Description

‘A book rich with light, love, and the best kind of astonishment.’ Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk’

‘Entertaining and unusual.’ Tristan Gooley, author of The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs

The sky is a world of endless wonder. From the intricate dance of clouds and the vibrant hues of the aurora borealis to the marvel of effortless soaring birds and the silent majesty of the stars, it is a living storybook.

In Up, inventor and engineer Dr Lucy Rogers explores the beauty, science, and surprises of the world above.

Join her on a marvellous adventure through a kite market in India, creep through the Borneo jungle to witness millions of bats pour out of a cave at dusk, venture to Tornado Alley to chase the raw power of storms, and journey to Mexico to stand in awe of a total solar eclipse.

Up is for anyone who has ever paused to marvel at a shooting star, wondered about the ingenuity of human flight, or dreamed of touching a rainbow. Bringing rich insights, personal stories, and a very real sense of awe for the natural world, Dr Rogers explores the science behind these phenomena and reveals all there is to discover if you look Up.

‘Genuinely amazing: she changes your perspective on life.’ Tim Minshall, author of Your Life is Manufactured

‘My only complaint about the writing of Lucy Rogers is that there isn’t enough of it’ Tim Radford, Guardian

Publisher Review

Entertaining and unusual. How delightful to find a book that spends time with condors, clouds and eclipses! — Tristan Gooley, author of The Hidden Seasons and The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs Massively enjoyable, skilfully blending fascinating facts with vivid personal experiences. Whether you’re interested in finding out more about tornadoes, eclipses or the wing loading of a butterfly, you’ll find Dr Lucy Rogers is a magnificent storyteller. This is a treasure trove of accessible science you’ll want to share. — Maggie Philbin OBE, radio and television presenter Above us unfolds a theatre of light and life – wings beating, storms gathering, the aurora dancing in the dark. In Up, Lucy Rogers invites us to look skyward, to rediscover the restless marvels overhead. Through kites and eclipses, bats and tempests, she journeys through the teeming heavens with a scientist’s eye and a poet’s heart – a lyrical meditation on awe, curiosity, and the fragile beauty above. A book to awaken wonder and lift the soul skyward.” — Roger Highfield, an author, journalist, broadcaster and Science Director at the Science Museum With infectious enthusiasm and expert knowledge, Lucy takes us on a global journey while encouraging us to look up. From glow worms to satellites and clouds to eclipses, Lucy reveals incredible science and engineering in an engaging voice. I, for one, will no longer be looking down at the ground (or my phone) when I’m out! — Roma Agrawal, engineer, author and broadcaster If you’ve ever looked up and wondered “what is that?” then this book is for you! From bats to rainbows, satellites to the stars, Lucy Rogers has travelled the globe to answer all your questions and more! Uplifting and upbeat, Up is highly recommended for the curious mind. — Prof. Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland, University of Edinburgh Lucy Rogers’s book ‘Up’ does something genuinely amazing: she changes your perspective on life by encouraging you to tilt your head backwards and look – really look – at what is going on above us. By doing so, we get to appreciate the exquisite beauty and complexity of things in the air around us, the sky above, and space beyond. In a wonderfully engaging style, she takes on explorations around and far beyond the earth – via single butterflies to murmurations of starlings, from rainbows to aurora, from space stations to the stars that guided past and will guide future journeys. I learned so much from this book. — Tim Minshall, Dr John C Taylor Professor of Innovation at the University of Cambridge, and author of Your Life is Manufactured Up is a proper feast for mind and heart. Taking us on a tour of the things that exist above us-from the very small and local to the impossibly vast and remote-it shows us their marvellous complexities, beauties and sublimities and how their meanings get tangled with our own. Lucy Rogers is not only an exceptional science writer but a marvellous communicator of the wonder that drives curiosity about the world: Up is a book rich with light, love, and the best kind of astonishment. — Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk