The Unpredictable Skies

An honest take on climate science and its challenges

- Reena Singh

The weather has a talent for showing up uninvited—soaking your shoes, frying your lawn, or hijacking your weekend plans. We grumble, adjust, and refresh the weather apps, expecting the skies to obey the latest prediction, never questioning what it takes to make one. But in A Billion Butterflies: A Life in Climate and Chaos Theory, Jagadish Shukla reveals the journey behind every tiny icon and storm warning. He traces his journey from a flood-prone village in India to the halls of climate research, proving that predicting the future—at least the meteorological kind—requires more than just luck.

Born in a small village in India, Shukla grew up under the looming uncertainty of the monsoon. The weather was always in charge, and so much so that it has been called the country’s real finance minister. A season of rain could mean a good harvest, or total loss. That kind of uncertainty wasn’t just frustrating; it was personal, which seeded a question in his mind: Can weather be predicted? What follows in the book is his journey from a barefoot schoolboy to a globally recognized climate scientist who helped transform the understanding of climate systems.