Why the Sky Does What It Does: A Curious Atlas of Sun, Seasons, Tides, and Lights Overhead

Nobody in the whole of human history saw the far side of the Moon until 1959. Air is colourless, and yet the sky is blue. The sea climbs the beach twice a day on a timetable set by something a quarter of a million miles away. There are places on this planet where the Sun does not set for two months. And the star we call the North Star has not always been north. None of it is random. Why the Sky Does What It Does takes twelve things you have looked at your whole life and shows you the machinery underneath: a planet spinning, tilted a little off upright, dragging a Moon behind it through a bath of sunlight. Get those few things straight and everything else falls out of them. No equations. No science degree. Just short chapters, an original illustration and a hand-drawn diagram in every one, and the quiet satisfaction of finally knowing why. Inside you will find out: - Why summer is warm, and why the hottest weeks arrive a month after the longest day - Why the Moon has shown us the same face for the whole of human history - Why the sky is blue here and butterscotch on Mars, where the sunsets are blue instead - Why there are two high tides a day rather than one - Why a cloud weighing five hundred tonnes still floats - Why hurricanes cannot form near the equator - Why ten days in October 1582 simply never happened >Every chapter closes with a box of facts worth repeating, and the book ends with a quiz to see how much of the sky you have quietly come to understand. Perfect for the endlessly curious, for trivia lovers and stargazers, and as a gift for anyone who never lost the habit of asking why.