As mammals, we’re something of an anomaly. Most of our mammalian kindred species are well suited to, and indeed orient their lives around, the night. We humans, on the other opposable thumb equipped hand, have evolved – particularly in regard to our visual acuity – to fare much better in daylight. Therefore we have done all we can to make sure that those things that go bump in the night, as well as the more stealthy ones that don’t, aren’t concealed from us. Were this accomplished by the lighting of a few paltry torches this wouldn’t be particularly significant to anything, but our technological advancements over the past century and a half have made it possible for us to live in a world of perpetual daylight. As a result, we have become alienated from the night itself.
Matt Gaw, in writing his new Under the Stars; a Journey into the Light, sets out to explain what we’ve forgotten about the night, and present us with illuminating explanations of what we’ve been missing as a result of surrounding ourselves in our electric cocoons. From moonlight to starlight, the the ethereal reflectivity of snow, this is a book that has already set a number of highly regarded nature writers talking (perhaps well into the night) about what Mr. Gaw has here written, and it is indeed a book I look forward to reading very soon.
