Deep River

Deep River: A Novel by Karl Marlantes

This book explores the history of a few related Finnish people who came to the Pacific Northwest around the turn of the 20th century. They were primarily attracted by the logging industry. It was a tough industry with hard work and serious chances of injury and death. Men were attracted to the income with some looking at the chance of going on their own. One woman was attracted with the possibility of organizing a large union to help the loggers. The book slowly goes through their experiences and struggles with the local impacts of widespread events like wards, union activities and prohibition. At times it has interludes describing events instead of having the characters live through them. Even so, the book is quite long and it can be difficult to tell the characters apart. The historical settings can almost be identified, but even parts of that have been fictionalized. The female union organizer gets a bit too much coverage, while I would like to see more coverage of the evolution of the society from rough-and-tumble to legitimate towns.

The Weather of the Pacific Northwest

The Weather of the Pacific Northwest is a definitive introduction to all things related to regional weather of this part of the United States. Weather prediction on the west coast of the United States can be challenging. Weather systems typically come from the west. There is a large Pacific Ocean to the west, and limited visibility in to the details of the weather. There are also huge shifts in terrain over short distances. The multiple mountain ranges suck a great deal of precipitation from the sky, leaving the west sides exceptionally wet, while the east sides are dry. The ranges also help block air from the interior, leading to a rather temperate climate. Alas, there are gaps in the mountain ranges. This allows interior air systems to come through, bringing their more extreme conditions and high wind.

The book is beautifully illustrated and filled with pictures and graphs illustrating the topics discussed. I was somewhat disappointed by some of the graphs. While they are fairly typical for weather graphs, I do wish they could have improved them to better illustrate the topic of discussion. (For instance, there were a couple illustrations comparing different situations that had different scales.)

The book has extensive coverage of the detailed weather systems of different parts of the Northwest. Enumclaw is very prone to high winds, even when things are calm a short distance away. (It  Sequim is dry and sunny, while less than 75 miles away, Forks measures their rainfall in feet. Even the city of Seattle can have different weather within the city. Puget sound is a moderating influence, while hills can change the weather. A convergence zone tends to set over the city, leading to more overcast systems. Portland can often be colder in the winder as systems move through the Columbia River gap. Eastern Washington and Oregon are much colder in the winter and hotter in the summer - and get a lot less rain.

The book also covers some of the extreme weather events and attempts to provide explanation of how they occurred. (It is much easier for the newer ones.) The impacts of climate change are discussed, both in the context of human caused global warming as well as natural changes (such as the ending of the little ice age.)

The book is generally well written. However, parts do get a little repetitive. (I do get the point that a bicycle pump trends to warm air!) The update page for the book currently does not have any content. Maybe there will be corrections in the future?

The Curve of Time

A widowed mother travels boats around the Pacific Northwest with her childen in the pre-World War II era. They come across as seasoned mariners, who understand the unique weather patterns of the northwest and are comfortable going into areas that are uncharted at times. They encounter some "harrowing" experiences, including running into a "clergyman" who turns out to be a bear. (They quickly escape to their boat.) There are also numerous storms and various encounters with animals and isolated "pioneers" in the area. The book covered the experience of Northwest sailing and personal relationships. However, I was hoping for more specific geographic details.

Ancient Places: People and Landscape in the Emerging Northwest

Ancient places is a series of essays related to the Pacific Northwest. There are essays on giant meteors, the formation of landscapes, biscuit-root, ants and an amateur anthropologist. This is not a broad history, but an in-depth look at minor areas. At times the essays can be engaging, but most of the time I found myself trying skimming quickly to get to the point. (Alas, there usually wasn't one.) I enjoyed finding out a few more details of the inland Northwest, but would not spend a lot of time on the book.