Breathtaking, powerful, and all-encompassing in its sheer scope and visual impact, Ocean sweeps you away on an incredible journey into the depths of our astonishing marine world. As the site where life first formed on Earth, a key element of the climate, and a fragile resource, oceans are of vital importance to our planet. This definitive visual guide to the world's oceans - including the geological and physical processes that affect the ocean floor, the key habitat zones, the rich diversity of marine life - is now available in paperback.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Browse the best books of the summer including popular series, classics, and editors' picks in our Teen Summer Reading Store. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
Too often we take for granted the ways oceans enrich our lives. Thankfully, this magnificent volume encourages eyes, mind, and spirit to attend more closely to this fragile otherworld. Opening with a minicourse in oceanography, covering circulation, climate, tides, and waves, the authors continue with details of ocean environments, from coasts and seashores to shallow seas, the open ocean, and polar waters. They also similarly describe the richly varied forms of underwater life, from bacteria to mammals, all the while exploring the earth history lesson embodied in the ocean's geography. Crafted by devoted scientists and visual artists, Ocean offers page after page of stunning images and vital information about the very heartbeat of planet Earth. Pamela Crossland
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"...the definitive reference for the entire family" -- Bookpage
"...the ultimate informational book on the ocean -- its behavior, inhabitants, drama and beauty around the world." -- Good Morning America, December 21, 2006 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"...the ultimate informational book on the ocean -- its behavior, inhabitants, drama and beauty around the world." -- Good Morning America, December 21, 2006 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Robert Dinwiddie specialises in writing or contributing to educational illustrated books on scientific topics for a general audience. His particular areas of interest include Earth and Ocean Science, Astrophysics and Cosmology, and the History of Science. In the past he has also been involved in IT and medical publishing.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
88 of 89 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
"Huge" means coffee table size, and roughly 500 pages. That's almost six pounds of enjoyable reading - if you decide to read it, rather than just letting the magnificent imagery wash over you. That's how the book starts, by the way. Page after page of full-page, full-color photos, including some two-page spreads, before you even get to the introduction.
It gets off to a slightly slow start, with a quick review of just what seawater is, chemically, and why that matters. Geology and meterology come next, the rocky basin that holds the sea and the air above it. In both cases, land and sky, the ocean shapes them as much as they shape the ocean. This discussion includes things as important as El Niño and hurricane Katrina. Although wide-ranging and informative, vivid illustrations and photos keep it lively and personal. The first 200 pages or so continue the discussion of the polar icecaps, shores, underwater geography, and the rest of the ocean itself.
Then the discussion turns to oceanic life. Historical life start it off, from the age of dinosaurs. The authors then move into the plankton, clearly distinguishing the bacteria from archaea, and both from the eukaryotic protists and diatoms. Next comes plant life in and near the ocean, including aquatic algae and shoreline plants, lichens, and fungi. These sections set the pattern, clearly identifying several levels of taxa to which specimen belongs, its worldwide distribution, gorgeous pictures, and a paragraph or two. Discussion varies, sometimes highlighting distinctive parts of an organism's life cyle, special relationships, or the scientists who've done most to uncover and spread this wonderful knowledge.
It's the section on animals that young readers will be most drawn to. It starts with the sedentary corals, bryozoans, and other beautiful and colorful critters of simple habits. The authors work their way up to bottom-dwelling benthos and the free-swimming nekton. That includes fish, sharks, porpoises and whales, turtles, and other wonderful beings. Next come birds, lizards, seals, and other lives spent on or only partly in the sea.
But you won't take it in order - you won't be let to if you have a kid in your lap when you read it. So much of this book is so exciting, even parts you might not have guessed, that you're sure to skip around, finding new surprises nearly every time you flip to a new page. It's huge fun, good science, and a great way to stir any child's (or adult's) fascination with the majority of the world's surface and the lives in it.
//wiredweird
It gets off to a slightly slow start, with a quick review of just what seawater is, chemically, and why that matters. Geology and meterology come next, the rocky basin that holds the sea and the air above it. In both cases, land and sky, the ocean shapes them as much as they shape the ocean. This discussion includes things as important as El Niño and hurricane Katrina. Although wide-ranging and informative, vivid illustrations and photos keep it lively and personal. The first 200 pages or so continue the discussion of the polar icecaps, shores, underwater geography, and the rest of the ocean itself.
Then the discussion turns to oceanic life. Historical life start it off, from the age of dinosaurs. The authors then move into the plankton, clearly distinguishing the bacteria from archaea, and both from the eukaryotic protists and diatoms. Next comes plant life in and near the ocean, including aquatic algae and shoreline plants, lichens, and fungi. These sections set the pattern, clearly identifying several levels of taxa to which specimen belongs, its worldwide distribution, gorgeous pictures, and a paragraph or two. Discussion varies, sometimes highlighting distinctive parts of an organism's life cyle, special relationships, or the scientists who've done most to uncover and spread this wonderful knowledge.
It's the section on animals that young readers will be most drawn to. It starts with the sedentary corals, bryozoans, and other beautiful and colorful critters of simple habits. The authors work their way up to bottom-dwelling benthos and the free-swimming nekton. That includes fish, sharks, porpoises and whales, turtles, and other wonderful beings. Next come birds, lizards, seals, and other lives spent on or only partly in the sea.
