Book Review: The Cloud Collector’s Handbook

How to Collect Clouds – From the Cloud Collectors Handbook by Gavin Pretor-Pinney:

You might well think that cloud collecting sounds like a ridiculous idea. How can anyone collect such ephemeral and free spirited things as clouds? Surely they are about as uncollectible as anything gets.

Magicked into being by the inscrutable laws of the atmosphere, clouds exist in a constant state of flux, shifting effortlessly from one form to another. One moment, they’re joining and spreading into undulating layers. The next, they’re breaking into torn shreds. One moment, they’re building upwards in enormous, weighty towers with dark, brooding bases. The next, they’re cascading back down in delicate translucent streaks. And they they’re gone – shedding their moisture as rain or just evaporating into the blue. They’re like expressions on the face of the sky and certainly not candidates for a display case. Given all the possible things you might consider collecting, clouds would seem to be a completely rubbish option.

But that’s where you are wrong. You don’t have to own something to collect it. You don’t even have to hold it. You just have to notice and record it.

And that is what this handbook is for. The entries will help you identify a whole range of distinctive cloud types, and some of the amazing optical effects produced by clouds and they scatter the sunlight. When you spot a particular clouds type, add it to your collection by noting the details on the relevant page. Ideally, keep a camera on hand so you can back up your claims with photographic evidence.

Get your copy of the Cloud Collectors Handbook from the Cloud Appreciation Society at: https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/collectors-handbook/ or at Amazon.com.

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Category: Pre-November 2010 Posts