The Gulf Stream: Tiny Plankton, Giant Bluefin, and the Amazing Story of the Powerful River in the Atlantic (Caravan Book) [Hardcover]

Stan Ulanski (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0807832170 | ISBN-13: 978-0807832172 | Publication Date: July 15, 2008

Driving through the Atlantic Ocean is a powerful current with a force 300 times that of the mighty Amazon. First discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1513, it sped ships laden with fortunes in spices, sugar, and rum from the New World back to Spain and also guided the ships of the buccaneers who preyed on them. Later, the current was essential to the development of the transatlantic slave trade. So important were the economic benefits of this ocean conveyor belt to American traders that early maps of it--charted with the help of Benjamin Franklin--were kept as closely guarded secrets.

Stan Ulanski explores the fascinating science and history of this sea highway known as the Gulf Stream, one of the last vestiges of wilderness on Earth. Spanning both distance and time, Ulanski's investigation reveals how the Gulf Stream affects and is affected by every living thing that encounters it--from tiny planktonic organisms to giant bluefin tuna, from ancient mariners to big game anglers. He examines the scientific discovery of ocean circulation, the biological life teeming in the stream, and the role of ocean currents in the settlement of the New World. The Gulf Stream continues to be important today for trade and sport, for the irreplaceable habitat it provides for plant and animal species, and for its key part in changing weather patterns and the climate of the North Atlantic region. The Gulf Stream is an essential introduction to this vital natural wonder.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ulanski (The Science of Fly Fishing) takes readers on a dizzying trip within, afloat and around the Gulf Stream, the mighty oceanic river, powerful enough to be readily seen from space, containing mysterious, scary and tasty creatures: the reclusive, 2,000-pound giant squid; swarms of tentacled, stinging Portuguese man-of-wars and a complex food chain, with tiny drifting phytoplankton (the grasses of the sea) at the bottom and the almost mythic bluefin tuna at the top. The book also depicts human life along the Gulf Stream: Columbus following the trade winds and the North Atlantic gyre to reach the New World; buccaneers and pirates of the Caribbean; Benjamin Franklin, intrigued by the idea of a 'stream' flowing through... the Atlantic Ocean and hoping to speed up mail delivery, measuring and meticulously recording water temperatures on trips back and forth to Europe. Although the potentially urgent issue of the Gulf Stream in relation to climate change is given short shrift, this multifaceted treatment of the blue god offers something for almost every kind of ocean lover. (Sept.)
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From Booklist

Most of us think the Gulf Stream is a current in the Atlantic that is responsible for Europe’s mild climate. Trouble is, that best-known Gulf Stream fact isn’t—a fact, that is. Ulanski begins to make us genuinely knowledgeable about the stream by first explaining grand oceanic movement, especially in the North Atlantic, in which the Gulf Stream is the western arm of a vast, four-segmented cycle of upper water, and then summarizing the stream’s “anatomy” and the history of human discovery of oceanic circulation, in which Ben Franklin is a key figure. Proceeding to marine biology in the book’s second section, Ulanski provides captivating chapters on plankton and larger floating organisms, the giant bluefin tuna, and the sport-fishable species in the stream. The third and last section rehearses how the stream enabled the Age of Discovery and the colonial cultures of North America and the Caribbean, including that of the latter’s storied pirates. Ulanski’s crystal-clear exposition keeps the science-and-history catch-up course he is teaching utterly fascinating throughout. --Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (July 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807832170
• ISBN-13: 978-0807832172
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #991,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The story of one of the last vestiges of wilderness on Earth, August 10, 2009

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ROROTOKO (rorotoko dot com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gulf Stream: Tiny Plankton, Giant Bluefin, and the Amazing Story of the Powerful River in the Atlantic (Caravan Book) (Hardcover)

"The Gulf Stream" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Ulanski's book interview ran here as cover feature on April 7, 2009.