Gavin Pretor-Pinney

Gavin Pretor-Pinney founded the Cloud Appreciation Society at the 2004 Port Eliot Festival. It now numbers 35,000 members in 95 countries. A TED speaker, with over 1 million views, and a Visiting Fellow at the Meteorology Department of Reading University, Gavin is the author of the bestselling books The Cloudspotter’s Guide and The Cloud Collector’s Handbook. Gavin’s book about waves, The Wavewatcher’s Companion, won the 2011 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books, considered the most prestigious prize in popular-science publishing. The judges said, “We were given an almost poetic vision of a dynamic universe. It is a book of old-fashioned charm and wit, provocatively organised and illustrated, and marvellously deft with its presentation of hard modern science.” Gavin co-founded the Idler magazine as well as the first company to import absinthe, the infamous alcoholic spirit of Fin-de-Siecle Paris, to UK shores since its ban during the First World War.

“Gavin Pretor-Pinney remains a uniquely brilliant guide to the physical world… It’s a magical formula.” Mail on Sunday
“Pretor-Pinney reminds me of the best kind of science teacher – clever, passionate, indomitable in his determination to share his knowledge.” Daily Telegraph
“His style is genial, his enthusiasm uplifting… nothing less than a subtle but glorious mantra for a way of life.” Metro