Barometer and Weather Guide

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 71K words
Chapters: 8

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Barometer and Weather Guide by Robert FitzroyAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: QC: Science: Physics, Release Date: Dec 19, 2007

Editor's review

Barometer and Weather Guide, by Robert Fitzroy, a nineteenth-century pioneer of British meteorology, is an early practical guide to using barometric readings systematically for judging the weather. Centered on how to use a barometer, it explains how to read changes in air pressure and combine them with wind direction and seasonal experience to infer weather trends, reflecting the observational tradition that preceded the rise of modern weather forecasting. The Gutenberg edition is an English public-domain eBook, concise in length and written in the expository style of Victorian popular science. Its value lies not in offering present-day meteorological conclusions but in presenting an empirical method of judgment built around instrument readings, through which readers can trace part of the passage of weather observation from folk experience toward science. It suits readers interested in the history of meteorology, the history of science, or practical knowledge of navigation and agriculture as a source text, and can also serve as a sample of early science writing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the history of meteorology and early scientific instruments
Those in navigation or agriculture who rely on weather experience
Students in courses on the history of science or science communication
Readers who enjoy nineteenth-century practical popular science writing

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking contemporary weather-forecasting methods or data
Beginners without basic physics who need an introductory textbook
Students expecting a systematic textbook of meteorological theory

Reading tips

Read first the chapters on barometer readings and corresponding weather changes, then return to the sections on wind direction and seasons
As you read, note the empirical rules given and compare them with modern meteorological knowledge
Read alongside background material on the history of meteorology and Fitzroy's observational conditions
Read in short essayistic sessions, taking notes on one or two sections at a time

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can this book be used to forecast today's weather?

Not directly. Its methods are nineteenth-century judgments based on barometer readings and empirical rules, while modern forecasting relies on numerical models and satellite observation. Its value lies in the history of meteorology and observational methods, not in practical forecasting.

Who was the author, Fitzroy?

Robert Fitzroy was a nineteenth-century British naval officer and meteorologist who directed meteorological statistics work and promoted the practice of weather forecasting. This book is his popular work explaining barometers and weather judgment to the general public; for biographical details, consult authoritative biographies.

What background is needed to read it?

Basic physics knowledge and an understanding of air pressure and wind direction suffice. The language is nineteenth-century English popular science, with long sentences, but it involves no advanced mathematics; general readers can read it through with a dictionary.

What are the features of this Gutenberg edition?

It is a public-domain eBook in the original English, freely available and searchable. It usually contains no modern editorial notes; for background explanation, read it together with an introduction to the history of meteorology or related academic material.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.