA.
I happen to like how the Weather Channel repackages that information, but you and I and everyone with internet access can get the same information directly from NOAA's websites.
Also, Accuweather is lying to you when they say they're more accurate than NOAA. They're cherry-picking particular dates and locations when their meteorologists did a better job of interpreting NOAA's data than the National Weather Service did. That will happen sometimes; someone who knows nothing about horse racing will sometimes bet on the right horse when the expert picks the wrong one. It happens.
With weather forecasting, it doesn't happen often. And that data? Accuweather wouldn't have it if your tax dollars hadn't paid for NOAA to gather it.
Michael Lewis gives us a clear, lucid discussion of what's going on and what it all potentially means.
And also why you should not roll your eyes at the weather forecast, no matter whether you get it from the National Weather Service, or from one of the for-profit companies repackaging it for you.
Highly recommended.
I received this audiobook at no cost from Audible as part of their Audible Originals program, and am reviewing it voluntarily.
November 7, 2019
I got this audiobook for free as part of my $15/month Audible membership. (Free as in, it didn't use up a credit.) It's about 2.5 hours long.
There are a lot of really interesting things in this book regarding government data collection and weather data. I don't read enough books about data, especially considering how important it is to our society today. Especially now that I live in an area prone to tornados, I was especially interested in the tornado section.
I don't understand the people who seemed not to like this book because they claim there is an attack on Trump contained within. Either the information regarding the Trump administration and data dissemination and restriction is correct or incorrect. None of the reviewers claim it's incorrect (except one person, more on him later). Let's say you support Trump and you think the information is correct but negatively described, well, go ahead and explain why it's okay to take away data (paid for with public funds) from public use that would help the public. There was one reviewer that claimed he formerly worked for AccuWeather, and that Lewis was incorrect about AccuWeather. He wrote an entire blog post basically confirming exactly what Lewis said.
I took a star away because I really don't like the entire concept of audiobooks that are only available on Audible. I think you should be able to verify sources in print. An audiobook-only format, especially for a book this short, strikes me as a glorified podcast. Also, I really didn't like the ending.
There are a lot of really interesting things in this book regarding government data collection and weather data. I don't read enough books about data, especially considering how important it is to our society today. Especially now that I live in an area prone to tornados, I was especially interested in the tornado section.
I don't understand the people who seemed not to like this book because they claim there is an attack on Trump contained within. Either the information regarding the Trump administration and data dissemination and restriction is correct or incorrect. None of the reviewers claim it's incorrect (except one person, more on him later). Let's say you support Trump and you think the information is correct but negatively described, well, go ahead and explain why it's okay to take away data (paid for with public funds) from public use that would help the public. There was one reviewer that claimed he formerly worked for AccuWeather, and that Lewis was incorrect about AccuWeather. He wrote an entire blog post basically confirming exactly what Lewis said.
I took a star away because I really don't like the entire concept of audiobooks that are only available on Audible. I think you should be able to verify sources in print. An audiobook-only format, especially for a book this short, strikes me as a glorified podcast. Also, I really didn't like the ending.
August 3, 2018
Michael Lewis writes about the Commerce Department and it's captivating and insightful and depressing and hopeful. He could, as the poets say, write about the phone book and I'd read. And enjoy.
October 18, 2021
AUDIOBOOK REVIEW
Lewis - the author of Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game and The Blind Side - takes a look at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which oversees the National Weather Service. The 2-1/2 hour feature explores the data that has been gathered by the Dept of Commerce for decades and is available FOR FREE to the public, along with the attempts by AccuWeather to restrict this data and sell it to the highest bidder, including - hold your breath here - the Trump administration proposing AccuWeather CEO Barry Myers as a candidate to run the NOAA, a staggering conflict of interest. Not as lengthy or focused as other Lewis books, this is nevertheless a fascinating read that explores a topic that many of us spend little time thinking about and examines it in a fresh new way.
Available only as an audiobook on Audible and free to subscribers (your results may vary)
Lewis - the author of Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game and The Blind Side - takes a look at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which oversees the National Weather Service. The 2-1/2 hour feature explores the data that has been gathered by the Dept of Commerce for decades and is available FOR FREE to the public, along with the attempts by AccuWeather to restrict this data and sell it to the highest bidder, including - hold your breath here - the Trump administration proposing AccuWeather CEO Barry Myers as a candidate to run the NOAA, a staggering conflict of interest. Not as lengthy or focused as other Lewis books, this is nevertheless a fascinating read that explores a topic that many of us spend little time thinking about and examines it in a fresh new way.
Available only as an audiobook on Audible and free to subscribers (your results may vary)
September 11, 2018
A really good, focused piece on an agency that people don’t know much about: NOAA. The more than 12,000 people agency methodically kept weather data on the US for decades and is continuing to improve their understanding of the data as well as their ability to predict disasters, specifically the hard-to-predict tornadoes. The story explains how people in the tornado corridor deals with the storm, how people became weather scientists, how they try to master the difficult art of making their findings useful, how they are decidedly a low profile lot never trying to advertise their achievements. These people are really unsung heroes and their data helped all kinds of new inventions such as helping farmers to predict when to fertilize which field to minimize waste and unwanted runoff.
