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The Fragile Edge: Diving and Other Adventures in the South Pacific

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Most people think of coral reefs as part of the tropical paradise they seek when they jet off to "the islands" to get away from the cold of winter. Reefs are associated with palm trees and blue water and sun tans and romance. Biologists and oceanographers know that reefs are the most diverse communities on the planet, built into enormous structures by some of the smallest and most interesting animals on the planet. In many ways, coral reefs are the basis of life in the ocean.

But in the South Pacific, reefs and the islands they surround and support are in deep trouble (no pun intended). Julia Whitty has been filming reefs for 15 years, so she knows them well, and she has seen their deterioration first hand. Now she has turned her considerable talents to writing a book, and if there's any justice, this book will do for coral what Rachel Carson's books did for the oceans and shores nearly half a century ago.

"The Fragile Edge: Diving and Other Adventures in the South Pacific" is a three-part work that unflinchingly examines the world of coral reefs from three perspectives, each set on a different island in French Polynesia. In part one, she describes the atoll of Rangiroa from the perspective of a diver. Writing about the underwater world is no easy task.

Photographers and film-makers have always done a better job of describing the life aquatic. Perhaps that is because it is such a visual experience that most divers perceive it only from the right side of the brain, so it's easier to capture and present great images in lieu of thousands of words. Whitty has managed to capture the experience with words as powerful and colorful and well-composed as any photo or video clip she has ever made.

But her descriptions are not just artful. They are well grounded in science. She knows the biology of the reef and the intricate web of relationships in the coral ecosystem. The reader can learn with a sense of awe.

Part 2, Whitty moves to the dying atoll of Funafuti. This is no paradise. She takes a room in a guesthouse owned by a terminally alcoholic German expat and his wife Emily, a nurse who works for the atoll's local government. Funafuti is devoid of tourists and is rapidly losing its only source of economic support -- the reef around it -- to overfishing and pollution. Western influence has turned the formerly self-sufficient island into a throwaway society that is in deep denial about the threats surrounding it from all sides, especially the rising of the sea as far away glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland turn liquid. Even in that, Funafuti is a victim of Western influence as the locals choose to believe Australian denials that the sea level is rising, in spite of the evidence in front of them.

In the final part, Whitty visits Mo'orea, where she introduces the reader to the inhabitants of the island's lagoon and reef in lyrical but unsentimental prose. From her encounter with a pelagic octopus to the tense, inevitable demise of a pod of spinner dolphins when inconvenient winds trap them inside the reef, where they normally rest, but have no food, Whitty shares her sharp observations and insights, flavored with references to Hindu mythology (she hints at having a South Asian heritage) to try to explain states of mind that humans and some animals might actually have in common.

Whitty concludes this astonishing work with an epilogue set on Marlon Brando's private atoll Teti'aroa, where she contemplates the evidence of the planet's demise and consoles herself with the lesson from geology that reefs have come and gone throughout the history of the Earth.

"Whatever role we might play in the next great extinction will surely have less effect on the tenacious reemergence of reef-builders than it will on us. Reefs, we know, can survive without us. The opposite may not be true."

Julia Whitty has a lovely voice, but it's a voice bringing dire warnings that we had better heed soon.

"All day we have been observing the surgeonfish..." Julia Whitty begins, and from that first sentence onward, the reader of "The Fragile Edge" is one of the party. Whitty is there with you, chuckling good-naturedly at the antics of an undersea creature or (more likely) of those crazy humans topside. In one of my favorite moments, an account of how the funky old hotel with its peculiar charms has been taken over by new owners whose pampered guests pay $500/night to lounge by the infinity pool is interrupted just at the moment when you think she might succumb to sentimentality or some other curmudgeonly temptation by her confession that, "I like the pool, too." Similarly, Whitty clearly and firmly presents her environmental concerns without, so to speak, wallowing in them. Instead of putting the book aside because you're tired of hearing about how the end of the world is at hand, you're motivated to keep swimming along with a guide whose curiosity and expertise extend to the natural history of molecular plants and animals, as well as the more glamorous sharks and dolphins, from Western science to Eastern metaphysics, and from dissolving atolls and bleached corals to the raw fish marinated in coconut milk served at a Tuvaluan wedding reception. Finally it's her love of the coral reefs she has come to know over many years of diving and study, rather than her fear that global warming will destroy them, that Whitty is most eager to share.

