Verboten Meteorology: The Primordial Speck Theory (2nd Edition)

While the word, verboten, conjures up an image of Hitler’s Germany, I see it as insight and inspiration. In Hitler’s Germany, Jews were verboten—not allowed. Primordial Speck Theory treads on the very same ground. It is as though we’ve found the Holy Grail—the magic wand, as author John Billen puts it, to control weather, but the bureaucratic establishment says, don’t try. It must be politics at their ugliest. Billen has tip-toed into a new frontier in weather control. Much of the anti-sentiment goes back to the 1900’s with the work of Nikola Tesla.

Around 1899 and 1900, Tesla discovered a unique way to transfer electrical energy from one place to another wirelessly. This paved the way for all the wireless gadgets we play with today. The Tesla Coil, as it was called, worked well in theory, but it was too costly to implement on a large scale and so was forgotten. Scientists, however, continued to tinker with it. One such, brave soul, John Billen, began tinkering around 2000 and what he discovered was astonishing.

He put it all together in his new book, Verboten Meteorology: The Primordial Speck Theory. In it he explains how the theory works. Chapter I puts the whole idea into perspective, giving us a glimpse for the very first time of exactly how weather control might work. A high amount of copper is the magic wand, Billen says, that directs Tesla tinkering with wireless experiments. Most people who’ve heard of Tesla are unaware that his magic predicted the great Midwest Dust Bowl during the 1930’s. His work provides a realistic argument for intense wet and dry periods. Hence, Billen calls for the day when wet and dry places can share the theory by having water redistributed around the world. Billen says, “For successful control of the weather, cooperation on a global scale would be needed, and that shouldn’t be seen as an insurmountable problem either.” Even though he raises many points that cannot be easily dismissed, politicians always seem to find a way to blur technological progress. But at least, there is hope that his theory can glean interest.

If anything, Billen develops an hypothesis that is as entertaining as it is scholarly. Of course, his historical accounts of some of the pioneers who worked with electrical and magnetic fields are right on target, giving you an in-depth look at the supporting theories. If you’re in the process of orchestrating your summer reading list, put Verboten Meteorology on it. And after having read the book, you might wonder why it wasn’t written sooner.