Book Review: 'Defining the Wind' by Scott Huler

Defining the Wind: The Beaufort Scale and How a 19th Century Admiral Turned Science into Poetry. Scott Huler. New York: Crown. 2004. 290 pages including an appendix, notes on sources, and an index. ISBN 1400048842. Available from Amazon.com for $15.64.

"There was something about describing the wind that sparked expressive language..." writes Scott Huler, "and I think the answer is that the wind is invisible. You can't describe it because you can't see it. You can only describe what it does to things you can see - sails, the sea, trees, roof tiles. To describe clouds, trees, or anything else, you focus in on that specific thing, ignoring everything else. To describe the wind, you do the opposite: you look at everything else. It's mind expanding."

And so is Huler's memoir on his search for Sir Francis Beaufort.

Scott Huler is in love with words, and he makes us want to love them too. His fascination with Beaufort begins when he comes across the Beaufort Scale - that estimates wind strengths - in the Merriam Webster Ninth Collegiate Dictionary.

The Beaufort Scale starts with 0 - calm: calm - smoke rises vertically, and ends with 12 - hurricane: devastation occurs. It's this simple scale, with a number to designate how strong the wind is, a name for that wind, miles per hour, but most importantly a description of how that particular wind strength effects the surroundings, that caught Huler's fancy and sent him on a voyage of discovery - both mentally and physically.

"The wind is described to perfection - reduced to its essence ...in the Beaufort Scale. The Beaufort Scale is the quintessence of that verbal economy, the ultimate expression of concise, clear, and absolutely powerful writing, 110 words in 6-point type. In fact, the Beaufort Scale description of the wind doesn't merely reach that highest perfectible level of clarity. As may be necessary, reaching that level, it surpasses it and becomes poetry."

Scott Huler set out on a journey - a leisurely one - to discover Sir Francis Beaufort and how he came to create the Beaufort Scale. He takes a hydrofoil to Montevideo (and his description of the trip is hilarious), he learns how to sail on a tall ship, all so that he can experience life as Beaufort did, as he sets out on his own particular detective story, finding and interpreting clues that lead him to the truth of the Beaufort Scale, the evolution of science and discovery, and the fascinating character of Sir Francis Beaufort.

Huler takes us along on his journey and his search..."from Daniel Defoe to Charles Darwin, from Anders Celsius to John Smith [the Pocahontas guy, Huler kindly points out], from the Elgin Marbles to Seamus Heaney, from Tycho Brahe to Captain Bligh of the Bounty to Captain Cook of the Endeavor," and ultimately to Francis Beaufort himself.

Huler has a master's grasp of the English language and some of his prose approaches poetry as well. He's got a subtle sense of humor ("Mostly our hurricanes come at us through shouted television reports from the weatherpeople hanging for dear life on to lampposts on the evening news, traffic lights swinging wildly above them to demonstrate that no kidding, it's real windy.") and a knack for explaining scientific concepts simply - much like the dictionary he extols so much.

This book will appeal to anyone interested in the history of words, of sailing, of hydrography and geography, of science and scientists, or even simply in a good detective story.