100 Words for Rain: And everything else you need to know about British weather by Alex Johnson

It is ironic (or perhaps I should say 'typical') that during the few days it took me to read this book, it rained persistently. But it made the reading experience that much more relevant.

This is a handbook about the British obsession: the weather. The book is laid out in an appealing way, with diagrams and colourful headers, and unusual weather features such as Rare Rainbows and Blood Rain. There are fourteen chapters that start with 'Discussing the Weather' - the way almost all conversations begin in Britain. Also included are Forecasting, Snow and Ice, Fog and Mist and other types of weather. Particularly interesting is the Folklore about weather, which goes back rather a long way, so there are the beliefs and superstitions that hark back to the Anglo-Saxon period.

This is a snappy kind of book, more of a guide really, that is easy to dip into during a rainy/windy/snowy day. There are some notable weather facts such as the wettest day ever, the earliest descriptions of British weather, London's floods of 1928 as well as some famous literary weather from the likes of Frankenstein, The House of the Baskervilles, The Chronicles of Narnia, King Lear, Tom's Midnight Garden and Dracula. Plus an academic analysis of the weather of Tolkien's Middle Earth.

This is an absolute joy of a book. All those stereotypes about the British and weather are actually true, and right now I'm trying to learn the whole lot of the 100 words for rain. Something to talk about next time I meet up with friends.

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Published by Collins Reference in collaboration with the National Trust on 11 April 2024.
​Advance review copy supplied by the publisher.

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