Lightning: Physics and Effects is the first book that covers essentially all aspects of lightning, including lightning physics, lightning protection and the interaction of lightning with a variety of objects and systems as well as with the environment. It is written in a style that will be accessible to the technical non-expert and is addressed to anyone interested in lightning and its effects. This will include physicists, engineers working in the power, communications, computer and aviation industries, meteorologists, atmospheric chemists, foresters, ecologists, physicians working in the area of electrical trauma and architects. This comprehensive reference volume contains over 300 illustrations, 70 tables containing quantitative information and a bibliography of more than 6000 references.

‘Rarely in the history of science has one contribution covered a subject with such depth and thoroughness as to set the enduring standard for years, perhaps even decades, to come … I recommend that you purchase two copies, one for the office and one for the home to avoid having to carry this 5 lb tome back and forth.’

Source: EOS

‘… should be in the library of anybody working on lightning and its effects, and will certainly be of value to students and researchers in the atmospheric sciences …’

Source: Weather

'… a closely written, wide-ranging work presented in a large, attractive format … serves several purposes well.'

Source: The Times Higher Education Supplement

‘… the publication of a new book with a great deal of information on lightning and lightning protection is an event. Lightning: Physics and Effects by Vladimir A. Rakov and Martin A. Uman, is such a book … The new book by Rakov and Uman, who have both made numerous contributions to the field, represents the current state of the art. It has much greater topic coverage and much more information than other books on lightning … Rakov and Uman’s encyclopedic work will be extremely useful for specialists as a rich source of factual and bibliographic information.’

Source: Physics Today

'Practically all chapters start with an introduction section and end in a summary. This is very helpful for the reader who can either easily identify whether the chapter is of interest for him or who needs an immediate briefing on a specific topic. The quality of the printing and layout is excellent, the clear typesetting supports easy reading. … the book is a superb reference for lightning physics and effects. Its quality mirrors the outstanding scientific experience of its authors. I recommend that this book is available in all libraries.'

Source: Meteorologische Zeitschrift

'… extremely useful.'

Source: Physics Today

'This book is clearly the most complete compilation of material on the physics and effects of lightning that exists today. It is well written, and I expect that it will be an important reference for both specialists and nonspecialists alike in future years.'

Source: American Meteorological Society

'The authors of this book deserve to be complimented for their study of natural events and their efforts in writing this book … This book is a very good review of all aspects of lightning … it is a very useful reference book not only for people interested in lightning and thunder … but also for researchers and scientists working on high-voltage engineering and nonlinear systems …'

Source: IEEE Circuits and Devices Magazine

''This is an extremely comprehensive - and hence, incredibly useful - scholarly compendium of all that is known about lightning, its causes, and the many different ways in which lightning influences our world and our human activities. This resource has more than 300 top quality illustrations, including six pages of dramatic colour plates, 70 tables, and over 6000 bibliographic and reference entries … this magnificent work, so useful both for teaching at postgraduate level and for reference, closes with a very comprehensive index.'

Source: Surveys in Geophysics

'I would recommend [this book] as an important addition to any laboratory or institute that has lightning studies as one of its major activities. … for the specialist and for libraries it is worth the price.'

Source: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers