Sea Change - Hardcover

Earle, Sylvia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399140603 ISBN 13: 9780399140600

Publisher: Putnam Adult, 1995

Synopsis

A record-breaking deep sea diver who dives in the sophisticated submersibles her company builds, reveals the current, urgent state of the endangered seas and offers a blueprint for change to save the world's most crucial natural resource.

About this title

Review

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

From the Publisher

"What Rachel Carson was to insecticides, birds, and our planet in 1962, Sylvia Earle, scientist, explorer, oceanographer, diver extraordinaire, entrepreneur, and eternal romantic, is now to the ocean."
--The Boston Globe

"A moving plea for the preservation of the oceans . . . An adventure story and a tribute to all creatures great and small. Tragically, it is a eulogy, a Rachel Carson-like warning of the silent tide inexorably approaching."
--The New York Times Book Review

"With contagious enthusiasm, Earle provides exciting accounts of her deep-sea explorations. . . . Earle gives vivid descriptions of the dramatic sea changes, and she urges readers to be more respectful toward the oceans--for our own sake, if nothing else."
--The Seattle Times

"Compelling and alarming . . . In Sea Change, Earle discusses her love for the sea and its still considerable mysteries in a personal voice that rhapsodizes the topic while also instructing us in many of its subtleties and complexities."
--San Diego Union-Tribune

"A landmark book of tremendous importance, Sea Change is a masterful blend of meticulous scientific investigation and incredible adventure. Earle's prose is magnificent, her story utterly compelling. It conveys an urgent call to action, an appeal to every one of us who cares about the ocean world on which we are all, ultimately, dependent. After reading this book--and read it you must--you will never be quite the same."
--Dr. Jane Goodall

"A fascinating book--which is also an urgent warning about the damage we are doing to the global environment. Let us hope the world will listen to Earle's SOS--Save Our Seas--before it is too late.
--Arthur C. Clarke, CBE

"Sea Change sounds an alarm and offers hope. No one is better qualified than Sylvia Earle to give us this assessment of the greatest element of our biosphere."
--Hugh Downs

"An insightful account of the changes Earle has witnessed over the last several decades. Her almost spiritual respect for her subject is evident in her awe-filled writing. . . . At the last, she offers a blueprint for change, with suggestions for guaranteeing the survival of our seas. A must for anyone who shares her deep respect for the life and health of our planet."
--NAPRA ReVIEW

"Unlike most people, Ms. Earle has seen nature in its most pristine state, before humans--the newcomers to this environment--have had a chance to interfere. She has seen the alarming consequences of exploitation and greed, and writes of them with a mix of scientific objectivity and a naturalist's passion."
--Baltimore Sun

Edition details

• Publisher: Putnam Adult
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0399140603
• ISBN 13: 9780399140600
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 361