Ocean of Life - Softcover

Callum Roberts

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241950708 ISBN 13: 9780241950708

Publisher: Penguin, 2013

Synopsis

''Thrilling'' Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

''Authoritative and furious, urgent and persuasive'' Sunday Times

''Compelling ... Roberts is that precious pearl: a practising scientist who not only knows his field inside out, but also understands how to write'' Guardian

Oceans are the most mysterious places on earth. Their depths remain largely unexplored, yet ninety-five percent of the planet''s habitable space lies within them. And now the life they support is in the balance.

Callum Roberts uses his lifetime''s experience working with the oceans to take us on a panoramic tour beneath the seas, exploring the richness of life in the deep and how it has altered over the centuries. He shows the catastrophic impact of humanity on the oceans, but also how we can restore them to life.

''For anyone who loves the sea, Ocean of Life is a wake-up call, an urgent alert'' Daily Mail

''At the heart of this book is a deep love of the ocean and a profound concern for its viability as a resource for us all'' Nature

''An impressive history ... one of this book''s strengths is the many solutions Roberts outlines'' Financial Times

About this title

About the Author

Callum Roberts is the author of The Unnatural History of the Sea, a Washington Post Book of the Year and winner of the Rachel Carson Environment Book Award. Professor of marine conservation at the University of York. He has appeared in several documentaries, including "America Before Columbus" and "The End of the Line," and is a board member of Seaweb, a U.S.-based environmental group. He lives in England.

Review

 
“I need to now jump up and down myself to say that Ocean of Life is an excellent and engrossing work. Mr. Roberts has corralled an astonishing collection of scientific discovery, and he conveys it with non-textbook readability. . . . He didn’t set out just to explain what is going on in the oceans. His even more important goal is to consider what the decline in marine life tells us about the future of humankind. . . . I hope a great many people—particularly those in that undecided middle—read this book. There can, after all, be no hope of change without an enhanced appreciation for the potential consequences of our impact on the natural world.”—G. Bruce Knecht, Wall Street Journal

 
“A story told with both scientific accuracy and narrative skill. . . . I know of no other volume that treats such divergent ocean issues as overfishing, decreasing pH, plastic pollution and biogeographic shifts with this much accuracy and acumen. As a balance to the bad news, each chapter is edged with fascinating details about the life of the sea. . . . Ocean of Life, in detailing sobering facts about the ills that afflict the largest biosphere on earth, is a call to action. At the heart of this book is a deep love of the ocean and a profound concern for its viability as a resource for us all.”—Stephen Palumbi, Nature

 
“Passionate marine conservationist Roberts documents the disturbing changes that threaten the future of marine life and proposes a natural course of conservation that may yet save us from economic crash, environmental ruin, and human suffering.”—Rick Roche, Booklist

 
“An engrossing survey of the relationship between man and the sea for readers living through the greatest environmental changes in 65 million years. . . . Roberts’s meditation will have readers gasping aloud with wonder, even as the sobering truth of humans’ profound interdependence with the sea provokes concern.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

 
“A timely wake-up call . . . Roberts maintains his optimism while looking at the problems that have been compounded by global warming, pollution, the destruction of marshlands, etc., and he notes that remedial action is still possible.”—Kirkus Reviews

 
“Biologist and conservation activist Roberts examines with clarity the relationships among fossil-fuel use, climate change, rising sea levels and ocean acidity, overfishing, and pollution from toxic chemicals, sewage, and fertilizers. . . . Although he paints a bleak picture of the oceans’ health, Roberts offers solutions for preventing further degradation of our oceans. . . . This is essential reading for anyone concerned about the future of the planet.”—Library Journal

 
“Callum Roberts has done it again. From showing us the past with the wisdom of a Dickens character in his earlier book, he now leads us toward the future in The Ocean of Life. It’s a book so fine, I wish I’d written it!
—Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue Ocean and The View From Lazy Point

 
“Roberts imparts his vast knowledge with a consummate talent for colorful narrative and devastating facts. His book will be required reading for anyone who cares about the oceans—not least because, as well as underlining the scale of the problems, he offers us the hope of real solutions.”—Philip Hoare, author of The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea

 
“Those of us who worry about the future of our oceans could do a lot worse than take up this single refrain, ‘Listen to Callum Roberts!’ Shouted in the ears of the world’s leaders, it might just make a difference. Meanwhile we should all read The Ocean of Life, a thrilling narrative of oceanic natural history and a vital call to action.”—Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, chef and author of The River Cottage Cookbook

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0241950708
• ISBN 13: 9780241950708
• Binding: Paperback