"A wide-ranging exploration of humanity's troubled relationship with darkness, and the damaging effects of our drive to overcome it." –
The New York Times "Though the book is written as a sort of
Silent Spring manifesto against the ecological devastations of light pollution, its considerable charm depends on the encyclopedic intensity with which he evokes the hidden creatures of the night. . . . Eklöf's book is made most memorable by the sometimes wild eccentricities of the life-forms it chronicles." –
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker "Though Mr. Eklöf loves both bats and darkness, his sensibility is more good-natured than gothic, rendering night not as an ordeal but an odyssey, rich in revelation and insight . . . lyrical." –
Wall Street Journal "As a Swedish conservationist, Johan Eklöf urges us to think of light pollution as more than a nuisance that obscures our starry skies. . . . well-researched . . . the book is a reflective reminder that our control of the world is as delicate as the smallest of species affected by it." –
Scientific American "A scintillating read by a conservationist of true literary flair, who has spent long hours tuning his attention to twilight and nocturnal life." –
Rebecca Giggs, award-winning author of Fathoms "A captivating, poetic call for greater awareness of the natural cycles of the world." –
Kirkus Reviews "Well-researched and surprisingly lyrical. . . . a powerful contribution to our understanding of the harm we're causing, and a clarion call for change: unlike many of the complex issues facing the planet, protecting the darkness is truly within our grasp." –
New Statesman (UK) "[An] eye-opening treatise on light pollution. . . . Urgent and vivid, this account shines." –
Publishers Weekly "Poetic and philosophical . . . intimate and expansive." –
Daily Telegraph (UK) "An urgent and erudite hymn to the night, composed by a scientist with the soul of a poet." –
Chloe Aridjis, author of Book of Clouds "A critically important must-read for all who have an interest in the health of our planet." –
Russell Foster, Director of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute and Head of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology at the University of Oxford