Nightfaring

By: Megan Eaves, Megan Eaves-Egenes

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.