Firmament: The Hidden Science of Weather, Climate Change and the Air That Surrounds Us by Simon Clark

Firmament: The Hidden Science of Weather, Climate Change and the Air That Surrounds Us Reviews

• 
  Jessie Kuehne

  This was a wonderful read!
  
  I was very excited to read material that I don't often interact with, even marking this book as my most anticipated of the year. I was afraid that I would be unable to comprehend parts of the book, but Simon made it easy to follow and relatable. He used easy to understand examples in laymen's terms. Firmament was thoroughly enjoyable and incredibly digestible.
  
  This book is an easy recommendation for anyone who is interest in learning about the history of the weather, atmosphere, and the scientific instrumentation that has made our understanding possible; climate change, and how the elements impact our world.
• 
  Anne (thebeautyofthebooks)

  Amazing book that breaks down the science of weather, climate and so much more to understandable chunks. It is written in an amazign way, includes a few jokes here and there to lighten the load and is definitely more than suitable for people who do not have huge pool of scientific knowledge. Greatly recommend giving this book a go!
• 
  Alžběta

  "Firmament" read like an exciting thriller mixing history and science, beautifully written and flawlessly read by the author himself. Comfortable only with the very basics of science, I wondered whether I'd be able to follow the text, but Simon Clark presents everything so clearly and in such easily digestible bits that I not only understood but enjoyed the book immensely. The author's enthusiasm and humour made "Firmament" one of my favourite books of 2022. I will definitely reread it soon to refresh all the sciency bits and enjoy Simon Clark's beautiful, funny prose and love for atmospheric science.
• 
  Floris

  I’ve been a long-time fan of Simon Clark’s YouTube channel. I think he’s an excellent communicator, being able to boil down complicated but also very relevant topics into funny and engaging 10-20 minute explainers. He’s also not shy about incorporating popular, gaming, and fantasy culture in his Sci-Comm work, which I greatly appreciate. A lot of that wit and engaging tone is transferred to this book-length explainer of atmospheric science and its history. In fact, Firmament chapters read a little bit like extended YouTube videos. Yes, there are some clever throwbacks woven through them, but ultimately they work as nine standalone stories. At times, the jokes felt a bit weak, like they were missing a funny graphic to hit home, or a trademark whisper into the clip-on mic. But overall, the easy pace and tone of the book makes it as easy to read as binging his videos is.
  
  However: it is not a book for me. The main reason for this is the fact that the stories about the history of this science – pretty much half of the book – are incredibly simplistic. The positivistic framing of this history is sometimes cringeworthy, as yet another individual is described as having revolutionised the way meteorology is done, getting one step closer to the truth that we know today. Clark may say that the history of climate science is a global one, but including two Japanese scientists amongst a swathe of your standard white men from Europe or North America does not convince me of this. All these men (and one or two women) are usually introduced as been “brave”, “pioneering”, “brilliant”, “remarkable”, “ingenious”, who alone make “great discoveries” and inventions to advance the field of meteorology. With “one foot in the past and another in a future that few others could see”, our understandings of the atmosphere apparently take “great leaps forward” because of them.
  
  What irks me the most is the way Clark treats the discipline of history. He is clearly aware of the limits of his expertise: “As I am a physicist by training, not a biologist, I will simple say here…” (33); “I don’t want to go into much more detail on oceans and their dynamics, partly because it is not my area of expertise,…” (95). Yet he doesn’t seem to think twice about making sweeping remarks about the history of science which sometimes goes counter to what historians have written on a certain topic. I am certainly not trying to gatekeep here – I don’t think Clark is trespassing in an area where he shouldn’t be. In fact, I’m glad to see he spent so much time on it in a book like this. But in choosing to base his story on the types of sources he does, and not engaging with thoughtful historical work (and I don’t mean Brian Fagan, whom he quotes at a certain point), he is telling a story that in my opinion is old-fashioned and downright misleading. Why is biology treated as a field a physicist can’t enter without permission, but history is apparently open for anyone to waltz in and just “tell it like it was”?
  
  There are a few bright spots in his historical narrative. He notes how much scientific work in the early modern period relied on the activities of European nations and their colonies, making science inextricable from factors like the slave trade, colonial oppression, and social-Darwinist politics. He rightfully recognises the “debt” that modern science bears with to these activities (76). Another example is his recognition of the way scientific institutionalisation marginalised women and people of colour. A passage on Eunice Foote and women in science since the Enlightenment is particularly good. His references to colonial violence or social inequality are welcome not only for the way they help counter traditional narratives of scientific exceptionalism (ones which he unfortunately also helps perpetuate), but also just provide more richness and context to the developments he talks about.
  
  I want to clarify that for most people, this will easily be a 3+/5 book. My Goodreads score just reflects how the book resonated with me.
  
• 
  Emily Roberts Kang

  Entertaining history of climate science.
  
  I gained a big-picture understanding of the atmosphere and how we know what we know about it. I learned that it's useful to think of the atmosphere as fluid and how chemistry and geography impact the atmosphere; namely the ocean is a carbon sink and black-body radiation from the earth heats the air.
  
