It is a common bromide and accepted truism that if one has nothing to talk about, then one can always talk about the weather. From office parties to high school reunions, from blind dates to cross-Atlantic airline flights, weather is the go-to conversation starter that rarely succeeds in starting the conversation. That makes it particularly strange that a philosopher, a person who generally has too much to say – indeed, who belongs to a class of intellectuals deemed so stuffy and smug as to pride themselves entirely on the alleged depth and meaning of the things they say – would stoop so low as to talk about the weather.

And yet, here we are.

Weather is a fair bit more complicated than it first seems. It is both essential for life on earth and wildly hazardous to life on earth. It is arguable, but I think true, that the very idea of civilization is dependent upon weather, and yet we tend to think of it as an anti-civilizing force, the kind of thing that comes along and lays ruin to our homes and villages. It is arguable, but I think also true, that the very idea of humanity is dependent on weather, and yet we also tend to think of it as an anti-humanizing force, a kind of uninvited guest who drunkenly lays waste to our weddings. Most of our ramparts and walls have been built, if not to keep out dragons and marauders, then to buttress ourselves against the various hazards that weather throws our way. Most of our cultural festivals and family meals have been organized, if not only to keep us plump and entertained, then to protect nature’s harvest against the corrosive effects of the weather. Though we do often talk about how weather has worked us over, what we don’t often think about is how we, through our practical interventions and conceptual explorations, have helped shaped the weather as well.

This book is divided into five chapters, each relatively short and approachable. It is bookended by this Introduction and a slightly longer Conclusion. Each chapter builds on the previous chapter and seeks to make a claim about weather overall. In Chapter 1, I explore definitional questions and aim to get a grip on what we mean when we talk about weather. In Chapter 2, I turn to explore the ways in which weather affects us. In Chapter 3, I flip that discussion on its head and explore attitudes and orientations toward weather, aiming there to explore the ways in which our changing technological and political landscape has shaped our thinking about weather. In Chapter 4, I delve into questions about the origins of and suppositions implicit in weather prediction and meteorology. And in Chapter 5, I look at historical and contemporary efforts to control the weather.

The thesis I chase is that weather doesn’t admit of a stable definition. It is not something that sits passively, specimen-like, on a shelf, but is instead an all-encompassing dynamic and volatile medium we live with and in. It is nothing so simple as a collection of discrete events – rain or sleet or hail – but instead a howling force that surrounds us, that seems to have a mind of its own, that works us over in ever-changing ways. It shapes who we are and how we live our lives. But just as weather is ever-changing, so too is our relationship with weather also ever-changing. Over the past several thousand years, given the innovations and interventions of civilization, weather has morphed from the tempestuous activity of the gods to an unceasing string of mostly mild inconveniences. These days, a large portion of the global population witnesses the world’s most massive superstorms from the comfort of their living rooms, munching their dinner while thinking only abstractly of the distant hapless souls who have had their lives upended by a devastating hurricane or tornado. Weather has transformed from an unpredictable force shaping every aspect of our lives to a form of entertainment that we can swipe past on our smartphones. Only every once in a while do the inconveniences of weather roar massively and violently through our lives, but when they do, they can serve as a not-so-gentle reminder of our place in the cosmic scheme of things.