Review: Rain: A Natural and Cultural History Cynthia Barnett Crown Publishers 2015 Rain . I nearly went on by this one, but now I’m glad I picked it up. The endorsements called it captivating, imaginative, lyrical, insightful, and other accolades. I think I’ll call it original and brave. The reason I picked it up in the beginning was to explore how someone could write a novel length, nonfiction book about rain of all things, and make it interesting to a layman. Well, Barnett has succeeded in doing just that. I expected a science book only, totally missing the entirety of the subtitle. Culture? Rain has culture and a history to boot? Yes, it does. One that is not just Western in scope. Seems everyone is dependent on rain, and the shape of their culture defines that interest over its history. The organization of this book reminded me of a mind map---rain with all the little connected ...