Gavin Edmund Pretor-Pinney is a British author, known for his books ''The Cloudspotter's Guide'' and ''The Wavewatcher's Companion''.

Early life and education

Pretor-Pinney is son of Anthony Robert Edmund Pretor-Pinney and Laura Uppercu, daughter of George Winthrop Haight, of Manhattan, observer for the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

and a specialist in international law. The Pretor-Pinney family were landowners at Somerton, Somerset since the 1800s, descendants of the sugar merchant and Mayor of Bristol Charles Pinney; Anthony Pretor-Pinney had Somerton Erleigh, named for the family's former house on a different part of the estate, built in 1972–3. Pretor-Pinney attended

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It derives from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the 1066 Norman Conquest, as d ...

, the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

, and

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of sho ...

Career

He co-founded the magazine '' The Idler'' and founded the Cloud Appreciation Society in 2004. He grew up in West London and now also lives in Somerton,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

Awards and honours

*2011

Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books The Royal Society Science Books Prize is an annual £25,000 prize awarded by the Royal Society to celebrate outstanding popular science books from around the world. It is open to authors of science books written for a non-specialist audience, and ...

, winner, ''The Wavewatcher's Companion''

Works

*''The Cloudspotter's Guide'' (2006) *''The Cloud Collector's Handbook'' (2006) *''A Pig with Six Legs and Other Clouds'' (2007) *''

The Wavewatcher's Companion ''The Wavewatcher's Companion'' is a 2010 science book by Gavin Pretor-Pinney. The book was the 2011 winner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books. Theme The book is a wide-ranging discussion on waves in all their forms and how w ...

'' (2010) *''The Ukulele Handbook'' (September 2013; co-written with

Tom Hodgkinson Tom Hodgkinson (born 1968) is a British writer and the editor of '' The Idler'' magazine, which he established in 1993 with his friend Gavin Pretor-Pinney. His philosophy, in his published books and articles, is of a relaxed approach to life, ...

) *''A Cloud A Day'' (2019)

Television appearances

*Presented on BBC TV: Cloudspotting *Appeared on BBC TV: The Secret Life of Waves

References

External links

Cloud Appreciation Society''The Idler'' magazine
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People educated at Westminster School, London British magazine founders British writers {{UK-writer-stub