A beautifully illustrated guide to clouds and the sky for inspiring and educating curious minds with meteorological wonder.
Renowned journalist, public speaker, and founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society Gavin Pretor-Pinney details the key facts and characteristics about each major cloud type. To accompany these scientific tidbits, William Grill’s gorgeous illustrations of vast colorful skies and mesmerizing cloud patterns create a calming, thought-provoking learning experience.
From low-lying stratus to high-flying cirrus, Cloudspotting for Beginners covers how clouds are formed, the altitudes they prefer, the curious shapes they take, how they affect other meterological events, and more. The book breaks down the life and structure of a cloud on a molecular level, and then even expands on their interesting cross-planetary variations–for example, Jupiter’s clouds are composed of ammonia ice crystals and Saturn’s clouds congregate in an inexplicable hexagon around the planet’s north pole.
Clouds follow us around all day, but most of us don’t even know all of their names. They require a fascinating amount of chemical precision in order to exist, yet they disappear at the end of each day and are born anew the next. Cloudspotting for Beginners is a whimsical lesson on the oft-overlooked extraordinary lives of clouds that will serve as a gentle reminder to be present and observant in the face of impermanence. Just as informative as it is poetic and peaceful, this is the perfect guide for cloud appreciators and sky lovers.
Short and simple, like a picture book for adults. The text is brief, leaving the illustrations to take center stage. Really, I just want to learn the different types of clouds, so this was just about the right amount of content. I might have liked a little more on interpreting the clouds, but that feels ok to omit from a field guide. Instead it explained what clouds are made of. I thought some of the clouds were a bit tricky to recognize on the pages that rounded up ten at a go, but the full page spreads following were clearer. Charmingly, this includes a section on clouds on other planets 😂
Rob Hardy