Although I had first heard of the pioneering work of Luke Howard through the study of urban climatology, I did not find out about his role in the naming of clouds until I came across the website of Cloudman, Dr. John A. Day. There I found a kinship with Day and his site as we have the same ultimate goal in presenting our weather knowledge to the public. Day expressed it best:
"I have lived consciously (to some degree) in a cloud world most of my adult life. The last two decades in retirement have been spent, among other things, still teaching meteorology, photographing and appreciating clouds. Instead of just seeing clouds, I am now SEEING clouds. The act of seeing nourishes my soul."
Dr Day, aka Cloudman, may be familiar to many as the co-author with V.J. Schaefer of my favourite weather field guide: Peterson's Field Guide to the Atmosphere. Day first became deeply involved with clouds when he studied cloud physics with Dr B.J. Mason's group at Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, England. Following his retirement from academia, Day began teaching about clouds to the public.
The culmination (to date) of that latest life mission is the marvellous book, The Book of Clouds wherein Day shows us what HE sees in clouds today. For me, only one book on clouds has come close to this one's combination of beauty and science, and that out-of-print book Spacious Skies had a deeper scientific analysis of the individual pictures.
The Book of Clouds begins with Day's "Ten Reasons to Look Up" — a great list of reasons to spend time watching the atmosphere and its daily variability. This follows with a discussion of How Clouds Form. Then Day offers us his A Portfolio of Clouds. In these 154 color pages, we are treated to many samples from Day's extensive personal collection of cloud photos (as well as several of optical effects such as rainbows and halos). I thumbed through the book with my friend the day it arrived, and we ooowed and aaahed our way through it for half an hour before dinner forced us to put it down.
Day follows the portfolio with a series of essays, the first of which is a brief yet illuminating biography of the aforementioned Luke Howard, complete with several of Howard's cloud watercolours. He finishes the book with a few tips on photographing clouds.
My biggest disappointment with the book is that Day did not introduce nor provide his most illuminating Precipitation Ladder. It would have been as logical an addition to the book as his essays on storm clouds and forecasting weather (the latter of which could have been expanded). The only complaints I have with the book are small ones. Several photos do not fit the captions: I do not see the sun pillar in the picture on pages 112-113, nor the second rainbow in the photo on pages 100-101. Also, the term "supernumerary" is used but not defined in the accompanying text or glossary.
If you were not a confirmed skywatcher before reading this book, I ask that when you have finished it, go back to the "Introduction" and re-read Day's "Ten Reasons to Look Up." I think thereafter you like he and I will be hooked on weather-watching.
For those of you who love clouds and weather, The Book of Clouds is a definite must for your library. Even if weather science is not your thing, you will love this book for its artistic, photographic displays of incredible sky scenes (you might then find yourself interested in learning the why behind such scenes). I'd say buy it for your reference shelf, but The Book of Clouds is too good to be so hidden. Keep it in easy reach for those times when the sky is hidden.