Clouds

I have just finished reading a rather interesting little book called The Cloud Spotter's Guide, by Gavin Pretor-Pinney (Sceptre, 2007).

I must confess to having been avoiding bookshops for a while, mainly due to the distinct lack of book-buying funds which is part and parcel of being a 4th year graduate student in the UK. I am, therefore, probably one of the last people to hear about this book (the 2006 HB edition was selected as the Sunday Times Bestseller). Whilst I won't go so far as to endorse the Sunday Times review comment, (which was 'Go cloudspotting: it's the new religion') I will go so far as to say that I think it is an excellent book, being by far the best treatment of cloud classification and identification that I have ever come across.

Most meterological books tend to jump from the Janet-and-John-level [This is a cloud. A cloud is made of water. When the water falls from the cloud it is called rain] to the mind-blowingly complex this is a Cirrocumulus lancunosus undulatus cloud in a matter of a couple of paragraphs. In The Cloud Spotter's Guide, however, Mr Pretor-Pinney takes us gently through all the cloud types, explains their Latin names, and just when you think it might be getting a bit heavy diverts you onto a human-interest story.

I really recommend this book to anyone who has ever been interested in clouds, even for a split-second. I also own (and have read) Uman's classic text on lightning (kindly kept in print by the wonderful Dover Publications) but that's a much harder read, though just as worthwhile.

If you are in any doubt ... have a look at the Cloud Appreciation Society website, especially the photograph gallery.

The only question now is what to read next. Perhaps this is the time to bite the bullet and actually read Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.