Jack’s Books

The AMS Weather Book

Jack’s latest book The AMS Weather Book: The Ultimate Guide to America's Weather, was published by the American Meteorological Society and the University of Chicago Press on June 1, 2009. This is not only the largest, but also the best of Jack’s books. He makes more extensive use of story telling than in his previous books. The stories, both about contemporary people and events, and historical figures and their discoveries help bring the science to life. A wealth of information is in The AMS Weather Book. Nonetheless, the pages of the book could not contain all the topics and data that author Jack Williams and the American Meteorological Society wanted to convey. Supplementary texts are available on the University of Chicago Press Web site for those who would like to explore the book’s topics in more depth.

Honors, interviews and reviews

Jack’s February 10, 2010 conversation about the big 2010 snow storms with Kojo Nnami and other guests and call-in listeners on WAMU-FM is online.

Science librarians honor The AMS Weather Book.

Jack’s September 4, 2009, conversation about The AMS Weather Book on WAMU-FM with host Rebecca Roberts and Tom Kierein, a meteorologist with Washington’s Channel 4 is online.

Jack talks about the book with Tom Skilling during his mid day weather show on Chicago’s WGN-TV on July 28, 2009, and with Phil Ponce on WTTW-TV, the Chicago PBS station later that day. The University of Chicago Press is Twittering about the book.

The North Carolina Science Teachers Association has a brief review of The AMS Weather Book on its Web site.

The Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association’s Flight Training magazine reviews The AMS Weather Book in the Pilots Products section of the September 2009 issue.

Keith Heidom reviews The AMS Weather Book on his Weather Doctor Web site. Read his review.

Jan Null, who writes the San Francisco Weather Examiner column includes The AMS Weather Book in his list of top five weather books. Read his comments.

A Brief Look at Hurricanes

Hurricanes: Causes, Effects, and the Future, by Stephen Leatherman and Jack Williams, published in 2008 by Voyageur Press. The Southampton Press: Hurricane book warns of dangers to Long Ialand A review by Keith Heidorn on his Weather Doctor Web site

A More Detailed Hurricane Book

Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth, co-author with Dr. Bob Sheets, retired director of the National Hurricane Center. Published in 2001 by the Vintage Books Division of Random House. Winner of the AMS 2004 Louis J. Battan Author’s Award. A review by Keith Heidorn on his Weather Doctor Web site.

A Guide to Everything Polar

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Arctic and Antarctic, published in 2003 by Alpha, a member of the Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Jack’s First Book (in two editions)

The USA Today Weather Book: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to the USA's Weather, published by the Vintage Books Division of Random House, first edition 1992, second edition 1996. Winner of the American Meteorological Society’s 1994 Louis J. Battan Author’s Award.

The Reference Book Jack Wanted

The USA Today Weather Almanac, published by the Vintage Books Division of Random House, 1994.