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Summary
Summary
A quirky, clever guide for everyone who loves to look up. Where do clouds come from? Why do they look the way they do? And why have they captured the imagination of timeless artists, Romantic poets, and every kid who's ever held a crayon? Journalist and lifelong sky watcher Gavin Pretor-Pinney reveals everything there is to know about clouds, from history and science to art and pop culture. Cumulus, nimbostratus, and the dramatic and seemingly surfable Morning Glory cloud are just a few of the varieties explored in this smart, witty, and eclectic tour through the skies. Generously illustrated with striking photographs and line drawings featuring everything from classical paintings to lava lamps, children's drawings, and Roman coins, The Cloudspotter's Guidewill have science and history buffs, weather watchers, and the just plain curious floating on cloud nine.
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
With tongue firmly in cheek and more than a little irony, Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, clears up any confusion readers may have about what separates a stratus from a cirrus from a cumulonimbus. He starts at the bottom-that is, at sea level-and discusses the types of clouds that form at each level in the atmosphere. The result is an amusing and remarkably informative jaunt through the heavenly vapors that draws on classical poetry, physics, geekery and pop culture. Despite this improbable melange, Pretor-Pinney succeeds in fleshing out subtleties and making difficult concepts like convection, advection, condensation and atmospheric optics comprehensible to almost any reader. The author has included dozens of illustrations, cloud photos (including one that looks like two cats dancing and another that resembles Thor hurling a lightning bolt) and diagrams showing the anatomy and lifecycles of clouds. Rounding out the volume are a chapter on the human effects on clouds and a narrative about the author's pursuit of the "Morning Glory," which he calls "the most spectacular cloud in the world." By mixing self-deprecating humor and hard science, Pretor-Pinney makes learning about clouds fun. (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Choice Review
Pretor-Pinney offers this good supplement to any cloud atlas, containing colored pictures of all cloud types. He "reveals everything there is to know about clouds," with details; many subtopics make the book delightful. There is a great account of a pilot who had to eject and with his parachute went down through a thunderstorm, and an enlightening explanation of the origin of the expression "to be on cloud nine." There is also a story of the smoke-off between a man and the devil. The final story is of Pretor-Pinney's journey to Northern Australia to view the Morning Glory, a roll cloud of extraordinary dimensions providing glider pilots with great rides. Included are many optical phenomena: haloes, coronas, sun dogs, and discussions of fog, clouds in contact with Earth's surface. Charge separation to produce lightning is explained; lightning includes both in-cloud and cloud-to-ground varieties as well as sheet lightning and ball lightning. Winter's seasonal affective disorder, the "feeling down" syndrome due to lack of sunlight, is important at higher latitudes and particularly affects older women. In Japan and China, a summer equivalent is due to relentless blue skies. Some concepts in physics are included. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates; two-year technical program students. A. E. Staver emeritus, Northern Illinois University