What’s a body to do that’s any more cooling than tucking into some extreme weather audiobooks—and a supply of rotating beverage choices? Here are some suggestions courtesy of AudioFile Magazine.
Black Cloud: The Deadly Hurricane of 1928 by Eliot Kleinberg
Eliot Kleinberg’s Black Cloud: The Deadly Hurricane of 1928 (The Florida Historical Society Press), narrated effectively and affectingly by Lee Ann Howlett, restores dignity to the thousands who suffered through the Caribbean storm.
Among a welcome crop of 21st-century histories that give voice to the poor and downtrodden of society as well as the traditional accounts of those with more political capital, the combined compassion of author and performer give contemporary listeners pause to reflect on how even massive natural events lead to widely ranging experiences.
Pair this with Zora Neal Hurston’s classic Their Eyes Were Watching God, (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) narrated by actress Ruby Dee, as the novel has its roots in this same storm.
An Owl On Every Post by Sanora Babb
Drought is a growing concern around the globe. Sanora Babb’s memoir of the dust and wind accompanying the dry conditions of her childhood home in the Plains, An Owl On Every Post (Muse Ink), shows how generations within her community coped. Alyssa Bresnahan captures both the hardships and the wonder in her Earphones Award-winning performance.
Babb went on to write the classic Whose Names Are Unknown (University of Oklahoma Press), again narrated by Bresnahan and winning another Earphones Award, which further captures dust storms and their link to farming disasters. John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath borrowed heavily from Babb’s lived accounts.
The Weather Detective: Discovering Nature's Secret Signs by Peter Wohlleben
Gardeners have the opportunity to develop their own science-based understanding of weather and forecasting it. They can take the lead offered through listening to The Weather Detective: Discovering Nature’s Secret Signs (Dutton), by German forest ranger Peter Wohlleben, performed by Nicholas Guy Smith, who is British. Even without a garden of one’s own, an audiobook fan can find a park bench on which to listen and consider the public plantings at hand and what they indicate about coming weather events.
The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World by Jeff Goodell
Looking even farther ahead than figuring out incoming weather: the ominous The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World (Little, Brown and Company) by Jeff Goodell. Ian Ferguson narrates this examination of the impending disasters created by icecap melting and increasingly volatile storms without adding any unwarranted lightness to the tones of Goodell’s message.
Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet by Varun Sivaram
That dire outlook can be counterbalanced with Varun Sivaram, who turns the extreme weather-curious toward the possibilities that solar energy could hold in the coming decades. Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet (MIT Press) read in tones necessarily and capably alternating between hopeful and cautionary by Barry Abrams, is a deep dive into the science, policy, and financial aspects of using our increasing experiences with sunlight for powering our cities, homes, and technologies.
Our extreme weather calls for some serious listening. However, hearing from these talented narrators and authors allows us to gain a better understanding so we can take action without feeling alone in confronting the reality.
