"When I think of the world my daughter will know, I often feel distress. She will never know the natural world that I have known."
Paul Bogard writes poignantly about the diminishing possibilities of and the increasing need for experiencing the night sky. Along with Beau Rogers' gorgeous night sky photography, the nine chapters of this book make a compelling case for getting out under a dark, starry sky whenever possible. I'm sorry I slept on this book for so long. It's lovely and necessary.

There is a very strong chance that, if you're my age or younger, you've never seen a truly dark night sky. If you grew up east of the Mississippi River, it's almost a guarantee. The saddest part of that is the sheer, astonishing vastness of stars. The closest I've come to seeing skies like these:
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...was an early 1970s car trip with my oldest sister who was leaving South Texas for California. I went with her and, at more than one point, she stopped the car at night, turned off the car lights, and we stared up at sheerly astoundingly bright skies...not from (in those days) mercury-vapor lights that were common and getting more so on major highways, as we were in the proverbial middle of nowhere, but from stars. Thousands and thousands and thousands of stars, more than I had ever seen before. The night skies I encountered in middle age above Machu Picchu were the only comparably startling revelation to me.
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What made Author Bogard present this book of Photographer Beau Rogers's glorious night-time images to us was his increasing awareness that his own daughter, whose company on these night-time ramblings in the American West he treasured, might not have even these places to see the natural condition of darkness again in her lifetime.

Nothing could possibly be sadder than that!
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What a loss to Humanity the curse of light pollution is...and how necessary it is to protect what there is left of it.

We're simply not paying enough attention to these losses. There's nothing to replace natural darkness. There's little research into the costs of the loss to the natural world...there's next to none on its impact to us, the polluters. What we lose only starts with the aesthetic awareness of the extent of the beauty around us on the planet.
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This absolutely astoundingly gorgeous book is perfect to gift to your photography fan as well as the environmentally aware young person. It's a spectacular creation and worthy of a space on anyone's display shelf, coffee table, or even tablet.

A quick but endearing booklet, featuring incredible night photography and stories as to why we should move more toward natural darkness. I wish there were more photos, but the few there were are phenomenal. The importance of reducing artificial light cannot be stressed enough.

There is so much we miss living in cities or where there is a lot of light escaping into the night sky. Having been to some wonderfully dark wild spaces I know what our world is capable of. This was a beautiful book tied in with an excellent narrative from the author.

"To Know a Starry Night" is an interesting mix of gorgeous photography and heartfelt essays of personal experiences of life under the night sky. The images were engaging throughout. I did find the essays a little repetitive and, at times, morose.

This line from the preface presents the book especially well: "a book about experiencing the night sky." This would be a good read for fans of stargazing and those interested in the impact of modern life on our relationship with the stars.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

As an adult living on the US east coast, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the stars, and I mean decades! The night sky photography here reminds me of my childhood traveling the western US and visiting national parks with my parents. My parents upbringing in the rural Appalachians , animals, sky and mountains berms and mountains and this has rubbed off on me.

This book is the culmination of five contributors’ work. Each shows their love of nature and well-placed concern regarding our stewardship of mother earth.

Karen Travino, a colleague of Paul’s in astro tourism, notes the multi sensory aspects of ecology in her beautiful preface.

Scott Slovic wrote the foreward and connected Paul and Beau. He notes the unifying experience of the sky, an experience leveler, from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s rapturous transcendentalist essays to Ken Lambert’s observations from behind prison bars. As one who sees connections in nature, he does as well in this social sphere, by introducing Paul the writer and Beau the photographer.

This is a stunning coffee table book, full of night sky photography and language that connect us to the sky above and ground below. If you remember starry nights like I do, this book helps keep alive those memories. If you haven’t been out into nature to see the sky, get your hands on this book to see what you have been missing. And if urbanization continues its exponential growth unchecked, this book will document for future generations what we have lost. What we have lost?

This book also describes light pollution, measured by means of the Bortle scale, with photographs from space. Light pollution is an important concept to understand, since much of nature’s life cycles depend on the daily cycles of light and dark to cue their behavior. Which is the most lit up country? Some may jokingly guess Ireland or Russia. Or Jamaica? But of course, the United States tops the list, especially New England, but so does England, France, Italy, as do the cities of Cairo and Dubai.

