The Theory of Clouds. Stephane Audeguy. 2007

Reviewed by Sarah Fairbank

I am now fascinated and interested in clouds and have joined the Cloud Appreciation Society. This all started with two books from Port Townsend Public Library: (I LOVE having a book that leads to another and then onward in an ever increasing and never ending palette of ideas and questions. ) The first book was "The Cloudspotter's Guide: the Science, History and Culture of Clouds", by Gavin Pretor-Pinney 2006. The other, "The Theory of Clouds" by Stephane Audeguy ,2007, is a novel about an archival librarian who works with an eccentric collector of cloud memorabilia . Her job become listening to his story rather and doing her work. It is the story of story of the classifying and naming of clouds. The academic hubbub and politics of presenting this to a scientific community with all the cast of characters, the stealing of work, the wheedling, the posturing. One interesting and creepy aspect of this book is that many of the cloud scientists lost it and became mentally ill.

Sarah Fairbank