‘Tis the season to look at snow. Closely.

”The Little Book of Snowflakes” by Kenneth Libbrecht features finely-detailed photographs of snowflakes and accompanying text that explains the science and magic of the snowflake.

The book is also filled with literary quotations such as this one by Jane Austen: ”One cannot fix one’s eyes on the commonest natural production without finding food for a rambling fancy.”

Or this one by Ralph Waldo Emerson: ”Nature is an endless combination and repetition of a very few laws. She hums the old well-known air through innumerable variations.”

Libbrecht used a snowflake photomicroscope to capture these fascinating images.

Libbrecht’s ”The Snowflake: Winter’s Secret Beauty,” a collaboration with photographer Patricia Rasmussen, was released last year. The photographs of complex crystal patterns in both books are stunning.

Libbrecht was raised in North Dakota and educated at Caltech and Princeton. He received a doctorate in physics in 1984, then became a Caltech physics professor and head of the department.

The latest in snowflake research can be found on Libbrecht’s Web site, www.snow crystals.com.

Published by Voyageur Press, ”The Little Book of Snowflakes” is a 96-page hardcover with 148 color photographs inside. It retails for $7.95.

Contact: 1-800-888-9653 or www.voyageurpress.com.