Sub-titled ‘Everything you need to know about clouds’,
this is an ideal book for any potential meteorologist being a first introduction
for children to the natural phenomena of clouds, weaving scientific fact with
literary, historical, and artistic notes along the way.
The first fly pages are illustrated with a wide
variety of clouds in a blue sky numbered with their types, in the upper troposphere,
the middle troposphere, and the lower troposphere. The index follows, with headings
according to the types of cloud classifications, such as Cirrus with its five
different types, and Stratus with its two varieties. First though, there is the
author’s definition of what clouds are. What she says is: ‘A cloud is formed
from a huge number of tiny water drops floating in the air. Depending on the
temperature – the higher it is, the colder – these droplets can be liquid of
frozen.’ Zambello then describes how clouds form including solar radiation,
warm-air advection, cold-air advection, radiative cooling, and when a mass of
air travelling horizontally meets a mountain.
There’s then a written and illustrative description of
the classification of ten different types of clouds, followed by the varieties
of clouds. The rest of the book is taken up with an examination of these clouds.
The Latin name for all the different types of clouds is used throughout the
book. And, too, there are illustrations – some painted, some stylised. Also,
the author gives history of clouds, such as Cirrostratus fibrates and
cirrostratus nebulosus, which are named for the goddess of air and clouds in
Norse mythology.
This is not a book for the faint-hearted as it
requires a great deal of dedicated patience, and perseverance to read it. There’s
a glossary, notes, and a bibliography at the end of the book which would be
suitable for keen readers from 11+ years.
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