Author Eric Pinder has written several books about science and nature. His writing first caught my eye as part of a collection of weather stories in “Soul of the Sky, Exploring the Human Side of Weather,” published in 1999 by the Mount Washington Observatory. In that book, the essays weren’t pre-occupied with the geeky weather stuff we talk about, like isobars, CAPE and wet bulb zero temperatures. Eric’s essay on Ice talked about the glaciers and how they were started with one single snowstorm thousands of years ago.
I also owned “Tying Down the Wind: Adventures in the Worst Weather on Earth”. In that book, Eric looked at where you might find the worst weather on Earth. The surprising answer: everywhere. He looked at how all kinds of extreme weather are related.
Eric is a certified observer from the Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire, where some of the world’s worst weather is routinely observed. He was a writer in residence there as well.
Only a few hardy weather observers live at the top of Mount Washington, accompanied by a few pet cats. Eric has recently penned a children’s book about one of those real life cats, Nin. He follows the story of how Nin was rescued as a stray to come to live at the Observatory.
The book, which would make a perfect gift for a 4-8 year old who is interested in weather this Christmas, observes life and work at the outpost through Nin’s eyes. Nin learns that home can be anywhere, even high in the clouds on a windswept peak where temperatures are routinely below zero and wind chills numb the mind.
We will give away a copy of Cat in the Clouds Monday night on WeatherBrains. To get a chance to win your very own copy, follow us at www.twitter.com/weatherbrains.
The book is available in bookstores and online.
Eric will appear on episode 218 of WeatherBrains on March 29th. We will be discussing his new book for grownups, “Life at the Top,” about his experiences at the Observatory.
