Clouds make visible the shifting moods of the atmosphere, the way a face shows what a person feels. Each cloud type goes with particular weather, so reading which kind is overhead tells you whether fine or unsettled weather is coming.
A cloudless blue sky is held up as the ideal, but day after day of it is monotony. Fair-weather clouds belong in a perfect summer day rather than spoiling it. The book makes the same case against 'blue-sky thinking', the habit of prizing a blank, uniform ideal over varied reality.
Pausing to look up and idly watch the clouds steadies you rather than distracting you. Seeing shapes in clouds works like an inkblot test: what you see reflects your own state of mind as well as the weather's. As the author puts it, having your head in the clouds helps you keep your feet on the ground.
Unlike most natural wonders, which you must travel to see, the sky comes to you wherever you are. A rich, varied cloudscape overhead can go undervalued simply because it is always there. Learning to name and tell apart its forms changes how you see it: looking up will never be the same again.
People have long loaded clouds with meaning beyond weather, in religious imagery, myth, drama and literature. They have even influenced the course of battles. Fully understanding a cloud means seeing both what the air is doing and what people have made of it.