  I found parts of it a bit dry and overly technical. Also, some metaphors to make the overly technical topics more accesible were odd; such as the cats and dogs field. But overall Dr. Clark did a great job of making a science that I don't have a particularly strong interest in accesible and memorable. I particularly enjoyed the explanation of how the polar vortex impacted the Great Lakes region in 2019 and why the weather forecast is only about 92% accurate at the moment (It's because of chaos theory; small changes to the inputs can cause great differences in the outputs of equations used to predict the weather). I also appreciated his explanation of how atmospheric science requires more collaboration than many other fields because of how the data collection must be so geographically dispersed.
  
  The last chapter, on climate change, was informative and concise. In it Clark made informed predictions that brings the complex issue into perspective, and he recommended two other books on the topic that I'll add to my TBR that will hopefully have more actionable suggestions.
  
  I ordered this book because I enjoy Simon Clark's youtube channel. Also, I wanted to read a science-focused (as opposed to historical or policy-focused) book about climate change. This book is not really about climate change as much as it is about climate & weather science; it's about as scientific, objective, and apolitical as one could expect from any book on the topic besides a textbook. Despite the technical subject matter, Clark weaves narratives of the science history throughout each chapter, and his voice is strong in the text. It was an enjoyable read, especially the footnotes. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading history of science, anyone who wants to learn more about climate science, or anyone who enjoys his YouTube channel.
• 
  Allan Olley

  This is a history of the science of the atmosphere (the firmament). Simon Clark has a PhD in theoretical atmospheric physics at the University of Exeter and a YouTube channel where he gives videos on topics including atmospheric physics, general science, the life of doctoral student and so on.
  
  The book is a relatively short, but includes a great deal of information. It manages to both give a comprehensible summary of important concepts in atmospheric science such as the stratosphere and El Nino and some interesting historical incidents from the work and lives of key climate scientists through history. I am not an expert on atmospheric science or the history, so this does not mean much, but I did not notice any major problems. I did notice a focus on people who made some discovery or connection before anyone else but did not succeed in spreading these ideas, this is often interesting and illustrate the role of luck in scientific process but it can distort the historical narrative. An important part of the history of science is the way ideas are communicated and taken up by other researchers, a first discovery that no one ever learns about or takes up is actually less significant than the discoveries that become the basis of later scientific practice.
  
  The ebook I read (which was not actually the Kindle but it seems easier to put the review here) had a problem with the final endnotes of most of the chapters, the preview did not work and instead clicking on it would jump the ereader to the page with the notes. The endnotes were only used to give citation information. The footnotes (parenthetical statements elaborating topics) were integrated into the text of the ebook, an "*" would indicate a footnote and at the end of the next paragraph or so there would be another "*" and the text of the footnote.
• 
  Gethin Manuel

  THE best popular science book on atmospheric science (imo).
  
  I absolutely devoured this book. Both the narrative and the performance were excellent. Clark takes you on a journey through the atmosphere but diverges off to so many interesting lines of thought, which only enhances this book. The first half of the book is generally for setting up the fundamental knowledge about the atmosphere, which is clearly explained. The author achieves this by telling the amazing stories of the early natural philosophers and victorian aeronauts who first theorised about the atmosphere.
  
  During the second half of the book, Clark highlights the enormous complexity of the atmospheric system by delving into complex and lesser known topics which depend upon understanding atmospheric science. I enjoyed hearing about my own research field of outdoor sound propagation receive some attention, as it too depends on understanding the atmospheric giant. Clark still manages to explain each complexity in clear and understandable ways by using thought experiments. Clark finishes by talking about climate change, but from such an objective point of view.
  
  I guess my only critique is that it was too short, especially as Clark closed the epilogue with some brief descriptions of some other atmospheres in our solar system and on nearby exoplantes. It left me wanting more. Best book I've read this year.
• 
  Emma Mrmn

  3.9
  TLDR; needs more prentjes
  
  This book is the author’s first, and its a step in a good direction, but I personally don’t think it succeeded to be /effective/ science communication (which is a very hard to accomplish). As a visual learner, i found the lack of images and equations frustrating, but I understand this wasn’t meant to be a full blown textbook.
  
  for me, I wouldn't classify this as /effective/ science communication because I could only understand what the author was explaining because i was following a university level (ableit introductory lol im not smart) course on this topic at the same time, if i weren’t, I would have had to look up you tube video’s constantly (which i still did do, and I recommend doing this anyway). Obviously this is a very personal and subjective observation, another could find this perfectly fine science communication and i won’t fight them on it.
  
  Sometimes the personal comments (in between sentences, disrupting my flow of trying to understand, or the footnotes) got somewhat tiring. It’s a very British book as well, not that there is anything wrong with that, it just is. I feel like this book hasn't reached its full potential bcs it is trying to be a few things at once: a textbook at intro level, a history course, a personal story about how fascinating the atmosphere is (it is btw) and a popular science book. But its not any of those things, its a morph and for me personally it didn’t quite work as well as I had expected (and expectations were high because his videos are very good science communication). I am quite certain though, that his next books will be a lot better.
• 
  Isabelle Axelsson

  As a person who watches Simon Clark's YouTube videos and listens to the Wikicast, I have been looking forwards to this book for a long time.
  
