An exploration of the human connection with the night sky, weaving together narrative, science, and nature writing to investigate the power of the vanishing darkness.

The night sky is disappearing. The constant glow of electrically lighted homes, of headlights streaming across highways, and glaring beams of light from skyscrapers have created enough light pollution that the majority of Americans can no longer see the Milky Way and almost half can see no stars whatsoever. In Nightfaring, author Megan Eaves-Egenes leads readers to explore the wonder of the vanishing night sky.
 
The book traces the environmental impact of the loss of night, from pollinating insects and birds thrown from their migratory paths to the detrimental effect on our own health and circadian rhythms. Eaves-Egenes goes further, looking beyond the scientific impact to learn how humanity has interacted with the stars and the night sky, from our primal fear of the dark and our earliest forays into astronomy to the way myths and legends are interwoven with darkness. Journeying from the jungle of Argentina to the desert of New Mexico, Nightfaring is both a call to action to preserve night skies in the face of human impact and a wonderstruck invitation to once more see the stars with enchantment and delight.

 

Megan Eaves-Egenes is a Lowell Thomas Award-winning travel writer whose work explores the intersections of landscape, culture, and the natural world. A passionate advocate for dark skies, she is the editor of DarkSky International's Nightscape magazine and founded Dark Sky London, a community group focused on light pollution awareness. For many years, Megan was the North and Central Asia Editor at legendary travel publisher Lonely Planet and she has written about travel and place for the BBC, National Geographic, AFAR, The Times and others. Originally from the dark-sky deserts of New Mexico, she now lives in London.

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