CultureAug 14th 2004 edition
AT FIRST, this intriguing book appears to be a wander through the night written by a poet and essayist. There is a chapter on sunset, and then another for each subsequent hour of darkness. In the end, though, each chapter is merely a point of departure for a much more wide-ranging journey, through subjects such as astronomy, history, palaeontology, the arts, culture and mythology.
The book is a portrait of darkness in all its forms. When the sun goes down, nocturnal creatures come out, children worry about monsters, and hormonal changes seep through our bodies. The night is the realm of ghosts, witches, dreams, bats, fireworks, prostitutes, northern lights, romance and the moon. Above all, it is the time when the imagination flows most freely and emotions seem more intense.
The author addresses all these matters in a lyrical style that he uses to great effect. Where, he asks, does the night begin? Does it wait "in dark corners until twilight and then leak out of closets and basements as the sun sets, like sequestered freedom fighters joining an army of liberation?"
Because the book ranges so broadly, it inevitably skims lightly over its subject matter. Remarkably, though, the writer's poetic side is no barrier to his account of the various sciences of the night. Whether he is writing about circadian rhythms or the physics of sunsets it is done with a light hand, but an illuminating one. Even those who already know of the "green flash", a glow that occasionally appears above the place where the sun has set, will be surprised to learn of its even rarer relation, the "blue flash".
In one place, readers are invited to consider what the first nights on Earth might have been like. For a start, they were not very long—as the planet was spinning much faster in those days. About 4 billion years ago, the night would have lasted only a few minutes while the stars would have appeared to wheel dizzily through the heavens, and the moon would have careened through the stars like a cannonball. It makes for perfect bedtime reading.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline "Dark thoughts"
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