But you won't take it in order - you won't be let to if you have a kid in your lap when you read it. So much of this book is so exciting, even parts you might not have guessed, that you're sure to skip around, finding new surprises nearly every time you flip to a new page. It's huge fun, good science, and a great way to stir any child's (or adult's) fascination with the majority of the world's surface and the lives in it.
//wiredweird
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is one of the most beautiful boks I've purchased in a long time. I was a little skeptical, so many of these big "coffee table" books end up collecting dust or eventually taking the long ride in the trunk to the thrift store drop.
You'll have to pry this book out of my cold, dead hands.
The photographs are beautiful and amazing. I've been diving and this captures that same "Wow!" factor that you wish you could take back with you when you resurface. I got this book because my daughter was studying ocean life for school. I could hardly put the thing down. It sucks you in with tales from the deep and the amazing lives of the creatures who live there.
Mch of the text is very informative but also well written. My daugher and I have enjoyed pouring over it, sometimes reading, sometimes just looking at all the amazing photographs.
Yes, it's big enough that it could actually just replace your coffee table altogether. Still, it's just that many more wonderful images and fascinating tidbits about the ocean. I'd definately say this book is worth the space it will take up on your coffee table or bookshelf.
You'll have to pry this book out of my cold, dead hands.
The photographs are beautiful and amazing. I've been diving and this captures that same "Wow!" factor that you wish you could take back with you when you resurface. I got this book because my daughter was studying ocean life for school. I could hardly put the thing down. It sucks you in with tales from the deep and the amazing lives of the creatures who live there.
Mch of the text is very informative but also well written. My daugher and I have enjoyed pouring over it, sometimes reading, sometimes just looking at all the amazing photographs.
Yes, it's big enough that it could actually just replace your coffee table altogether. Still, it's just that many more wonderful images and fascinating tidbits about the ocean. I'd definately say this book is worth the space it will take up on your coffee table or bookshelf.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
By John Matlock
Format:Hardcover
By National Research Council Ocean Studies Board
This huge book is divided into four major sections:
Introduction -- covering such things as the properties of water that make the ocean what it is, the geology, circulation, climate, tides and waves. These are properties that apply to all oceans.
Ocean Environments -- broken down by areas such as depth, temperature, the sea floor.
Ocean Life -- subdivided into two sections that cover first the ecology of marine life, followed by a breakdown of the plant and animal life in considerable detail.
Atlas of the oceans -- includes maps of all the oceans as well as additional maps showing things like current flow, depths, undersea features, the seas around the oceans, basically everything there is to know.
This is a beautifully illustrated huge book. Over 500 pages, 10 x 12 inches. It's a great book to read with a youngster on your lap just looking at the pictures of weird life.
This huge book is divided into four major sections:
Introduction -- covering such things as the properties of water that make the ocean what it is, the geology, circulation, climate, tides and waves. These are properties that apply to all oceans.
Ocean Environments -- broken down by areas such as depth, temperature, the sea floor.
Ocean Life -- subdivided into two sections that cover first the ecology of marine life, followed by a breakdown of the plant and animal life in considerable detail.
Atlas of the oceans -- includes maps of all the oceans as well as additional maps showing things like current flow, depths, undersea features, the seas around the oceans, basically everything there is to know.
This is a beautifully illustrated huge book. Over 500 pages, 10 x 12 inches. It's a great book to read with a youngster on your lap just looking at the pictures of weird life.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great coffee table education!
Beautiful book, great info. My 12 year old daughter will spend an afternoon on the couch with it, Adults love it too.
Published 1 month ago by Rene Iverson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Condition
There was a minor wear on the back side of the book. Otherwise, it is all in a perfect condition.
Published 2 months ago by HAROLD
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thoroughly pleased with this book!
The amount of detailed, specific information contained in this book is amazing! Beautiful pictures, detailed descriptions, and a real abundance of information. Read more
Published 2 months ago by By the sea
5.0 out of 5 stars
A reference book for every house
I was visiting La Jolla (San Diego), California and found this book at the Birch Aquarium. Instantly, after browsing a few pages, I decided to buy. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Pikmin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awsome!
This book was bought as a gift for my granddaughter, who nightly sits and devours
the information and pictures contained within. Read more
the information and pictures contained within. Read more
Published 4 months ago by A. Starkey
5.0 out of 5 stars
AWESOME!
I am an ocean engineer and my boyfriend got me this book. He was worried it wouldn't be 'technical enough for me' but there's tons of stuff I don't know about in here. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Frankie
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful!
Lots of fantastic images with a wealth of information. Completely beautiful book. I bought it for my dad for Christmas and I known he will love it!
Published 5 months ago by Melissa Bailey
5.0 out of 5 stars
excellent book for ocean explorers
This is an excellent book for both beginners and experienced ocean explorers and people on cruise ships. it even shows most of the islands in the world. Read more
Published 9 months ago by psycho headhunter
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's looked brand new
Hello, Thanks for getting the book out right away. The book arrived fast and looked brand new. And the Price was awesome, I will be buying more college texts from you. Read more
Published 11 months ago by J. Little
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ocean
This book is awesome, and doesn't restrict itself to describe living organisms in a very technical and rather boring way. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Pedro Jácome
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
