Richard Hamblyn

Learn to unlock the secrets of the skies with the ultimate cloud spotter’s companion! The Cloud Deck is a beautifully illustrated, practical guide to 50 fascinating cloud formations. Produced in association with the MET Office and written by bestselling author Richard Hamblyn, this boxed card deck helps you understand the ever-changing world above us. Whether you’re an amateur weather watcher or a dedicated cloud enthusiast, each card features stunning cloud photography on the front, with expert descriptions and identification tips on the reverse. The handy “cloud finder” tool included in the box allows you to quickly isolate and identify any cloud you spot. Your journey into the world of clouds begins with a 16-page booklet that provides essential knowledge, guiding you from curious beginner to confident cloud expert. Inside this unique deck, you’ll find: 50 cards showcasing incredible cloud formations with detailed information Stunning, easy-to-use cloud photography for effortless identification A ready-to-use "cloud finder" for on-the-go spotting Expert insights from the world-leading MET Office Perfect packaging as a thoughtful gift for weather enthusiasts Whether given as a gift or kept as a personal treasure, the Deck of Clouds makes cloud spotting accessible, engaging, and fun. Start your journey into the skies today – discover, identify, and enjoy the beauty above you!

A one-of-a-kind illustrated guide to clouds, cloud formations, and the artists who painted themThe mystery of clouds has captivated scientists and artists alike. This unique book shows you how to use the meteorological techniques of nephology to identify these elusive and transmutable shapes. It curates, classifies, and measures every species—including those recently discovered—considering the height, size, texture, arrangement, modifications, and movement of their many shifting forms. Clouds blends a lively and engaging narrative by one of today’s leading meteorologists with an essay on historic cloud art, and includes a wealth of breathtaking cloud studies by some of the greatest artists ever to look skyward.Presents a “taxonomic” approach to identification, applying the basic laws of geometry to quantify and measure clouds and cloud formationsShowcases artists who painted clouds from a scientific viewpoint, such as John Constable, Frederic Edwin Church, J.M.W. Turner, and Caspar David FriedrichTells the stories of the physicists and painters who have attempted to record the many different incarnations of cloudsExplains the physics of clouds, from the basic constituents of Earth’s atmosphere to cloud formation and dissipation, the colors and shades of clouds, the development of precipitation, and the timescale evolution of cloudsDiscusses the classification and naming of cloudsServes as a user-friendly reference guide to low, midlevel, and high cloud speciesIncludes charts, infographics, and a glossary of terms

****Mycket bra!****"Det är en väldigt intressant bok som innehåller allt man behöver veta om moln ... Med hjälp av välskrivna texter och vackra färgfotografier får vi lära oss hur olika moln uppkommer, hur de ser ut och om det är möjligt att förutsäga något om vädret utifrån dem." Helena Sjöblom, Bibliotekstjänst, BTJ-häftet nr 11, 2024Med den här boken kan du njuta av molnskådning med en djupare förståelse och uppskattning för naturens skönhet och komplexitet.Moln har varit en källa till fascination genom historien, och de har gett upphov till både vetenskapliga insikter och drömska fantasier. Den här heltäckande guiden tar med dig på en resa genom alla de olika molnsorterna, inklusive 12 nyupptäckta molnformationer. Boken är ett resultat av ett samarbete med The Met Office (Storbritanniens motsvarighet till SMHI), världens främsta väderprognosbyrå, och den innehåller allt du behöver veta om moln, deras ursprung och utveckling. The Met Office och SMHI använder samma internationella molnklassificieringssystem.Oavsett om du tittar på gigantiska fluffiga moln eller små, flyktiga strimmor, kommer du inte bara att kunna identifiera formationerna, utan även följa deras förändringar över tid och därigenom förutsäga vädermönster.

Learn how to understand the skies with this comprehensive pocket guide to cloudspotting. Clouds have been the object of fascination throughout history, their fleeting magnificence and endless variability providing food for thought for scientists and daydreamers alike. Clouds may have many individual shapes, but there are a few basic forms. In this definitive guide to the clouds and the skies, Richard Hamblyn introduces you to all the different cloud species. The Pocket Cloud Book will enable you to identify individual clouds, skies and phenomena. You will also be able to track their likely changes over time and predict the implications they have for the weather you may experience. This brand new pocket-size edition includes the 12 new cloud types only recently officially recognised by the World Meteorological Organization. Many of these previously only had informal names, but their new Latin classification brings them into the fold of officially adopted global meteorological terms. It also includes an updated section on climate change and the role that clouds might play in shaping future conditions on Earth. Produced in association with the Met Office - the world's premier weather forecasting bureau - all things to do with the origin and development of a cloud are here. Whether you are looking at a giant cumulonimbus or a tiny shred of stratus factus, an everyday occurrence or a fleeting rarity, your cloudspotting will be expertly informed and much more satisfying with this handy reference guide. This book will enable you to not only identify individual clouds and skies as they might appear at any given moment, but also to track their likely changes over time, and thus predict weather patterns. Illustrated with stunning images from around the globe, this pocket edition is the perfect size to take with you on walks and have it handy in the garden so that you can enjoy sky-gazing every day. This is the only guide to cloud classification that you will ever need, in handy and practical pocket-friendly size.

