Air Apparent

Air Apparent is the singular history of the weather map, one that has developed around the twin poles of weather's many facets and the public's varied needs. Mark Monmonier traces the contentious debates among scientists eager to unravel the enigma of storms and global change, explains the clever strategies for mapping the upper atmosphere and forecasting disaster; and exposes the turbulent efforts to detect and control air pollution.

He introduces us to Karl Theodor, a Bavarian politician who devised one of the first weather-tracking networks in the late eighteenth century, and Heinrich Wilhelm Brandes, who drew the first weather map in 1819 - for the year of 1783. Monmonier carefully tracks the interaction and mutually dependent relationship between technology - from the telegraph to the Internet - and weather forecasting.

And he ultimately offers the weather map we know today as a multifaceted blend of personalities, institutional conflicts, and public and private enterprise.