As if getting the science part right is not tough enough, there is the politics and greed to deal with. Did you know NOAA is part of Commerce department, (which btw is headed by Wilbur Ross — a person who is not a billionaire but mistakenly treated as one by Forbes and yet happily pretending to be one). Did you know that Commerce department deals with all kinds of science and engineering things and so little about trade that it’s really a misnomer to call it that (and a bad idea to have people like Ross running it). And guess who the whitehouse wants to be the next head of NOAA, the CEO of accuweather who profits from public data provided by NOAA. This is even more dangerous than Scott Pruitt running EPA.
As if getting the science part right is not tough enough, there is the politics and greed to deal with. Did you know NOAA is part of Commerce department, (which btw is headed by Wilbur Ross — a person who is not a billionaire but mistakenly treated as one by Forbes and yet happily pretending to be one). Did you know that Commerce department deals with all kinds of science and engineering things and so little about trade that it’s really a misnomer to call it that (and a bad idea to have people like Ross running it). And guess who the whitehouse wants to be the next head of NOAA, the CEO of accuweather who profits from public data provided by NOAA. This is even more dangerous than Scott Pruitt running EPA.
Read
September 3, 2018I wish this had been a longer, more in-depth book because I was hooked and wanted more. That said, a fascinating look at the politicalization of weather and more specifically, how private interests in monetizing forecasting does and will have a major impact on how emergency weather situations will be communicated to the general public.
If you have AccuWeather on your person, delete it. Instead, rely on NOAA. (& interestingly, a part of the book talks about how weather forecasts had gotten buried on the NOAA site after the new administration came in and this is a thing my weather nerd self realized early on and was frustrated by but didn't know why).
If you have AccuWeather on your person, delete it. Instead, rely on NOAA. (& interestingly, a part of the book talks about how weather forecasts had gotten buried on the NOAA site after the new administration came in and this is a thing my weather nerd self realized early on and was frustrated by but didn't know why).
August 8, 2018
It is appaling what Trump is doing to information collection in the federal government.
September 26, 2018
Definitely not my thing.
November 16, 2018
This book was about weather. Yeah it was about weather. I think.
Here's what I can tell you about this book:
1. There was a woman who was once an astronaut involved now in weather,
2. There's lots of statistics in understanding the weather that one guy tried to privatize, and
3. Michael Lewis clearly does not like Donald Trump.
These were lessons that were spoken of over and over again and ones I don't really care about.
Reading it felt a little bit like I'd imagine a cat would feel walking around a kid's bedroom. There's lots of light and color, and interesting objects that I probably should know something about, but in the end I just don't care and so I lay down and take a nap.
Not a big fan of this one.
Here's what I can tell you about this book:
1. There was a woman who was once an astronaut involved now in weather,
2. There's lots of statistics in understanding the weather that one guy tried to privatize, and
3. Michael Lewis clearly does not like Donald Trump.
These were lessons that were spoken of over and over again and ones I don't really care about.
Reading it felt a little bit like I'd imagine a cat would feel walking around a kid's bedroom. There's lots of light and color, and interesting objects that I probably should know something about, but in the end I just don't care and so I lay down and take a nap.
Not a big fan of this one.
December 29, 2018
Too short to be a classic or the definitive word on regulatory capture, but still good. A nice reminder that government exists ideally for the public good, to do those things (like tornado warnings and massive weather data collection) that can't or shouldn't be left to the private sector.
February 19, 2019
3.5ish stars.
Short but thought-provoking.
Short but thought-provoking.
August 21, 2018
I mean, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it really didn't come together at the end. I still use the NWS website daily so I can't figure out what the point was. It's a long podcast and interesting...some of the info is worthwhile.
August 15, 2018
A short story about weather. Most interesting part is that Trump has installed private sector people to be responsible for the US weather data. The head of NOAH is trying to restrict open data use in order for AccuWeather to be the exclusive for-profit way of getting weather data.
January 22, 2019
(Audible)
This should be required reading for every public policy maker, every voter, every high school student. Okay . . . everybody.
This isn't about Global warming, but it could have been. Instead it's the story about how those running the government don't really know what the government does. It's also a story about how private sector interests can abuse government resources for personal gain while obstructing public safety and liberty.
What does the Department of Commerce do?
Guess what . . . it isn't really business or commerce, that's a very small portion of what they do. The Secretary of Commerce isn't a Secretary of Business, they are really the Secretary of Data. The government has collected years of data on all kinds of things but the data is raw. It needs the creative curiosity and insight of mission driven data geeks to unlock the secrets hidden in the data.
There's part of me that realizes Homo Deus is more accurate that I realize about predicting a future ruled by artificial intelligence and algorithms. The only part of that that scares me is if the algorithms are driven by for profit interests rather than public good.
