The Saltwater Wilderness - Hardcover

Vanstrum, Glenn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195159373 ISBN 13: 9780195159370

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2003

Synopsis

This book plunges the reader into the heart of the sea. It is an elegantly-written account of one photojournalist's experience studying marine natural history and ecology. Illustrated with classic black and white photography, and annotated with references to classic marine literature, this book takes the reader from California to New Guinea, Fiji, Palau, and Tonga, to the Caribbean, to Alaska, and back again. Along the way, a quest to shed light on marine limits, symbiosis, and biogeography ties the adventures together. It will appeal to anyone who snokels, swims, scuba dives, surfs, studies marine biology, or loves the sea.

About this title

From Booklist

Minnesotan Vanstrum became an ardent ocean lover when he moved to California, learned to surf, and became a doctor. Thirty years later, Vanstrum has a wealth of compelling stories to tell about his full life as a physician, underwater photographer, and passionate disciple of marine life. Vanstrum's physical daring, scientific curiosity, and refined aesthetics are all evident in his spirited prose and elegant photographs as he chronicles his remarkable adventures in the waters off Hawaii, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, various Caribbean islands, and Alaska. Combining natural history with personal anecdotes, he recounts his awe over kelp forests and coral reefs, dolphins, squid, whales, barracuda, and salmon. Marine biologists also captivate Vanstrum, and he profiles several involved in fascinating areas of research, including the rapidly advancing field of marine microbes, the source, it's now believed, of more than half of the ocean's photosynthetic energy. Whether he's riding the waves or diving below them, Vanstrum is a well-informed and engagingly informative marine explorer and advocate, anchoring his illuminating observations to thought-provoking ecological musings. Donna Seaman
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Review

"Vanstrum's physical daring, scientific curiosity, and refined aesthetics are all evident in his spirited prose and elegant photographs as he chronicles his remarkable adventures in the waters off Hawaii, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, various Caribbean islands, and Alaska."--Booklist

"This engaging body of work is part memoir, part travelogue, and part science writing. It's the most eloquent dissertation by a surfer-turned-naturalist since Daniel Duane's Caught Inside: a Year in the Life of A California Surfer."--Terry Rodgers, The San Diego Union-Tribune

"California photographer Glenn Vanstrum has traveled the world, documenting marine life, and he tells many delightful tales about sea lions, sharks, humpback whales, and other ocean beasts getting in his face. He knows enough marine science to be enlightening, and he gets in enough trouble underwater to keep the narrative moving swiftly."--National Geographic Adventure

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0195159373
• ISBN 13: 9780195159370
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 360