Product Description
This updated and enhanced Fifth Edition of ESSENTIALS OF METEOROLOGY is written by the widely read and authoritative author in introductory meteorology-Donald Ahrens. Ahrens's ability to explain relatively complicated ideas in a student-friendly, manageable fashion will allow you to easily visualize the principles of meteorology. ESSENTIALS OF METEOROLOGY is completely updated with over 250 new images and figures and the latest research and coverage. This new edition is accompanied by a self-paced tutorial system--CengageNOW for ESSENTIALS OF METEOROLOGY. CengageNOW is Web-based, assessment-driven, completely flexible, and contains a wealth of book-specific interactivities. It offers a personalized study plan based on your assessment results, helping you focus on the concepts you don't yet understand.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 5 reviews)

Excellent Textbook

I never thought I'd rave about a textbook, but I had to comment on this one!

Ahrens manages to present a scientific subject in an interesting and understandable manner. And what really makes this textbook special is the abundance of charts and illustrated explanations, plus photos, trivia, and weather stories interspersed liberally throughout the text. The illustrations and charts make the material easier to understand, and the photos, stories, and trivia helped keep me interested even when the science got tedious.
December 14, 2008

Beginning Metr Students, this is the book for you.

I loved this book! Get all the information you need to get started in meteorology, but what works even better is having the teacher/instructor who has the passion and knowledge to guide you.
March 31, 2008

Great Reading with the most awesome teacher.

Having a real meteorologist educate you on the fundamentals of weather, makes this book a real joy!
January 23, 2008

For a science textbook, not bad...

I taught an online class this semester on meteorology, and this was the textbook I was given. I always hold my breath a bit concerning textbooks, because I've taught chemistry, physics, cell biology, and meteorology...and my background includes two degrees in neuroscience. I never stop reading. As a deaf person who doesn't listen to music, go to movies, or watch television much, reading is my source of relaxation as well as involved in my work. I tend towards either nonfiction or classical literature lately, and much of my reading involves science and specifically weather. Global warming is such a hot topic now, and I've wanted to stay on top of this also because of my interest and ethical work as concerns deaf people in catastrophic occurences.

Anyway, this was definitely one of the better textbooks. My students didn't start having problems until the fifth and sixth chapters, which were way too technical on air pressure and wind for an online course and for students who were taking this class with no prior physics. Since physics is deeply involved in weather science, it would have been much easier to teach those chapters in a classroom, though I am now exploring avenues to teach these very things online.

I felt that the author of this textbook was speaking to the students this time instead of writing to his peer group (which is how many textbook and journal articles write today). The information is interesting, and thorough, and the textbook can definitely be adapted to younger classes or beginning science classrooms. It would just take some time to adapt it better and unfortunately, the university I taught at just changed their online program which everyone was required to learn at the same time they were expected to also do classwork. I also had to cut down the amount to be learned because it was an eight week course, instead of a semester course. That also complicated things...but I thought on the whole this was a good book, and I am continuing to read the rest of it for my own personal understanding.

Karen L. Sadler
Pittsburgh, PA
October 24, 2007

Excellent

This is a wonderful book to teach to Junior High kids. I bought it though for my Meteorology class at the Junior college I attend.
May 29, 2007

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Goode's World Atlas
by Howard Veregin

Study Guide for Ahrens' Essentials of Meteorology, 4th
by AHRENS

Exercises for Weather and Climate (6th Edition)
by Greg Carbone

A Writer's Reference
by Diana Hacker

Explorations in Meteorology: A Lab Manual
by Oklahoma Climatological Survey