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  • Published: 16 April 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529930290
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288

Up

A scientist's guide to the magic above us

  • Dr Lucy Rogers



A natural history of the skies: engineer and bubble scientist Dr Lucy Rogers invites us to explore the wonders of the air, sky and space, understand the science, and appreciate the insights this offers about life on Earth.

'My only complaint about the writing of Lucy Rogers is that there isn't enough of it' Tim Radford, Guardian

Have you ever looked up at the sky and wondered: how do fireflies glow, or a bird take flight? What is the hue of the heavens telling us? And, what's really happening miles above our heads when we wish upon a shooting star?

Dr Lucy Rogers invites you to step outside, tilt your head back and become part of the grand tradition of stargazers, cloud watchers and dreamers who have, for centuries, found joy and wonder in looking up. Working her way upwards while travelling the world, she explains the science behind the phenomena you see in the air just above your head, then the sky, and then deep space.

Encompassing both marvels of nature and triumphs of human ingenuity, Up explores everything from the hypnotic dance of a cauldron of bats, to the cunning design of a condor's feather, from the physics that keeps a hot air balloon in flight, to the amazing coincidence of a solar eclipse. We learn how Monarch butterflies make their arduous annual migration from Canada to Mexico, and pick up safety tips for weathering storms as Rogers heads off to Tornado Alley.

Examining our own mastery of the skies, we discover the principles and majesty of aeroplanes, gliders and airships, and uncover the legacies of those who have dedicated their lives to exploring and understanding the celestial canvas. As we travel up and up, Rogers points to the intriguing possibilities of future sky innovations, and also their delicate balance with the preservation of the planet.

Let Up rekindle your enchantment with the skies, expand your horizons, and deepen your understanding of the world above.

  • Published: 16 April 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529930290
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288

Praise for Up

Above us unfolds a theatre of light and life — wings beating, storms gathering, the aurora dancing in the dark. In Up, Lucy Rogers invites us to look skyward, to rediscover the restless marvels overhead. Through kites and eclipses, bats and tempests, she journeys through the teeming heavens with a scientist’s eye and a poet’s heart — a lyrical meditation on awe, curiosity, and the fragile beauty above. A book to awaken wonder and lift the soul skyward."

Roger Highfield, an author, journalist, broadcaster and Science Director at the Science Museum

With infectious enthusiasm and expert knowledge, Lucy takes us on a global journey while encouraging us to look up. From glow worms to satellites and clouds to eclipses, Lucy reveals incredible science and engineering in an engaging voice. I, for one, will no longer be looking down at the ground (or my phone) when I'm out!

Roma Agrawal, engineer, author and broadcaster

Entertaining and unusual. How delightful to find a book that spends time with condors, clouds and eclipses!

Tristan Gooley, author of The Hidden Seasons and The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues & Signs

Massively enjoyable, skilfully blending fascinating facts with vivid personal experiences. Whether you’re interested in finding out more about tornadoes, eclipses or the wing loading of a butterfly, you’ll find Dr Lucy Rogers is a magnificent storyteller. This is a treasure trove of accessible science you’ll want to share.

Maggie Philbin OBE, radio and television presenter

If you’ve ever looked up and wondered "what is that?" then this book is for you! From bats to rainbows, satellites to the stars, Lucy Rogers has travelled the globe to answer all your questions and more! Uplifting and upbeat, Up is highly recommended for the curious mind.

Prof. Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland, University of Edinburgh

Lucy Rogers’s book ‘Up’ does something genuinely amazing: she changes your perspective on life by encouraging you to tilt your head backwards and look – really look – at what is going on above us. By doing so, we get to appreciate the exquisite beauty and complexity of things in the air around us, the sky above, and space beyond. In a wonderfully engaging style, she takes on explorations around and far beyond the earth – via single butterflies to murmurations of starlings, from rainbows to aurora, from space stations to the stars that guided past and will guide future journeys. I learned so much from this book.

Tim Minshall, Dr John C Taylor Professor of Innovation at the University of Cambridge, and author of Your Life is Manufactured

Up is a proper feast for mind and heart. Taking us on a tour of the things that exist above us—from the very small and local to the impossibly vast and remote—it shows us their marvellous complexities, beauties and sublimities and how their meanings get tangled with our own. Lucy Rogers is not only an exceptional science writer but a marvellous communicator of the wonder that drives curiosity about the world: Up is a book rich with light, love, and the best kind of astonishment.

Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk