Night on Earth: Photography by Art Wolfe

Wolfe traveled every continent, creating images of the night sky and of humans and animals living in the twilight world. The book is divided into four sections, the most enthralling being the first, “Stars and Shadows,” with images of skies dotted with stars, solar eclipses, glowing volcano flows, the aurora borealis. “Embracing the Night” shows the many ways humans (most of the photos are of traditional customs) use the night for work, leisure, or spiritual practice: night market in Morocco; Day of the Dead by candlelight in Mexico; fishermen against the dusk sky in Myanmar. Photos of brilliantly illuminated cities like Tokyo and New York in the final section, as impressive as they are, seem unable to match the grandeur of the star-filled sky. An essay by David Owen (the New Yorker) explores what night meant for humans before darkness was largely abolished by artificial illumination.