Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans
by Sylvia Earle
List Price:
Our Price: $4.42
You Save: $11.58 (72%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Sylvia EarleEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1996-05-21
ISBN: 0449910652
Number of pages: 361
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans
Book Review: The Vanishing Oceans
Summary: 5 Stars
I grew up in the desert around Yuma, Arizona, but, while still a great fan of deserts, I always wished for more contact with the sea. Unfortunately my ideal oceanic habitat is under major attack around the world. During my early youth I often read that the sea contained vast renewable resources which, unlike oil, gas, coal and metals, were inexhaustible. These books were wrong about this, as the collapse of the Atlantic fisheries over the last decade have shown, not to mention the ongoing collapse of the Pacific coast salmon fisheries, especially in California.
Sylvia Earle, who was appointed as Chief Scientist at NOAA by the George H. W. Bush administration in 1990 and was retained by the Clinton administration until 1992, is an expert on the sea and its biota. She also pioneered in some major advances of deep sea exploration, including actually living in an underwater laboratory and taking part in record- breaking untethered deep sea diving. In "Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans" she puts her finger exactly on the problems faced by oceanic life-a classic "tragedy of the commons".
Earle describes the exploration and exploitation of the oceans from a personal perspective, which I think is a plus. It makes the book more readable and interesting. She also describes the problems associated with trying to educate the public and unfortunately the government in the intricate problems associated with the oceans. I only wish that humans had followed her advice on saving the oceans, given in 1995, but not yet implemented, despite the growing understanding that time is running out.
I picked up Dr. Earle's book at the University of Washington book store while on vacation in Seattle and Vancouver. Her points were well illustrated by the problems surrounding the salmon fisheries in Washington and the possible fate of the local pods of orcas ("killer whales") off Vancouver that depend on them for food. I thought of these issues as I watched the orcas break the surface around me, occasionally also leaping or spy hopping. It will be a sad day if and when these magnificent beasts no longer prowl the San Juan Islands.
I hope many people read "Sea Change", for we, as a species, require a real change of heart if we are to survive the next century. So far I've not seen the general will to face the coming storm and try to make it less destructive. Read this book! It may just make you understand the seriousness of the situation in which we now find ourselves.
Summary of Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans
Internationally renowned as the ambassador-at-large to the world's oceans, Sylvia Earle is an extraordinary woman--the former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a distinguished marine biologist, a veteran of more than 6,000 hours underwater, the founder of an ocean engineering firm, and an eloquent advocate for marine conservation. Sea Change is at once the gripping adventure story of Earle's three decades of undersea exploration, an insider's introduction to the dynamic field of marine biology, and an urgent plea for the preservation of the world's fragile and rapidly deteriorating ocean ecosystems.Earle takes us along on journeys to places of unimaginable beauty and unutterable destruction. She conjures up the exhilaration of swimming with humpback whales off the coast of Maui; she makes us comprehend the true environmental tragedy of the massive oil spills in Prince William Sound and the Persian Gulf; and she leads us out into Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the epitome of ocean wilderness but also the final resting place for tons of waste that drift in from thousands of miles away. This brilliant, thought-provoking, superbly readable book will inspire a new reverence for the majesty of the world's oceans even as it opens our eyes to the intricate interdependence of all life-forms.
What have we learned since 1951, when Rachel Carson's charming The Sea Around Us was published, winning so many hearts and the National Book Award? The sea below us, as pioneering marine biologist Sylvia Earle and others have demonstrated, churns with far more life than Carson ever dreamed. Sea Change is an enthusiastic celebration of that diversity and abundance. It's also a profoundly sobering account of the shortsighted human assault on ocean life. The "silent tide," as one reviewer wrote, may lie just offshore. Only a sea change in human habits and economies will save the oceans.
Like Carson, Earle carved a place for herself in the public imagination despite resistance from those in her male-dominated field. Her tales of underwater adventure--including many record-breaking dives among the 6,000 hours she has spent underwater--are punctuated by stories about her increasing prominence as an advocate for the oceans. She's seen it all, it seems: a year diving with whales in Hawaii, visits to Prince William Sound and the Persian Gulf in the aftermath of colossal oil spills, etc. Her breezy prose won't win her the National Book Award, but few others wear Rachel Carson's mantle as gracefully. That is reason enough to read Sea Change. --Pete Holloran
Real Estate Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Real Estate Books
The Guide to Real Estate: Principles, Practices, and Licensing Examinationsby William B. French, Stephen J. Martin, Thomas E. Battle
Prentice Hall; Published: 1992-05; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
George Bockl On real estate investing: How to build a big, growing income year after yearby George Bockl
Prentice-Hall; Published: 1977; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $140.32
Instructor's manual with transparency masters: Fundamentals of real estate investmentby Austin J Jaffe
Prentice Hall; Published: 1989; Unknown Binding; Book
Texas Real Estate: Exam Preparationby Charles J. Jacobus
Prentice Hall College Div; Published: 1995-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $93.20
3Ps of Negotiating, The: Exploring the Dimensionsby John C. Ritchie
Prentice Hall; Published: 2000-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $43.00
Real Estate Principles and Practicesby Arlyne Geschwender
Prentice Hall; Published: 1999-07-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $32.80
Private Real Estate Investment CD-ROM: Data Analysis and Decision Makingby Roger J. Brown
Academic Press; Published: 2004-12-15; CD-ROM; Book
Coastal Area Management and Developmentby United Nations Department of International Economic & Social Affairs
Pergamon Pr; Published: 1982-11; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Real Estate Finance and Investments: WITH Powerwebby William B. Brueggeman, Jeffrey Fisher
McGraw Hill Higher Education; Published: 2004-05-01; Paperback; Book
Internet Marketing in Real Estateby Barbara Cox, William Koelzer
South-Western Educational Pub; Published: 2000-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $34.50
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
World Ocean Census: A Global Survey of Marine Lifeby Darlene Trew Crist, Gail Scowcroft, James M. Harding Jr.
Firefly Books; Published: 2009-09-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.58
Price in other shops:
The Old Man And The Seaby Ernest Hemingway
Fontal Lobe Publishing; Published: 2011-09-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.82
Price in other shops:
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea (P.S.)by Sebastian Junger
Harper Perennial; Published: 2007-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.89
Price in other shops:
The World Is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean's Are Oneby Sylvia A. Earle
National Geographic; National Geographic; Published: 2009-09-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.54
Price in other shops:
Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raftby Thor Heyerdahl
Simon & Schuster; Simon & Schuster; Published: 1990-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.86
Price in other shops:
Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas (National Geographic Atlas)by Sylvia A. Earle, Linda K. Glover
National Geographic; National Geographic; Published: 2008-10-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $33.77
Price in other shops:
The Hunt for Red Octoberby Tom Clancy
Berkley; Published: 2010-09-07; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Codby Henry Beston
Holt Paperbacks; Published: 2003-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.92
Price in other shops:
The World Is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean's Are Oneby Sylvia Earle
National Geographic; Published: 2010-10-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.64
Price in other shops:
Dive: My Adventures In the Deep Frontierby Sylvia Earle
National Geographic Children's Books; Published: 1999-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops: