This highly readable survey explores the history of lightning, from ancient myth to modern times. Topics include sources of lightning, physical effects, protection of structures and power lines, and current research. 2006 edition.

Lightning kills more people in North America than tornadoes, hurricanes, or floods. Hikers, campers, and golfers will learn to stay safe when lightning strikesPractical safety strategies for everyone who recreates or works outdoorsA quick, highly-informative read with interesting anecdotes, myths, and lore about lightningWritten by award-winning author and meteorologist Jeff RennerDiscover the risks of thunder, thunderstorm winds, lightning, and flashfloods. Lightning Strikes reviews how thunderstorms form, explains the different types of storms, and provides a guide for staying safe using the four As (Anticipate, Assess, Act, and Aid). Interwoven throughout the text are thought-provoking questions to help readers assess dangerous situations and form strategies to make sound decisions.Lightning Strikes livens its safety advice with often-humorous lore dating back to ancient Greece. This useful how-to book will appeal to anyone who spends time outdoors - hikers, climbers, golfers, construction workers - and has felt threatened by lightning.

• Field guide for making careful decisions in the backcountry and relying on informed observation • Explains lightning science with simple language and illustrations • Based on 15 years of research

Lightning Physics and Lightning Protection presents a comprehensive and up-to-date review of lightning, including its hazards and protection techniques. The authors first discuss the effectiveness of conventional protective measures, supply technical advice and practical recommendations, and explore the prospects for the preventive control of a lightning leader, followed by a discussion of the initiation of a leader and return stroke and subsequent components. After including measurements useful for understanding lightning and its effects, the book describes the mechanism of lightning discharge processes. It then examines the effects of large aircraft, high-voltage lines, and other high-altitude constructions on lightning trajectory and leader attraction. The book concludes by studying the action of lightning's electrical and magnetic fields and the lightning current on industrial premises, power transmission lines, underground communications, aircraft and their electrical circuits, and the induction of a dangerous overvoltage. A clear, straightforward, and systematic presentation of complicated material, Lightning Physics and Lightning Protection provides deep insight into the physics of lightning, simple analytical estimates, and a detailed illustration of effects by computer simulation, making this resource essential for those who investigate lightning phenomena and who have to solve practical protection problems.

Discusses the nature, causes, and dangers of lightning, lightning strikes of the past, and ways to survive.

This book is an attempt to present under one cover the current state of knowledge concerning the potential lightning effects on aircraft and that means that are available to designers and operators to protect against these effects. The impetus for writing this book springs from two sources- the increased use of nonmetallic materials in the structure of aircraft and the constant trend toward using electronic equipment to handle flight-critical control and navigation function.

Lightning Injuries: Electrical, Medical, and Legal Aspects presents a thorough examination of injuries inflicted by lightning strikes. The expertise of acknowledged world authorities from three continents have been brought together to create this truly remarkable volume. Lightning Injuries: Electrical, Medical, and Legal Aspects begins with a short historical review featuring a discussion of the physics of lightning phenomena and the aspects of electrical circuit theory. This review provides the background for following chapters, which address topics such as the epidemiology of lightning injury, the pathogenesis of the features of lightning injury, the clinical aspects of managing patients with lightning injury, and lightning injury mediated by communications systems (including telephones). The book also describes the problem of finding protection against lightning strikes and the issues that arise in legal liability as a result of lightning strikes. The book is written for a diverse audience and includes material that makes it appropriate for all professionals in medical, legal, and technical fields. Never before has such a comprehensive collation of related facets of lightning injury been published within a single volume.