John Freeman is Professor Emeritus and Research Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University, Houston, Texas. His primary research interests include computer modelling of the Earth's magnetosphere for space weather specification and prediction, neural networks and other artificial intelligence applications to forecasting geophysical parameters. Professor Freeman has directed a number of satellite instrumentation projects, and has been awarded the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement for his work with the Apollo Program.

• Introduction; The cast of characters; Vignettes of the storm; 1. Two kinds of weather; 2. The saga of the storm; 3. Weather stations in space; 4. Lights in the night: the signature of the storm; 5. A walking tour of the magnetosphere; 6. The sun: where it all begins; 7. Nowcasting and forecasting storms in space; 8. Technology and the risks from storms in space; 9. A conversation with Joe Allen; 10. Manned exploration and space weather hazards; 11. The present and future of space weather forecasting; Mathematical appendix. A closer look; Glossary; Figure captions.

Review of the hardback: '… a very readable account of space weather storms and their effects.' Dr David Boteler, Episode