How to See the Sky

Award-winning science writer Paul Bogard leads us in an awe-inspiring tour of what is right above our heads, helping us to look up from our screens and read the sky above us.

In recent years, our ability to see the sky has expanded. Entire new fields of science have emerged, revealing a yet-undiscovered world filled with birds, bats, insects, microbes, weather, and wind, a habitat as vital to life on Earth as those terrestrial and aquatic. We all marvelled at the northern lights and solar eclipse. But just as we are learning more about the sky than we have ever known before, most of us have stopped paying attention, eyes on our phones. Even worse, we’re blocking our view with light pollution and cluttering the heavens with satellites without understanding the impacts for life on Earth.

Now, author and dark sky advocate Paul Bogard blends reportage, history, and science to show us what we're missing. Divided into three ascending parts – Above, Higher, and Beyond – How to See the Sky opens our eyes to:
- The "alive" sky, made visible by the acoustic monitoring of bird and bat calls and the radar mapping of insect migration
- Erratic changes in wind and weather, from global stilling to atmospheric river events, brought about by climate change
- The effects of electronic lighting, the explosive growth of low orbit satellites, and the upward creep of manmade infrastructure like skyscrapers, wind turbines, and power lines
- The long history – and fascinating present – of human meaning-making, interpretation, and spiritual practices rooted in sky observation

A moving book for anyone who has ever looked up with wonder, How to See the Sky teaches us what we are seeing, what we are missing, and why it all matters.