The Cloudspotter's Guide

Great informative book, everything clouds you ever need to know

If, like me, you wonder why on earth no one else is looking upwards at the glorious cloudscapes we have in this country then you will love this book. It's the most enthusiastic, informative and well written book on the subject that I am sure you will ever receive. Since I bought it it is a constant in my life and reinforces my delight in the subject no matter how often I dip into it.

Having been weened on The Ladybird book of the Weather as a child, I thought this would be a great book to complement my knowledge.There are some interesting analogies of weather phenomena, by way of lava lamps and reed bed currents.My only gripe with this book is that almost all, (except the quiz section), of the photos are in black and white. A missed opportunity to make the book great and to make identification easier.

Easy read. Information given in clear ,understandable manner.

This is the 2nd purchase of this book for me. The first one I lent to someone and haven't got it back!It's a lovely reference book to have when looking out at the sky and when seeing some interesting cloud formations. I always have it to hand in my conservatory.

Suffering from a severe (is there any other?) form of Man Flu, I picked this up and devoured it in two days. If I had wanted to write such a book I would have done just the same as Mr Pretor-Pinney using a mixture of science, religion, history, philosophy and art, well-written in a lively fashion and glued together with liberal dashes of humour. Starting with Chapter One, cumulus, my febrile brain was buffeted from children's drawings to John Constable to René Descartes to Hindu and Buddhist beliefs about elephants, learning in the process that a cumulus cloud weighs the same as eighty elephants, to lava lamps and then on and on. I felt rather like what poor Lt.-Col. William Rankin must have felt like, that is the exhilaration and not the pain, when he was obliged to bail out at 47,000 ft above a cumulonimbus in Chapter Two. Even the ostensibly boring stratus and the often frankly depressing nimbostratus managed to shine in these pages before I surged to the upper troposphere, with a detour to Billingsgate Market for the mackerel sky version of cirrocumulus, and beyond. A veritable tour de force.

A Christmas present enjoyed by the recipient.

The Cloudspotter's Guide is not only a walkthrough of the different types of clouds with their related optical phenomena, it is also a rich collection of anecdotes and "fun facts" related to the weather. Gavin Pretor-Pinney writes humorous and metaphorical, making it much easier for the reader to remember all the details. As a paragliding pilot I found the chapters on cumulus, cumulonimbus and altocumulus clouds particularly interesting - not to mention the rare phenomenon "The Morning Glory", which is every glider pilot's dream. I would recommend this book to everybody - even those not particularly interested in clouds. Because this book will make you interested.

Higly recommended. I first read a translated version, but I'm equally fascinated of the original version. This book opens the sky and clouds to look with understanding.

I love this book for its wit and charm, as well as the information, presented in layers for those who are new to clouds. A librarian friend gave me this book years ago, when i realized how much i enjoyed watching the sky change over my new beachside house in northern CA. Recently I ordered another copy to replace the one i gave away, and i bought one to give to the son of a friend for his high school graduation. He is planning to attend school to become a licensed pilot, and i figured he would enjoy a light read about clouds.

Bellissimo

Purchased for nerd husband with a lukewarm response. Reflects badly on husband, not book.Son thinks there should be more pictures but still great. Other son thinks you’ll spot more clouds looking at the sky than at the book.

livre anglophone broché à couverture cartonnée souple petit format ancien (2007) consacré à la passion et l'étude des nuages;près un chapitre introductif l'auteur, anglais fondateur d'une association de passionnés de météorologie de terrain, nous décrit les différents types de nuages en 13 chapitres répartis en quatre sections:INTRODUCTION (12p) avec un grand ciel illustré et un tableau de classification des nuagesI LES NUAGES BAS01: Cumulus (24p)02: Cumulonimbus (26p)03: Stratus (20p)04: Stratocumulus (20p)II NUAGES INTERMEDIAIRES05: Altocumulus (22p)06: Altostratus (16p)07: Nimbostratus (20p)III NUAGES HAUTS08: Cirrus (24p)09: Cirrocumulus (16p)10: Cirrostratus (26p)SANS OUBLIER...11: les autres nuages (14p)12: les traces de condensation (30p)13: le nuage "morning glory" (24p)notes, indexle texte est tout à fait abordable et est illustré de photos malheureusemt toutes en n&b (même si les nuages ne sont colorés qu'indirectement, la couleur du ciel ou su soleil couchant aurait été appréciable)ce livre original et passionnant intéressera tous ceux qui ne savaient pas que des gens se passionnaient pour les nuages;en tout cas ils verront ceux-ci d'un oeil neuf!commentaire utile? merci de ckiquer ci-dessous: