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The History and Future of the Wind
New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester returns with a thought-provoking history of the wind, written in his edifying and entertaining style.
What is going on with our atmosphere? The headlines are filled with news of devastating hurricanes, murderous tornadoes, and cataclysmic fires affecting large swaths of America. Gale force advisories are issued on a regular basis by the National Weather Service.
In 2022, a report was released by atmospheric scientists at the University of Northern Illinois, warning that winds—the force at the center of all these dangerous natural events—are expected to steadily increase in the years ahead, strengthening in power, speed, and frequency.
While this prediction worried the insurance industry, governmental leaders, scientists, and conscientious citizens, one particular segment of society received it with unbridled enthusiasm. To the energy industry, rising wind strength and speeds as an unalloyed boon for humankind—a vital source of clean and "safe" power.
Between these two poles—wind as a malevolent force, and wind as savior of our planet—lies a world of fascination, history, literature, science, poetry, and engineering which Simon Winchester explores with the curiosity and vigor that are the hallmarks of his bestselling works. In The Breath of the Gods, he explains how wind plays a part in our everyday lives, from airplane or car travel to the "natural disasters" that are becoming more frequent and regular.
The Breath of the Gods is an urgently-needed portrait across time of that unseen force—unseen but not unfelt—that respects no national borders and no vessel or structure in its path. Wind, the movement of the air, is seen by so many as a heavenly creation and generally a thing of essential goodness. But when it flexes its invisible muscles, all should take care and be very afraid.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (4/23/2026)
Audio: Kin Non Fiction: The Breath of the Gods. Everything you wanted to know about the wind. I love Simon Winchester. I feel smarter everytime I read a book of his. Fiction: Seascraper. Booker prize nominee. Beautiful short character study of a young isolated shrimper.
-Jolene_Blankley
"Epic ... Winchester brings depth to the history of the wind ... A splendidly written account of an unseeable force." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Winchester's narrative changes direction as easily as its subject, constantly breezing off into digressions on the aerodynamics of maple seeds, the chemistry of napalm, and more." —Publishers Weekly
"Winchester, a prolific and best-selling popular historian, turns his attention to that most powerful of forces: the wind. With his signature entertaining erudition, he explores a subject that has quite literally powered the human world since our inception." —New York Times
"We love a historian with divergent interests. Simon Winchester's oeuvre contains cultural histories of the Oxford English Dictionary, land ownership, the Pacific Ocean, transportation technology, cartography, precision engineering and much more. He's a Pied Piper who draws readers in to seemingly remote topics and soon has them eagerly engaging with the material. The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Wind will investigate the currents of air that threaten our lives and environments, but also provide a path for clean energy." —BookPage
This information about The Breath of the Gods was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Simon Winchester is the acclaimed author of many books, including The Professor and the Madman, The Men Who United the States, The Map That Changed the World, The Man Who Loved China, A Crack in the Edge of the World, and Krakatoa, all of which were New York Times bestsellers and appeared on numerous best and notable lists. In 2006, Winchester was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty the Queen. He resides in western Massachusetts.
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