Tatiana, a young Mexican woman, is adrift in Berlin. Choosing a life of solitude, she takes a job transcribing notes for the reclusive Doktor Weiss. Through him she meets 'ant illustrator turned meteorologist' Jonas, a Berliner who has used clouds and the sky's constant shape-shifting as his escape from reality. As their three paths intersect and merge, the contours of all their worlds begins to change...

Clouds are simple enough, just a collection of ice crystals or water droplets visible to everyone. Yet they are a source of endless wonder. They appear in an infinite number of shapes and forms. Some are beautiful, some awe inspiring, and some, like the whirling funnel cloud, are terrifying. Clouds inspire artists, poets, songwriters. They have reminded astronauts, looking down from space, that Earth, a seemingly abstract orb, is a place of life and movement. those great swirls of white-as they change shape, swell, evaporate into wisps, disappear and come back, glow with sunlight or darken with rain-are a constant reminder of how dynamic our planet is.

A young Mexican woman adrift in post-unification Berlin encounters romance, violence, and revelation in this “stirring and lyrical first novel” (Paul Auster, award-winning author and filmmaker). Having escaped her overbearing family in Mexico, Tatiana settles in the newly reunified city of Berlin, where she hopes to cultivate a life of solitude. But when she takes a job transcribing notes for the reclusive historian, Doktor Weiss, Tatiana’s simple life becomes more complex—and more perilous. Through Weiss, she meets a young meteorologist who, as a child in East Germany, took solace in the sky’s constant shape-shifting, an antidote to his grim and unchanging reality. As their three conflicting worlds begin to merge, the tension culminates in an act of violence that will leave none of them untouched. Unfolding with the logic of a dream, Book of Clouds is both “a stunningly accurate portrait of Berlin” and a beautiful exploration of the myths we cling to in order to give our lives meaning. From a crowded U-Bahn where Hitler appears dressed as an old woman to an underground Gestapo bowling alley whose walls bear score marks from games long settled, Chloe Aridjis guides us through layers of history with wit and compassion, blurring the lines between real and imagined. Her debut novel is “required reading of the most pleasurable sort” (The New York Times). Named one of the 10 Best Books Set in Berlin by The Guardian.

An offering of clouds in verse. A different cloud on which to sleep for each night of any month.

Cloud watching is in danger of becoming a lost art form like the old silent movies, remembering Charlie Chaplin, the sweet little man with a bowler hat, mustache, and cane, or those magical characters of pantomime in extravagant costumes performing in silence just like how cloud formations variously resemble whales, or angel statues, or airy, floating pavlovas topped with whipped cream, or white perennial gardens in bloom with bleached roses, or floating eider male ducks, or spirit bears, those rare American black bears, in the sky floating next to five sheep grazing in a sky pasture of swelling cumulus medium clouds detached with small cloud fragments coasting by all who sprang from beams of luster from our heavenly, celestial walls. I Brake for Clouds is a cloud-watching book reminding us to look up at our sky like looking through an ancient kaleidoscope, observing architectural patterns and combinations, calling forth memories of something so unexpected, making pareidolia hard at work. The sky’s endless formations can be captured in paintings, videos, or within the lines of poetry, and as any cloud spotter will agree, you can never drink too much from our skies.

Man's fascination with clouds is legendary: their appearance, their formation, their beauty. Meteorologists use clouds to help predict weather. There's even a Cloud Appreciation Society with more than 34,000 members who share pictures and stories of clouds. Clouds also remind us of God's majesty, power, and beauty in creation. Indeed, the heavens declare the majesty of God. In Clouds Are the Dust of His Feet! author H. Wayne Sampson shares the role of clouds in Scripture. He examined each of the 157 references in the Bible referring to clouds and then organized them into several similar groupings to determine their function or role in the verse. In the course of this study, Dr. Sampson discovered that clouds in Scripture reveal an array of characteristics of the almighty God, such as His might, creative power, mercy, and gracious provision, as well as the promise of security by our heavenly Father. Dr. Sampson also demonstrates God's imagination in using clouds as transporters, His kindness in establishing a way for the frightened Israelites to speak to him, and His guidance and protective power. Clouds are the Dust of His Feet! communicates that clouds, as well as all the other wonders of nature, should remind us of the loving creator.