Learn how to understand the skies with this comprehensive cornerstone guide to cloudspotting. Clouds have been the object of fascination throughout history, their fleeting magnificence and endless variability providing food for thought for scientists and daydreamers alike. Clouds may have many individual shapes, but there are a few basic forms. In this definitive guide to the clouds and the skies, Richard Hamblyn introduces you to all the different cloud species. The Met Office Cloud Book will enable you to identify individual clouds, skies and phenomena. You will also be able to track their likely changes over time and predict the implications they have for the weather you may experience. Produced in association with the Met Office – the world’s premier weather forecasting bureau – all things to do with the origin and development of a cloud are here. Whether you are looking at a giant cumulonimbus or a tiny shred of stratus factus, an everyday occurrence or a fleeting rarity, your cloudspotting will be expertly informed and much more satisfying with this handy reference guide. This book will enable you to not only identify individual clouds and skies as they might appear at any given moment, but also to track their likely changes over time, and thus predict weather patterns. This new edition brings this classic and bestselling book completely up to date, including 12 new cloud types only recently officially recognised by the World Meteorological Organization. Many of these previously only had informal names, but their new Latin classification brings them into the fold of officially adopted global meteorological terms. It also includes a new foreword from the Met Office's Chief Meteorologist and an updated section on climate change and the role that clouds might play in shaping future conditions on Earth. The Met Office Cloud Book includes a detailed introduction on the history of cloud classification and is illustrated with stunning images from around the globe. Take it with you on walks and have it handy in the garden so that you can enjoy sky-gazing every day. This is the only guide to cloud classification that you will ever need.

This book explores the sea and its meanings from ancient myths to contemporary geopolitics, from Atlantis to the Mediterranean migrant crisis. Richard Hamblyn traces a cultural and geographical journey from estuary to abyss, beginning with the topographies of the shoreline and ending with the likely futures of our maritime environments. Along the way the book considers the sea as a site of work and endurance, of story and song, of language, leisure and longing. By considering the sea as both a physical and a cultural presence, the book shines new light on the sea and its indelible place in the human imagination.

Clouds have been objects of delight and fascination throughout human history; their fleeting magnificence and endless variety have inspired scientists and daydreamers alike. Clouds and the ever-changing patterns they create have long symbolized the restlessness and unpredictability of nature. Life without clouds is not physically possible – alongside their rain-bearing function, clouds act as a finely tuned planetary thermostat – but in addition it would be mentally and spiritually barren, deprived of the inspiring, life-affirming thought-bubbles that drift continuously overhead: ‘the ultimate art gallery above’, as Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote.Richard Hamblyn explores the notable presence of clouds in literature and the arts (including music and sculpture) while outlining their growing scientific significance in the context of climate change. The book covers the history, science and art of clouds, including the controversial history of cloud modification. All the major cloud types are discussed and illustrated, including clouds on other planets, as well as the increasing number of man-made clouds that fill our changeable skies. Comprehensive yet compact, cogent and beautifully illustrated, this is the ultimate guide to clouds: from Hamlet’s ‘cloud that’s almost in shape of a camel’ to the world of cloud computing today.

Hamblyn's book adds enormously to the pleasure that there is in science.' Guardian

An extraordinary yet little-known scientific advance occurred in the opening years of the nineteenth century when a young amateur meteorologist, Luke Howard, gave the clouds the names by which they are known to this day. By creating a language to define structures that had, up to then, been considered random and unknowable, Howard revolutionized the science of meteorology and earned the admiration of his leading contemporaries in art, literature and science. Richard Hamblyn charts Howard’s life from obscurity to international fame, and back to obscurity once more. He recreates the period’s intoxicating atmosphere of scientific discovery, and shows how this provided inspiration for figures such as Goethe, Shelley and Constable. Offering rich insights into the nature of celebrity, the close relationship between the sciences and the arts, and the excitement generated by new ideas, The Invention of Clouds is an enthralling work of social and scientific history.

If you enjoy watching clouds and want to know more about cloud types and what they mean then this practical reference guide is for you. Beautifully illustrated with lovely images from the Met Office, this handy pocket-sized book provides you with all the information you need to identify different kinds of clouds and the kind of weather that may be on its way. Full of useful information, this book provides: quick reference pages for rapid identification; a cloud classification chart and a guide to the unique cloud identification system; clear informative explanations from weather experts; a simple, easy-to-understand progression from low clouds to high stratus clouds, as well as covering unusual cloud phenomena; a detailed introduction on the history of cloud classification and an introduction to the three principle cloud forms, with clear explanations of the atmospheric processes that create them. This is an invaluable companion for the casual cloud-spotter and for all those fascinated by the variety and beauty of clouds and cloud names. Take it with you on walks and have it handy in the garden so that you can enjoy sky-gazing every day. This book is the ideal daytime partner for our book on the night sky – The Star Book by Peter Grego.

Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize The early years of the nineteenth century saw an intriguing yet little-known scientific advance catapult a shy young Quaker to the dizzy heights of fame. The Invention of Clouds tells the extraordinary story of an amateur meteorologist, Luke Howard, and his groundbreaking work to define what had hitherto been random and unknowable structures--clouds. In December 1802, Luke Howard delivered a lecture that was to be a defining point in natural history and meteorology. He named the clouds, classifying them in terms that remain familiar to this day: cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and nimbus. This new and precise nomenclature sparked worldwide interest and captured the imaginations of some of the century's greatest figures in the fields of art, literature, and science. Goethe, Constable, and Coleridge were among those who came to revere Howard's vision of an aerial landscape. Legitimized by the elevation of this new classification and nomenclature, meteorology fast became a respectable science. Although his work is still the basis of modern meteorology, Luke Howard himself has long been overlooked. Part history of science, part cultural excavation, The Invention of Clouds is a detailed and informative examination of Howard's life and achievements and introduces a new audience to the language of the skies.