The Invention of Clouds:How an Amateur meterologist forged the language of the skies
I decide to buy my Grandma a (last minute) book as a birthday present and settled on this one from Waterstone’s. I only read the back and a scanned 2 chapters but it does seem like a pretty fascinating read! Sort of wish I’d kept it for myself now (Sorry Grandma).
This is the story of Luke Howard, the man who came up with words like ‘cirrus’, ‘nimbus’ and ‘cumulus’ to describe different types of clouds at the turn of the 19th century. Now this may seem like a boring plot line but turns out when Howard presented his lecture in London revealing these different cloud types, he completely altered society’s outlook. Clouds had always been a mysterious part of Nature which was unclassifiable and thus incomprehensible. By naming them and categorising them, Howard lifted some of the mystique surrounding them.
Apparently the book is also a great portrayal of society in the early 1900s in London and Europe so definitely worth a read. I know I will be reading it…as soon as I visit my Grandma! 