What a treat to enter the underwater worlds of the South Pacific with documentary filmaker Julia Whitty as your guide! The writing is absolutely gorgeous: "The humphead wrasse who the Tahitians call mara and the French call Napoleon is an imposing fish up to seven feet long and four hundred and twenty pounds, with an overhanging forehead, thick lips, and a blue body overlaid with squiggly patterns of green and yellow that look like the inside of a crcuit board." It is easy enough to get lost in the descriptions of life in the reef, up close and personal, but Whitty doesn't stop there. She brings in philosophy, Darwin, yoga, the history of the people on the islands she decribes, and Buddhism, as she observes life in the reefs, so that the reader feels she is not merely observing what's before her but contemplating it, trying to understand its mysteries. She makes the more humorous sides of this underwater world come alive, all the while getting her message across of the dire straights the worlds coral reefs are currently in. She has a vast knowledge of fish and reef life but makes it accessable, even providing a glossary at the back for the layperson so you come away with new knowledge about worlds you might otherwise never know. I loved this book!!!

Wow, i have never been to the south seas and I am not even a diver, but this book absolutely transported me through the waves to the world below the surface. The authors descriptions were so vivid and the facts so compelling. I loved learning about the coral reefs, fish, the south pacific and its people in such an enteraining way. I did not want this book to end, it's just so good, like a great mystery. My book club has decided to add it to our summer list.
Karen Jones

Ten years ago I had the opportunity to snorkel with a marine biologist in East Africa. He was studying the bleaching of coral reefs and his worries about the future of marine life as he knew it was palpable. As a writer I had to ask myself, now that I know, what do I do? Thank you Julia Whitty for giving voice the growing awareness among scientists that the fragile balances life depends on are being pushed so sadly out of whack. The elegance of Whitty's prose and the beauty of her images do justice to the majesty of our lovely but put upon planet. She combines the dispassion of science with the passion of art in a way many writers aspire to but few accomplish to such good effect. Whitty gives us the facts with which to reason and the poetry to make us care deeply. This is a breakthrough book everyone should read.

I grew up in this world of tropical coral reefs and sharks and tiny bright fish but that was over fifty years ago. Tonight as I sat on the deck of my house overlooking a bay in Washington's temperate Puget Sound, I finished Julia's book and felt those long ago times flood back. And I felt joy and sadness. Joy for the memories of reef sharks suddenly appearing in the Northest pass of the Truk Lagoon; and me swimming free a hundred yards from our skiff. Joy for Moorish Idols escaping into coral forest. Joy for just being there. And sadness, for a world dying before our eyes. People, we've got too many people. When will we figure that out?

But oh my! Can this lady write. Thanks.

I sought out this book after reading "Deep Blue Home: An Intimate Ecology of Our Wild Ocean" by Julia Whitty. I really enjoyed her writing style in addition to the subjects she covers.

I used to be a scuba diver, which is probably why I enjoyed a lot of the stories in this book. I still hike and enjoy the outdoors a lot; so, I enjoy reading about nature and how things work in the natural world.

I really enjoyed some of the history she covered in this book about the people of the North and other people/places. I just wish there were more books out there by this author.

I'm not a diver, just a fan of writing. I was looking for some good nature writing, and this definitely fit the bill. Julia Whitty has a very distinct voice--I appreciated the touches of Eastern philosophy which permeated the book. It made the book very distinct--other volumes I've read are totally bland, vanilla. This made me want to get up and go.

I truly admire Julia Whitty's writing style and ability to transport me emotively into the world of the South Pacific ocean and to articulate so clearly why we should all be concerned about global warming. I received this book as a gift from someone that knows I scuba dive, and was very happy to dive right in. This is an excellent book. It left me wishing for my next dive trip, much more informed about the South Pacific islands discussed in the book, and concerned, really concerned, about what we've gotten ourselves into by not going green sooner.

The Fragile Edge by Julia Whitty combines a science journalist's capacity for a precise and illuminating description of undersea flora and fauna encountered in remoter parts of the Polynesian archipelago and a passionate appreciation for its peculiarities and ecological complexities with a philosopher's detachment and bird's eye view of the reefs and the communities that abut them. Your reviewer is a certified divemaster, licensed boat captain and underwater photographer and I read a lot of this stuff. This one is unique in its sensitivity, attention to detail, and the writer's personality that comes through. I've given two copies of the books to other divers in my family.