  I was scared that it would be too technical to me, as physics is one of my weakest academic areas and l've always struggled with the meteorology parts of my courses on climate at uni the most, but it was good. It mixed formal and informal narration making it easy and fun to follow. I listened to the audiobook and I guess it helps that l'm used to listening to Simon talk a lot in podcast or video form haha. Though, I’m probably going to get my hands on a physical copy at some point as well.
  
  There were a couple aspects regarding ethics and the colonial history of science that I wish Simon would have expanded on, but in the end it is a book’s focusing on natural science rather than a social aspects (even if I believe that they intersect more than they are presented as doing).
  
  Anyway! I would definitely recommend giving this a read if you are interested in learning about atmospheric science or some climate change basics.
  
  
  
• 
  Andrzej Dudek

  Well, I have to say that this book was a quite fascinating journey for me. First, I have to say that it was well written and an outsider to the topic of atmospheric science can fully understand it and this is crucial since the book is popular science and not an academic textbook. The narrative is conducted in such a way that I was getting more curious with every single sentence I read. Moreover, I have to say that some chapters were mind-blowing for me. For example, when I was reading about wind, I could literally feel that the way I was thinking about the topic before is getting shattered. However, the author then gathered the shattered thoughts and created a more beautiful and scientifically correct understanding of the phenomenon.
  
  Finally, I have to say that I would recommend everyone to read this book because, thanks to this book, I experienced amazing moments and I wish that everyone could experience the same thing.
• 
  Tabish Ansari

  This is a great book for anyone who wants to understand the fundamentals of the atmosphere in an accessible way. It takes us on a journey that reveals how atmospheric science as we know it developed over time. It's also a great book for anyone generally interested in the science of global warming and modern climate change. The author succeeds in describing the key features of weather and climate in sufficient detail mostly without using equations. A particular feature of the book is its coverage of the individual contributions of many scientists over the years that made the field what it is today. The author also includes his own research in one of the chapters where he discusses the connections between upper and lower atmosphere. This chapter, however, gets a bit too technical and could have been aided by some diagrams and equations. Otherwise, it's a fantastic book and you'll feel very confident about your understanding of climate change after reading it.
• 
  Zac Gordon-Smith

  A wonderful account of scientific progress in the field of Atmospheric Science. Dr Simon Clark does a wonderful job of explaining the math and physics behind the Beast of an Atmosphere we live beneath... And his writing is easy to read and witty in tone when he wants it to be. Very much recommend this book to anyone who's curious about the many systems that influence the weather.
  
  Let's all not die out together by listening to science and literally centuries of data gathering and climate understanding, and finding solutions to climate change.
• 
  Kurtis Baute

  With excellent (and at some points gripping) storytelling, Clark illuminates how we know what we know about our complicated and invisible atmosphere.
  
  I have a Master's of Environmental Science, and I still learned a lot during this read, though it's been written in such an approachable way that I don't think any level of science literacy is required to enjoy this book. A great read for anyone interested in science, climate change, or being a human on Earth.
• 
  Canyon Akromis

  Amazing book. I have been a fan of Simon Clarke's YouTube channel for years due to my passion for preventing climate change. I did not really know how the atmosphere worked at all, but after this book I feel I have a better grip on it than the average person. Clarke is able to balance historical story telling with science education for a large audience of the uneducated. There are some parts that there were some issues with density, but by the end of the book I was left wanting more.
• 
  Cody

  I'm a big fan of Dr. Simon Clark's YouTube channel and his associated work and media, and this book continued that rather high bar of being informative, educational, interesting, and entertaining. It's a subject I never thought I'd be as fascinated by as I was and the book was a quick and intriguing read that left me wanting to know more, always a good sign. Excellent work, well researched, and presented in an easy to digest and entertaining manner.
• 
  Charlie Rogers

  bought on preorder and was very excited to read. very informative however my one minor criticism would be that could do with some more diagrams as (I found) it was slightly difficult to keep the location of all these different parts of the atmosphere I'd just learned about in my head. the hardback edition with the hypnotic spine design now sits proudly on my shelf.
• 
  Sandra

  The atmosphere or even physics is not my passion. But it's relevant enough to my everyday life that I want to be at least somewhat informed, and I really appreciate this book having interesting scientist stories to spoon-feed me at least some atmospheric science.
• 
  Julian Onions

  An interesting readable book, explaining the weather systems. For me somehow it doesn't quite have the key ingredients to make it great. I learnt some things, but it didn't quiet hit the mark somehow. I'm not sure why, it has all the ingredients I usually like in this sort of book.
• 
  Kristijan Kosutic

  Great introduction to climate and weather sciences. Recommended for anyone who wants to understand a bit more about how and what impacts weather on our planet. Book also offers good historic overview of how this science evolved over the years.