By John A. Day
Publisher: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. New York
ISBN-1-4027-2813-1
Oh no… another book about clouds! I can almost hear you say but hey, why not? Clouds are all around us, you can tell the weather by them (did you know that cloud-types from and dissipate in a precise sequence before and after weather fronts?) and in many cases, they are just damn beautiful. Unless you walk with your eyes permanently cast on the ground, you cannot fail to notice nature’s wonderful sky-scape. And if you see it, you will want to understand it. This book is a great help in doing just that.
If I had to characterize John A. Day’s book, I would say few words, lots of photos. This is good. Clouds are more a feast to the eyes and seeing them is much nicer than talking about them. But there is sufficient text nevertheless to explain things as we are lead through the cloud genera and into the realm of unusual clouds and optical effects.
A short section on weather forecasting using the clouds followed by cloud observation techniques complete the volume. A very useful glossary and index add more icing to the cake.
Whether you are interested in meteorology or just clouds as such, this book is a good one to start your collection of relevant tomes with.