Paul Bogard’s essays have an autobiographical quality showing us how he bonded with those he loves under the star studded skies. From times shared with his beloved dog to the birth of his daughter, the book is emotionally raw, personal journey as well as educational observations.

Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my feedback.

To Know a Starry Night is absolutely breathtaking, both in words and photography, and eye-opening in content. The author and photography aims to show the full beauty of the night sky and the sad fact that we are "losing stars" due to light pollution, though many of us don’t even realize what we are missing - the solace of nature and connection to our past, our place in the universe.

This book is just stunningly beautiful to look at and yet educational about a topic most of us may not consider. Highly recommended for everyone, especially those with an interest in astronomy, photography, conservation, and nature.

I am so very grateful to Netgalley and University of Nevada Press for the opportunity to read and review To Know a Starry Night.

This is such a beautiful book! Thought-provoking, lyrical, poetical,philosophical yet educational. I loved how the book talks about light pollutions and the impact it has on the night-time sky gazing and the universe and the things we are missing out when our night skies is polluted with the artificial lights.

Infact, it made me sad when he said about us and the future generations not being able to see the stars and the universe at night anymore as much as those people back in the olden days did where they can easily see the stars and the universe just from their own backyard!, all because of light pollutions!.

The part where the author reminisced about his childhood memories of walking in the woods and the desserts with his father at night to view the night skies, made me reminisced my own childhood memories whereby i would sit outside in my home lawn at night and gaze admiringly at the stars. I'd let my own imaginations take me to somewhere magical where it is just myself and universe and melts away all my sadness and loneliness.

I loved when the author quoted how much the vast universe just takes away our sadness and loneliness by making us think that the universe is bigger than our own problems are!. Also, i still remember how fascinated i am in learning about the planets and the galaxies where i'd go to the school library during recess and read those books on the planets and watch planet documentaries.

I loved how the author also is reminding us on going out at night and spending some quality time with yourself and nature by viewing the night skies and to cherish its beauty while it is still there. Of course, the beautiful and visually stunning night skies photographs are living proofs of this beauty that if not taken care of will diminish. What a big loss would that be for us and the future generations.

Such an exquisite book! Aside from offering stunning photos of night skies from all around the country, the sentiments that Paul Bogard expresses throughout the book are just so touching, thought-provoking, and enjoyable. I have seen two truly dark skies in the Australian Outback and in Namibia and am fortunate enough to live in an area where I see the Milky Way most nights, and as Paul expresses, there really is just something awe inspiring about seeing the Milk Way and the primal night sky. The photos are great in and of themselves, but I truly hope readers take Paul's missives about truly experiencing the night sky as inspiration to seek out the night sky themselves. I've just finished the book and have already texted three friends about this book and would absolutely recommend it to everyone.

This is a beautiful book full of breathtaking photos of the night sky. But that’s not all. The text conveys what it’s like to experience the night through the author’s personal experiences. It also highlights light pollution and the importance of preserving places where we can get in touch with the night sky and see the amazing beauty it holds.

The astrophotography is outstanding. The book contains many photos of the Milky Way taken in national parks in the western part of the United States. It also has night photos of cities, beautiful in their own way, to contrast with the peace of nature.

It would be a great book to keep on your coffee table and look at again and again. Thank you to University of Nevada Press and NetGalley for my digital copy.

Beautiful pictures, and interesting prose. Would make a nice give to someone who loves nature and the outdoors, as I do.

To Know a Starry Night is a lovely photography book with images of night skies, mostly in the American West and with accompanying ruminative text about stars, nighttime, skies, and the place they've held in the author's journey. Included are some quotes from poets, laments of light pollution, and anecdotes. This would be a lovely coffee table book.

This is a beautiful book. I love the stories that go along with the beautiful photographs. I feel the need to explore more with my own camera! This book speaks to me on many different levels.

