The Cloudspotter's Guide

Great little book if you like clouds apparently it’s an interesting read. Bought as a gift and was well received.

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.

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.

Not just a load of old clouds. This book is insprirational - with science, art, music and fun. If the teachers at my school 50+ years ago had been able to put over their subjects as Mr P-P does his, I would have learned a great deal more than I did. I take these books about with me,(this one and the Cloud Collector's Handbook - it's such a cute little book), they are just the thing for trains, waiting rooms and bus queues. Of course, people may 'look at you funny' if you smile or even giggle whilst reading, or turn the book upside down to see a picture the other way up, but don't worry about that. I don't. I recommend both books.

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.

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.

I love this book. It's beautifully written, quirky and very entertaining. It would be nice to have a longer colour section in the middle but you can access these pictures from the Cloud Appreciation Society website anyhow, so no big deal really. It would be nice to have the book available on Kindle. I really do prefer that now but had to get this on paper. It seems a strange choice to have this, mainly text-based, book not available on Kindle, whereas the field guide by same author, primarily pictures, is available for Kindle.

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.

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 nuages I LES NUAGES BAS 01: Cumulus (24p) 02: Cumulonimbus (26p) 03: Stratus (20p) 04: Stratocumulus (20p) II NUAGES INTERMEDIAIRES 05: Altocumulus (22p) 06: Altostratus (16p) 07: Nimbostratus (20p) III NUAGES HAUTS 08: 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, index le 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

Interesting discussion of the cloud types. Helpful in my work as a weather observer.

good guide

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.