The Sea Around Us

Description

The Sea Around Us is one of the most influential books ever written about the natural world. In it Rachel Carson tells the history of our oceans, combining scientific insight and poetic prose as only she could, to take us from the creation of the oceans, through their role in shaping life on Earth, to what the future holds. It was prophetic at the time it was written, alerting the world to a crisis in the climate, and it speaks to the fragility and centrality of the oceans and the life that abounds within them.

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was an American marine biologist. She is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sea trilogy: The Sea Around Us (winner of the National Book Award and the John Burroughs Medal), Under the Sea-Wind and The Edge of the Sea; as well as the seminal Silent Spring. Her books have been credited with advancing the global environmental movement.

This combination of science and scintillating prose provides fascinating insights into the mysteries of the tides . . . a masterpiece of ecological writing * * Guardian * * The timely reissue of a classic maritime trilogy shows that the "poet of the oceans" was far ahead of her time . . . [The Sea Around Us was] a powerful account of what was then known about the sea; a work that shifted with elegant ease between muscular and enlightening science writing and poetic nature writing . . . What's striking is that Carson is a keen observer of the interconnectedness of things . . . Her sea series is not only fascinating for those with an interest in the prehistory of Silent Spring. There is much to marvel at in these pages * * Herald * * Carson's books brought ecology into popular consciousness * * Daily Telegraph * * [Carson] is the poet laureate of the sea, but also of that "web of life", in which everything is connected to everything else * * London Review of Books * * Praise for the Sea trilogy: Rereading her natural histories, what stands out is how beautiful the writing is. Carson combined a scientist's ability to see with a novelist's ability to imagine * * New Yorker * * Praise for Silent Spring: Brilliantly written: clear, controlled and authoritative . . . one of the most effective books ever written . . . the impact is, in all senses, stunning * * Guardian * * Much of what Carson wrote to great controversy is now conventional wisdom. To read Silent Spring now is in part to understand how we got to where we are * * Wall Street Journal * *