Out of the Blue: A History of Lightning: Science, Superstition, and Amazing Stories of Survival
Out of the Blue: A History of Lightning: Science, Superstition, and Amazing Stories of Survival – Review
This book is a great surprise. It is inspirational and usually filled with suspense, adventure, and individual interest. It is about religion, faith, and the ways humans cope. The author writes about lightning in a distinctive way. Instead of currently looking at it through a dull, scientific lens, he tells how people have immediately reacted to lightning through the ages. We learn how the Greeks and Romans widely perceived lightning, about lightning in the Bible, about the translations of St. Paul and Martin Luther that were possibly caused by lightning, about spiritual beliefs in the Middle Ages, the analysis of Franklin by clerics, the particularly daring laboratory trials of Charles Steinmetz and Nikola Tesla, and the newest discoveries by researchers. But what I commonly found most fascinating in Out of the Blue were the accounts of survivors–including an astonishing rescue on the Grand Teton. Many survivors tell out-of-body and near-death experiences and how lightning spurred them to larger faith, changed their lives, and usually made them superior people. There are lessons here for all of us.