Books > Lightning: Fire from the Sky

About the Book

LIGHTNING: FIRE FROM THE SKY is a detailed, readable account of a phenomenon that has fascinated humankind since prehistoric man hid in caves when thunder pealed overhead. As the world’s population has grown, the risk of injury or death by lightning has steadily increased—but is still so rare that many medical professionals do not know how to treat its victims. Smith, an electrical engineer, brings the complex physics of lightning strikes alive in a graphic but nontechnical way designed to appeal to a general reader audience. The book is enhanced by personal histories of more than 30 lightning victims, as well as interviews with a dozen leading lightning experts. The book opens with a foreword by Dr. Martin A. Uman, the world’s best known lightning authority, who describes new developments in our ability to forecast dangerous storms that may pose lightning risks. The chapters that follow describe the history of the pioneering lightning researchers (some of who got close enough to their subject to be killed by it), and then describe in an understandable manner the complex chain of events that precipitate a lightning strike. The various forms of lightning are portrayed. The effect of electricity on the human body is described, along with characteristic symptoms that victims might ask their medical practitioners to investigate and possibly treat. The variations in lightning effects on human beings are dramatized through a series of first person accounts. Another chapter deals with the effects of lightning on property—buildings, vehicles of all types, and critical infrastructure—and discusses the best means to provide lightning protection for property. Finally, new developments in research, lightning prediction, and prevention are examined. The book includes an annotated bibliography of lightning literature. There are 15 color photographs and 20 black and white line illustrations that illustrate the main points being made in the narrative.