F5 : Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent Tornado Outbreak of the Twentieth Century [Hardcover]

F5 is the designation for the most destructive of tornadoes. Of course, there is plenty of description of destruction in this book. But, what sets this book apart from typical "weather junkie" books is the description of injury and emotional pain. You come to know three good families and some assorted, fascinating people, including a heck of a good county sheriff and a tornado expert who is almost weird, he is so enthusiasic about the storms. You see how some of these people are struck down. You see how the survivors suffer afterwards. F5s are not just destructive. They are horrible. In the book they seem to be almost alive and deliberately attacking the innocent. A hell of a good story of what some people went through thirty years ago.

I learned of Mark Levine's book, F5, some weeks ago, but before I had a chance to read it, my attention was captivated by a lead story in the media. A monstor tornado had just obliterated my boyhood home of Greensburg, Kansas. I had not lived there for most of my adult life, decades, but, I still had family and relations living there. Anyone growing up in Kansas has heard plenty of tornado tales, yet, I never saw one personally, and had only the vaguest idea of their causes. Mark Levine's book has changed that. F5 gives a comprehensive view of the causes and conditions that spawn them and makes the science come alive in the life of the man who came to be known as "Mr. Tornado."

Most compelling, however, is Levine's ability to get inside the lives of more than a dozen people of Limestone County, Alabama who experienced a super outbreak of tornadoes on April 3, 1974. I marveled at his understanding of these unfortunate people. He must have spent countless hours interviewing them, most probably over many repeated visits. The book opens with an account of a couple of teen-agers who drive into the teeth of this killer storm. The immediacy of the authors prose puts you in the car with them, seeing what they see, feeling what they feel.

In F5, we know what these few experienced, what they lost, and the agony they suffered. We also learn how their lives were permanently altered by those brief, horrifying, and blurry moments in 1974. This is a book that I'll probably read a second time.

I thought this book was a great read because it felt like I was actually witnessing first hand the events of April 3, 1974. Yes, the book does jump around a little bit. It starts off with some foreshadowing and then backtracks to pre-April 3, 1974. The author describes the history and people of Limestone County, Alabama. In addition, there are a few chapters that break up the story, describing the nature of tornadoes and some politcal events of 1974. Also, there are many characters in this book which make various appearances throughout. It may appear to be a bit confusing, but eventually I was able to keep track of who was whom. But the story does wrap up nicely with an epilogue that informs the readers of the present day victims of the "superoutbreak". But beware, this story mostly takes place in Limestone County, Alabama. So don't expect a detailed account of the 148 tornadoes that swepted across the country on April 3-4, 1974