Synoptic-Dynamic Meteorology in Midlatitudes: Volume I: Principles of Kinematics and Dynamics: 001 Hardcover – Illustrated, 1 May 1992

This work, in two volumes, is an updating of Sverre Petterssen's comprehensive work of 1956. The progress in Meteorology since then has been enormous, of course, so such a work is welcome. But Dynamic Meteorology is a highly mathematical subject so if you have a phobia for mathematics, stay away! The text is quite lucidly written and generally jargon-free (apart from the maths) and Howard Bluestein, who is Professor of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, (the book is USA-oriented) seems to have an artistic side to him as well, as he gives quite a bit of detail about paintings of clouds by various artists, and prefaces each chapter by quotations from Emily Dickinson. As suggested by the price, it is, like its predecessor, a pretty comprehensive work.

I did use it for research

I have always admired Dr. Howard Bluestein from afar as I have only perused his material during my Undergraduate education in Meteorology. He seems to be very down-to-earth and relatable, something that seems to be missing in a lot of individuals with advanced/Doctorate-level education. I've wanted to obtain this two-part series of textbooks ever since I came across them in my University library back in the mid-1990s, and was finally able to get a good copy from Amazon at an affordable price.I will give this book 5 stars based on my experience in reading only one section: the derivation and explanation of the total derivative. Back when I was taking the required Atmospheric Dynamics courses in college, we were using J.R. Holton's classic work that most of us in meteorology have grown to love/hate. Good book, but suffered from the "it's clear to see" disease that infests that textbook. In regards to the total derivative, Holton's book bascially scratched the surface and glossed over the details of how and why the total derivative is useful. This frustrated me to know end as 1) I hate not being able to understand why something works in mathematics, and 2) never in my classes in Single- and Multi-Variable Calculus, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra have I come across this concept.However, Bluestein's book not only talks about the use of the total derivative, but shows how to derive it, and I was finally able to understand what the total derivative is and what it's used for. If Dr. Bluestein goes in depth to explain this one concept clearly, that is good enough for me!

This book (and the Vol. II) is a good reference for meteorological basis on phisics and atmospheric sciences itself, I already had thought about buying it here in Brasil (country that I live) but they would cost me about 120 bucks each volume, since on amazon it ended up for about 60 each delivered in my house (ok, It took 4 weeks, but it's a long way for a legless book!!) and, like all my products so far, they arrived in perfect shape.I've been using those from the library for 3 semesters now, on atmos. dynamics I, Synoptic meteor., micrometeorology and other courses... I'm shure it will be used much more in the future.

Received in great shape and 1 day earlier than advertised.

I bought that book for a synoptic meteorology class and I'm not disappointed at all. Nice book, easy to follow, well explained, it's awesome