Just Finished Reading: Turbulence by Giles Foden (FP: 2009)

England, Early 1944. As the long expected invasion of the European continent gets ever closer and the number of troops steadily increases all over the South of the country the only question on everyone’s lips is: When will it happen? The men and machines are almost ready, ships are full to bursting with the tools of death and across hundreds of airfields the bombers, fighters, transport planes and gliders are eager to be off. Everything is planned down to the minute except for one vital thing outside the control of even the most powerful men in the combined forces poised to leap across the narrow confines of the English Channel – the weather. For the landings to be successful the Allies need 5 days of relatively calm weather, a full Moon and a low tide at dawn. There are a few days scattered throughout June 1944 but which one offers the most favourable conditions? The best forecasters in the world have only been able to predict up to a maximum of 3 days ahead with increasing levels of uncertainty. This is simply not good enough to hinge the biggest amphibious assault in history on. A failed invasion now could delay the final outcome of the war by a year or more and who knows what effects that could have. The weather men simply need to do better – but they don’t have the tools to do so. One man however does – Wallace Ryman, developer of the Ryman Number denoting the amount of turbulence in a system. But Ryman has turned his back on the science of Meteorology in favour of Peace Studies and, as a Quaker, has refused to divulge details of how to use his insights into weather system for military purposes. Young maths prodigy Henry Meadows is sent to Scotland to try and persuade Ryman to teach him how to use the Ryman Number to ensure a successful invasion of Europe which will shorten the war and save thousands of lives. After months of trying everything he can to gain the education he needs tragedy ensues and Meadows is left to piece together what he can before D-Day goes ahead with or without an accurate weather report.

I honestly never really gave weather forecasting a second thought where military matters are concerned. I know (generally) that the weather in the Channel early in June was an important factor in determining D-Day but didn’t realise just how much effort was being put into such a leap into the comparative unknown and how much the invasion was pushing the science. Obviously based on real events (with several of the characters being real historical people) this was often a fascinating read and I picked up quite a bit of knowledge regarding turbulence and how maths could be used to make sense of it (used in both weather and financial market forecasting). Many things piqued my interest and, rather inevitably, I shall be investigating this later in non-fiction. While the main story was interesting enough I did find some of the side stories rather irritating. The main character grew up in Africa so we were regaled by multiple reminiscences which, whilst moderately interesting in themselves, didn’t do much for the story and too often felt like padding. Even worse was the romantic confusion between Meadows and Ryman’s young wife which seemed completely pointless. Despite all that the core story was very interesting indeed and made me look at the preparation for the D-Day landings in a subtlety new way which I always enjoy. Definitely recommended for science Geeks and those interested in off-the-wall aspects of WW2.