DeBlieu, Jan. Wind; how the flow of air has shaped life, myth & the land.

DeBLIEU, Jan. Wind; how the flow of air has shaped life, myth & the land. Shoemaker Hoard, Avalon. 294p. notes. index. c1998. 1-59376-094-9. $15.00. JSA 

DeBlieu lives on Cape Hattaras and knows the wind firsthand. She is also a scientist, a historian, a poet and a lover of the wind. In her book, she teaches us to see the invisible world of the air and the wind, two fluids that encircle and surround us. Each chapter captures an element of the wind, from its ferociousness to its mythological and religious interpretations, to how it has affected history, to the way it carries birds and insects and creates unique habitats. She writes about how the wind carries seeds from exotic species and changes the landscape and how it shapes the sand and moves the oceans. She is practical, scientific and poetic in her approach. In the chapter "The Encircling Sea," she says, "Wind is both the sculptor of waves and the engine of currents. It is the spoon that stirs layers and helps create the flows that carry oxygen to the bottom and nutrients to the surface."

In her study of the wind, she has met fascinating people, like Karen Havholm who studies the movement of sand; and she tells us of older wind experts, like Perry Glick who discovered in the 1920s how insects use the wind, calculating that there were over 14 million insects in one square mile of air above Louisiana, some as high as 5,000 feet above the ground. Other chapters discuss the effect of wind on our physical and mental health, how we use the wind to fly and for power and, lastly, how we seem to taunt the wind by living in places we know are periodically dramatically altered by it. As someone who has experienced hurricanes in the last two years, I already have a healthy respect for wind. This book gave me a much better understanding of it. Nola Theiss, Sanibel, FL

J--Recommend for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers.

S--Recommend for senior high school students.

A--Recommend for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.