To Know a Starry Night is an absolutely stunning book with lyrical writing by Paul Bogard accompanied by dazzling photographs of the night sky by photograoher Beau Rogers. It is fairly short with interconnecting chapters that at times feel like a meditation on the beauty of the night and, at others, an explanation of the science of light pollution, its effects on how we see and relate to night, and how much we have lost because of it. Bogard also speaks of his childhood viewing stars with his father, his travels to the very few places left where it is still possible to view a sky full of stars and his efforts to ensure his daughter knows that beauty that is so rarely see by most of us. This is a quietly lovely book and I recommend it highly.

<i>Thanks to Negalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

To Know a Starry Night is an often breathtaking photographic ode to the night sky and darkness in its myriad colors written by Paul Bogard and featuring photographs by Beau Rogers. Released 12th Oct 2021 by the University of Nevada Press, it's 144 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats.

The written parts of the book are gathered very loosely into 8 thematic meandering essays. The author explores light pollution, the primal satisfaction and awe of true darkness (mostly lost to us now), solitude, heavenly bodies, and stars, always the stars, so distant. Really though, it's the breathtaking skyscapes which are center stage here, both varied and similar and of an unusual virtuosity. The themes are universal, but the photos are weighted to the western contiguous USA: California, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Washington, and Oregon.

Four stars. This is a beautifully curated coffee-table worthy collection of masterful photos of the night sky. Although the quality of the digital eARC provided for review was high quality, this is a book which will shine brightest in physical print. This would be a good selection for library acquisition, home library display, or a lovely gift for an outdoors-y friend.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This book was amazing it was so beautifully wrote which adds so much emotion to the reading of this book. The photographs are absolutely stunning. I loves these types of books as they are so breathtaking. They evoke so many emotions that leave you in awe. This is becoming my favourite type on non fiction. There is so much peace and serenity held with the night sky shown in all the pictures of this book. The writer expresses that just looking up at the sky helps take away fears and worries making life so much more manageable. If like me you live in a built up area this book becomes so much more important. This book is worth every penny. Just 5 minutes a night just looking at one picture and your instantly relaxed.
If you can't experience the real thing then get this book that has been my mantra in life.
I became enchanted in this wonderful masterpiece of a book. I learnt so much from read and experiencing this book, including how light pollution usingthe bortle scale affects our skies.
This book is just perfect for any age and would look amazing on any coffee table and would lead into some very interesting conversation starters.
I would like to thank the authors and publishers for putting together this spectacular masterpiece. This will warm the hearts of so many and help bring inner peace. I look forward to reading further books to come. Already reviewed on goodreads will be putting on retail sites shortly and on my blog within the week

Absolutely lovely!! I loved the variety of night scenes - busy city to dark spaces in national parks. Just gorgeous pictures and thoughtful musings. I plan to purchase this as a present for my brother, who was married in Utah and then took full-dark pictures in one of the locations in the book! I thought this was a perfect coffee table book.

"To Know a Starry Night" is beautifully written and photographed. This is an ideal book for millions who spent their lives living in the city and missing the beauty of the night sky due to light pollution.

TO KNOW A STARRY NIGHT by Paul Bogard is a book that opened my mind, warmed my heart, and expanded my perspective on what it is to be alive in this world. I would have a hard time describing this book in a single word or genre. Its intelligent prose flows with information, fact, memories, dogs, friends, family, and living in an ever brighter, more artificial world. The photographs alone would have made for an exceptional experience -- with Bogard's words, it was a sublime evening's read. I cannot praise the book more highly than to say READ IT! I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

This is a book filled with superb photographs and for that reason, it really ought to be read in the print format. The marriage of awe-inspiring photography and lyrical meditations should be studied as designed by the authors and editors, not chopped up as it is in the ebook. The point made in both words and pictures is that, due to an over reliance on man made lighting, the world is losing not only the beauty of the night sky but all those parts of Nature that depend on darkness for survival. As someone who grew up in the country, I can still remember lying on my back as a kid and watching meteor showers. Now living in the suburbs, I can barely see Venus in the night sky.
I felt the urgency of the author sending out a warning to preserve the world for his young daughter. I also loved reading the photographer’s comments describing how he came to concentrate on night photography. We are lucky to have people like this pair preserving the majesty of the starry night. I just hope it can be a wake up call rather than a eulogy.