Product Description

'The clouds are nature's poetry, and the most egalitarian of her displays, since everyone has an equally fantastic view of them. Clouds are for dreamers, and their contemplation benefits the soul. Yet their beauty is so everyday as to be in danger of being overlooked ...'

Gavin Pretor Pinney is the chairman and founder member of the Cloud Appreciation Society. He contends that we are blessed in this country with a uniquely rich and varied cloudscape, which has hitherto been sadly undervalued. His book teaches us to appreciate their different varieties – the cumulus, nimbostratus and Morning Glory to name only a few – and all their beauties and significances, both meteorological and cultural. We learn how Hindus believed the cumulus clouds were the spiritual cousins of elephants, how thermal air currents act on fair weather cumuli, and how to save a fortune in psychiatric bills by using the clouds as Rorschach images that reflect our state of mind as well as nature’s moods.

Looking up will never be the same again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2266 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Daily Telegraph
'A lovely book, the sort that everybody should have in the car or on the kitchen windowsill'

Review

‘A lovely book, the sort that everybody should have in the car or on the kitchen windowsill’

‘His style is genial, his enthusiasm uplifting and his book nothing less than a subtle but glorious mantra for a way of life.’

‘Read this eye-opening and amusingly written book and you will realise that beautiful as they are clouds are not just put there for decoration, they are truly awesome things.’

‘Eloquent and engaging...Beautiful illustrations, photos and diagrams throughout, which show how spectacular the sights can be for the ardent cloudspotter.’

Sunday Times
'Go cloudspotting: it's the new religion'

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly erudite but accessible nevertheless
This book was not quite what I expected in that I thought that it would be a largely pictorial guide to clouds. In fact it's quite textual with a relatively small number of illustrations considering that it's over 300 pages long.

There is a small colour section and I would have liked to have seen the other pictures reproduced in colour also rather than in monochrome which has sometimes come out as rather flattish and lacking contrast.

That said, it's an intelligently written guide not only to the types and appearances of clouds but also to the whys and wherefores of how each type forms and what it signifies in climatic terms. Although quite scientific in places it is also filled with lighter comments and observations.

It's entirely possible to appreciate the beauty of clouds without knowing anything about the processes behind their formation but I would recommend the book to any thinking reader who wishes to be informed in better depth about what they see in the sky and why it's there.

Cloud 9 - or cumulonimbus as I should call it now!
What an eye-opener! Or more probably, what a camera opener. All you ever wanted to know about clouds and just how and why they turn out the way they do. It possibly lacks a few more photos in the book but I accessed the author's cloud appreciation society website and found more photos than I thought ever existed. Though packed with facts, it's not dry science-speak so thank you for turning an everyday event into a extra-special sight (with much understanding behind it)!

I nearly crashed my car thanks to this book!
Witty, amusing, informative, and a fascinating read, is how I would describe this book. I loved it. I'm not even sure what attracted me to it in the first place; I think perhaps I couldn't imagine that anyone could write a whole book about clouds.

I used to admire the sky but only usually as a passenger on a train or in a car, or while sitting at the park watching my son on the swings and even then only half-heartedly. Now I am transfixed by the movements up there. The sky is truly spectacular. Why didn't I realise this before? Now I need to stop myself from gazing heavenwards while driving my car.

My only criticism of the book would be that the last chapter about the Morning Glory cloud doesn't seem to flow with the rest of the book probably because it was originally a separate article.

I loved the idea of taking a test after reading the book (placed in the middle pages). I didn't do too well though as my Latin spelling is appalling.