The Man Who Caught the Storm: The Life of Legendary Tornado Chaser Tim Samaras

Brantley Hargrove’s book, The Man Who Caught the Storm, recounts the life of famed storm chaser Tim Samaras, one of the few who ever dared to purposefully venture near the heart of violent tornadoes. Samaras was a larger-than-life character, a man lacking academic accolades but full of gumption, engineering expertise, and a knack for tracking down some of the biggest twisters in the world. Every chasing season Samaras set out to hunt tornadoes. Sometimes he went by himself, but often he had an entire team of experts equally as thirsty to experience the thrill of both scientific discovery and Mother Nature’s might. Samaras conducted pivotal field experiments, like getting dangerously close to a raging twister in order to measure the pressure and wind at its center, which made him a legendary figure within the field of atmospheric science.What makes this book special, aside from Samaras’s compelling narrative, is Hargrove’s writing. He has written gripping pieces of journalism in national publications, and this book, his first, weaves an exquisite tapestry of Samaras’s life. In particular, Hargrove excels at writing a descriptive, immersive story – his narration allows the reader to experience breathtaking chase sequences, visualize the mesmerizing shape and gradient of violent storms, and tense up with anxiety as chasers get too close for comfort. There were moments when I simply couldn’t put the book down. The fact that Hargrove also manages to thread a thorough, understandable explanation of the field of atmospheric science into the overarching narrative makes this book a triumph of non-fiction biography.I highly recommend The Man Who Caught the Storm to anyone seeking to understand more about the niche lifestyle of storm chasers, the field of tornado studies, or just a compelling story about one man’s quest to achieve the impossible.

I bought this book for my oldest son, who is a major weather nerd and was a huge fan of Stormchasers. I could not resist reading it before I gave it to him first, though. To say that I was not disappointed is a severe understatement. Despite being an avid reader, I think there are very few books that I actually come across that I feel warrant a 5-star rating—this is definitely one of them. It is so beautifully written, that you will find yourself slowing down to truly enjoy every single word penned to the pages. The life of Tim Samaras was well documented and portrayed by Hargrove; you really felt like you knew Tim as a personal friend after reading this book. I highly recommend this book even if you have never heard of Tim Samaras and are not a fan of severe thunderstorms, not only because you will learn about a wonderful human being whose life was tragically cut too short, and learn about weather terms (that are not too cumbersome), but also because the biography is that well written. So much of Tim’s passion for life and thunderstorms are conveyed so wonderfully, you cannot help but wish you could have known Tim.

Book was in perfect condition but disappointed to see that the book was entirely text despite the beautiful cover! The man spent his life documenting severe weather and none of those photos are in the book! Still, very worth the read of a great mind! All storm chasers/weather nerds will enjoy this book! Book was in perfect condition.

I have been a recreational storm chaser for 22 years and for that reason was initially a little leery about the book. I have found that many non-technical books about tornado outbreaks, storm chasing, etc. written for a general audience are either too limited and/or inaccurate from a meteorological perspective to be satisfying to a storm chaser, and/or are written for a niche audience of storm enthusiasts and lacking any literary chops, sometimes even bordering on the cheesy side. I am happy to say that my concerns were completely unfounded in this case. Hargrove succeeded in writing a book that has literary chops, while also having enough meteorological meat to satisfy this storm chaser. Hargrove also successfully captures the essence of storm chasing. (I had read online in a storm chasing discussion group that Hargrove is a storm chaser; in reality I think he just participated on some storm chases as part of his research for the book).Although I have been a chaser for a long time, and interested in severe weather for an even longer period, I did not know much about Tim Samaras’s life. Believe it or not, for several reasons I never watched more than an episode or two of “Storm Chasers.” I was generally aware of Tim’s work from other sources, but always had a vague (and, in retrospect, erroneous) impression that he was somewhat on the fringe of “real” science. From the book, I now understand where this impression came from; in some ways it was based on reality (i.e., Tim not having the academic pedigree and facing his own challenges with being accepted by the scientific community; forming his own TWISTEX group rather than participating in Project VORTEX), but I also understand more about why he was “on his own” (I appreciated the background on Tim’s conflicts with Josh Wurman and how TWISTEX came to exist outside of VORTEX) and simultaneously gained a greater appreciation for Tim’s very real and significant scientific contributions.I’m no literary expert but I do read a fair bit and thought Hargrove’s writing was very good. I especially enjoyed some of his evocative prose on what it is like to be in a storm environment and chasing on the Great Plains, although at times it seemed he was trying to hard to use flowery prose or find an unusual synonym in the thesaurus. But that is a small criticism. I found the meteorological aspects of the book to be generally accurate. Of course, as a chaser I would have loved to have even more such content, but of course it’s not intended to be a textbook or technical case study. I think it’s just the right amount of science for a mainstream audience, and in that regard it neither dumbs it down nor leaves too much out even from a chaser’s perspective. The final El Reno chase is rendered in good detail and faithfully recreates the day from what I have studied of it (I was not chasing that day, although I wish I had been) and does a good job putting the reader in the doomed car with Tim, Carl and Paul.One thing that would have been helpful is if the book had added for reference a map of the El Reno road network and the tornado’s path. I have studied both from other sources, and they are of course available easily enough online for those who are interested, but it would have been convenient to have them in the book to easily visualize and relate the narrative of that chase, especially since the road options, dead end at the El Reno airport, etc. were so pivotal to the fatal outcome.

This book highlights the risks the storm chasers take and how even an experienced chaser can get caught off guard. It really drew me in causing me to read when I should have been doing other things

This is a really fascinating story of the life of Tim Samaras. Any lay person can grasp the meteorological concepts and the author does a tremendous job of keeping the story interesting to that sad dramatic climax. Bravo!

This book is must read for all those who, like me, are fascinated by the twisters that plague Tornado Alley. It is a brilliant biography about Tim Samaras, who was a dedicated storm chaser, whose initial interest in tornadoes resulted from watching the film, The Wizard Of Oz. 'The Man Who Caught The Storm' recounts his life story and the unfortunate, tragic ending of three lives while trying to outrun one of the most dangerous tornadoes ever to hit the ground near the town of El Reno in Oklahoma, a notorious tornado hotspot. The tension in some of the chases described is gripping, edge of seat reality. The author has researched his material thoroughly, and leads the reader through the life of Tim, as a youngster, pulling apart old television sets and then goes on to set the scene for Tim's adult life, a man who then grew up to be extremely gifted in inventing the gadgetry associated with storm chasing in order to retrieve relevant data such as wind speed, rear flank downdrafts, etc. Tim Samaras is sadly missed among the chasing community, of that there is no doubt. He was a genius, and has left behind him a great legacy, inspiring more research into the mysteries of tornado genesis, and so on. He leaves behind him also a loosely based life story in the genre of film, which is no less than the great movie, Twister. I can highly recommend this book, and its' author. If you only read one book this year about tornadoes and storm chasing, make this the one, it deserves high accolades in the world of both books, and storm chasing and it was a wonderful book! I was devastated to come to the end, but I must say that the notes included there were very, very comprehensive indeed, giving the reader much more scope to follow up on the subject. Brilliant!

Amazing man - great to know more about him, and a bit more about his son and their colleague all gone too soon.

Well written.

I had to contact Amazon about this book. The paper was not cut straight, the back cover writing is not printed straight and the paper quality is very poor. This was on offer at £8 for the paperback but even that is ridiculous. Amazon have been kind enough to refund me 50% but I would be careful when ordering this book.