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I HAVE a love-hate relationship with clouds. While I鈥檝e spent countless days on holiday sulking about them, I also recall pining for a grey day in Australia after weeks of blue skies. As well as their environmental importance, clouds have great aesthetic value, turning the sky into an art gallery.

I鈥檓 not alone in my admiration. , with over 15,000 members worldwide, pledges to 鈥渇ight blue-sky thinking鈥�. The Cloud Collector鈥檚 Handbook, by its founder Gavin Pretor-Pinney, is a compilation of excellent photographs taken by society members of a variety of clouds, along with detailed explanations of how they form.

Cloud fanatics can record the date, time and location of a particular cloud, with points assigned to each according to how hard they are to spot. Top score goes to , with a whopping 55 points. These rare and fleeting clouds look like breaking ocean waves, caused by shearing winds at cloud level. Lowest-scoring is the cloud we all love to hate: the thick, grey, rain cloud . Take some comfort though. If they should ruin your weekend at the beach, Pretor-Pinney awards a bonus of 10 points. The book is small enough to fit in your pocket, and with a good dollop of humour, it鈥檚 the perfect companion for a gloomy day.

One for the armchair cloud spotter, Richard Hamblyn鈥檚 Extraordinary Clouds is packed full of stunning photographs of unusual clouds, such as the long horizontal tube of cloud over Shark Bay, Western Australia (above). You鈥檙e lucky if you spot a like this 鈥� and would score 40 points under Pretor-Pinney鈥檚 system. Both books will make you see clouds in a new light.

See more amazing clouds in our gallery