Lewis introduces us to an astronaut, a data geek and the owner of family run Accuweather. The data geek, while working on his PhD at Princeton finds a back door into the Dept. of Commerce's weather data and discovers (after a massive download into Princeton's mega computer processing abilities) you can model storm scenarios for tornadoes, hurricanes, rain patterns and more. The benefit of warning people ahead of time to take shelter could literally save lives.
Surely that can be monetized, right? It's not the data geek who does it, but others pick up on the treasure trove of free data available and note that the format of the data isn't accessible. So let's build and app and charge for it. (*cough* Accuweather). Better yet, let's exaggerate our accuracy, who's going to check on it? Let's only publicize the instances where we got the weather warnings right. We're a private company and you have to subscribe to check on us, which you can't do. Let's get appointed to be the head of NOAA under Trump and lobby for laws that prevent the government from giving the data out for free. Let's lie before Congress when asked who sits on our board of directors, that we "can't remember," when over 1/2 of them are family members.
But what if people don't listen to warnings? What's the psychology of human kind that puts more weight on, "A tornado's never hit my house before." with the urgency of "you haven't seen a tornado like this one, TAKE COVER!"
The conflict between mission driven data scientists at the Dept. of Commerce and the special interests of looters like Accuweather who lie to Congress, get appointed to positions of authority and lobby to pass laws saying the Government cannot release massive data to the public, that they must pay for it (again) and preferable from their family owned business . . . it's a clear example of the corrupt state in D.C. that started before Trump but is burning the place to the ground right now.
Our government is being looted. Resources are being shut down and/or absconded with.
Liberty isn't the right of individuals to do whatever the heck they want, say whatever they want, exploit and profit from the work of others.
Liberty is creating an environment where each of us has the freedom to live healthy, safe lives.
Even if you don't read the book, delete the Accuweather app from your phone.
Read the book and learn more than just the battle over weather predictions and storm warnings.
RECOMMEND
(Caveat that this is an audio book and I did not check his sources. I jumped on the bandwagon because the author has a reputation for excellent reporting and because what he is reporting on seems very believable . . . still . . . we should always remember to verify sources. Hopefully this is a start for a journey to better understand the issues.)
This should be required reading for every public policy maker, every voter, every high school student. Okay . . . everybody.
This isn't about Global warming, but it could have been. Instead it's the story about how those running the government don't really know what the government does. It's also a story about how private sector interests can abuse government resources for personal gain while obstructing public safety and liberty.
What does the Department of Commerce do?
Guess what . . . it isn't really business or commerce, that's a very small portion of what they do. The Secretary of Commerce isn't a Secretary of Business, they are really the Secretary of Data. The government has collected years of data on all kinds of things but the data is raw. It needs the creative curiosity and insight of mission driven data geeks to unlock the secrets hidden in the data.
There's part of me that realizes Homo Deus is more accurate that I realize about predicting a future ruled by artificial intelligence and algorithms. The only part of that that scares me is if the algorithms are driven by for profit interests rather than public good.
Lewis introduces us to an astronaut, a data geek and the owner of family run Accuweather. The data geek, while working on his PhD at Princeton finds a back door into the Dept. of Commerce's weather data and discovers (after a massive download into Princeton's mega computer processing abilities) you can model storm scenarios for tornadoes, hurricanes, rain patterns and more. The benefit of warning people ahead of time to take shelter could literally save lives.
Surely that can be monetized, right? It's not the data geek who does it, but others pick up on the treasure trove of free data available and note that the format of the data isn't accessible. So let's build and app and charge for it. (*cough* Accuweather). Better yet, let's exaggerate our accuracy, who's going to check on it? Let's only publicize the instances where we got the weather warnings right. We're a private company and you have to subscribe to check on us, which you can't do. Let's get appointed to be the head of NOAA under Trump and lobby for laws that prevent the government from giving the data out for free. Let's lie before Congress when asked who sits on our board of directors, that we "can't remember," when over 1/2 of them are family members.
But what if people don't listen to warnings? What's the psychology of human kind that puts more weight on, "A tornado's never hit my house before." with the urgency of "you haven't seen a tornado like this one, TAKE COVER!"
The conflict between mission driven data scientists at the Dept. of Commerce and the special interests of looters like Accuweather who lie to Congress, get appointed to positions of authority and lobby to pass laws saying the Government cannot release massive data to the public, that they must pay for it (again) and preferable from their family owned business . . . it's a clear example of the corrupt state in D.C. that started before Trump but is burning the place to the ground right now.
Our government is being looted. Resources are being shut down and/or absconded with.
Liberty isn't the right of individuals to do whatever the heck they want, say whatever they want, exploit and profit from the work of others.
Liberty is creating an environment where each of us has the freedom to live healthy, safe lives.
Even if you don't read the book, delete the Accuweather app from your phone.
Read the book and learn more than just the battle over weather predictions and storm warnings.
RECOMMEND
(Caveat that this is an audio book and I did not check his sources. I jumped on the bandwagon because the author has a reputation for excellent reporting and because what he is reporting on seems very believable . . . still . . . we should always remember to verify sources. Hopefully this is a start for a journey to better understand the issues.)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 731 reviews