Cloud atlas was published in 1802. It followed a similar effort in French by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1801. Howard's nomenclature defined four fundamental types of clouds: cirrus or thread-cloud, cumulus or heap-cloud, stratus or flat cloud (level sheet), and nimbus or rain-cloud (see Classification of clouds). There followed a long period of development of the field of meteorology and the classification of clouds, leading up to 1896, the International Year of Clouds. The history of this period is the subject of a popular book, "The Invention of Clouds". During that time, the Englishmen Rev. Clement Ley and Hon. Ralph Abercromby, were influential.
So Beautiful or So What recording of "So Beautiful or So What" himself after being released from his 30-year record contract with Warner Bros. Records. After the recording sessions were finished, he signed a deal with Concord Music Group to distribute the album. Simon said, "It's the best work I've done in 20 years." The cover art, titled "DNA Mutation", was designed by visual artist and NASA systems engineer Sven Geier. "So Beautiful or So What" finds Simon returning to more harmonic-based compositions than rhythm-based. This was spurred from when he realized his favorite song on his 2006 effort "Surprise", "Everything About It Is a