Customer Reviews

Ocean (American Museum of Natural History)

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"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

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.

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 book is not a typical "coffee table" book. Although full of beautiful photographs, there is equal emphasis on educational text. Instead of being a book containing only full-page photos of ocean life, each page is a collage of wonderful photos and short articles that you will want to read. The publisher of this book (DK), offers a variety of books in this format (travel, etc), and the layout of this book is similar. That is not to knock the photos at all - they are great and some are full-page, but this book isn't page after page of full-page photos as some others are.

That said, this is an excellent educational text with so much interesting information to offer. (It made me want to read the book cover-to-cover, which would probably keep me busy for at least a few days!)

The four main sections of the book include:

Introduction
Ocean Environments
Ocean Life
Atlas of the Oceans

The Introduction section takes a scientific look at the earth. A sampling of the topics of this section include "The Evolution of the Oceans", "Tectonics and the Ocean Floor", "Hurricanes", and "El Nino and La Nina". Mixed in with the photos are a number of color drawings and graphs to help the reader understand the concepts.

The section on Ocean Environments includes articles on specific places like San Francisco Bay and Hardanger Fjord as well as general information on habitats such as Salt Marshes, Mangrove Swamps and Rocky Sea Beds. The pages are full of photos of the areas as well as typical species found there.

The largest section is on Ocean Life and focuses on the variety of creatures found in the sea. Exhibited within these pages are a number of amazing photos of plants and animals that I had not seen before (though I'm not an expert on this subject) including creatures such as the Glass Squid, the Blue-Ringed Octopus and the Goblin Shark. I thoroughly enjoyed the short paragraph articles describing unique aspects of the species shown as well as the longer texts on topics like "Echinoderms" that includes anatomy, reproduction, feeding and defense sub-articles.

The last section is Atlas of the Oceans and includes maps of the different oceans and text describing them.

Again, the focus of this book is learning, not just amazing photography, and it does an excellent job of offering a smorgasbord of articles on different topics. If you really want to learn about the ocean and its inhabitants while paging through fantastic photographs, you will thoroughly enjoy this book!

Along with the absolutely wonderful, enrapturing photographs this book contains (the only thing better would be to really be there), it is informative, well-structured, and generally appealing. I have yet to find any inconsistancy in its information, and it offers an education in Oceanography in a very well-written way. The book starts off with several gorgeous, full-page photographs (including but not limited to, a picture of a Polar Bear cub underwater, a close up of a ray, and haunting pictures of the more hostile coastlines in the world). It then goes on to cover, by sections, the
Introduction (which covers 'Ocean Water', 'Ocean Geology', and 'Circulation and Climate'...basically, these explain what makes up the ocean and why it does what it does)

Ocean Environments (including subsections on 'Coasts and the Shoreline', 'Shallow Seas','The Open Seas and Ocean Floor', and 'Polar Ocean'),

Ocean Life (with information on everything from the blue whale, to fish, to plankton,to different types of worms,birds and plants that thrive near or in the ocean)

Atlas of the Oceans (including maps of the world's five major oceans and more detailed maps of individual regions within those oceans)

I loved this book! I would highly suggest it for anyone interested in learning more about this yet-untamed (but sadly not unmarked) wilderness. I keep seeing references to children in the other reviews, and while most children would love the pictures, and some older children would be fasinated by the information, the writing is in no way 'dumbed down' and I would recommend it for any adult seeking a book on this subject.

I would like to point out a couple of things, though. One is that some of the reviewers got a little carried away when describing the size of this book. It is big, yes, but it is not huge. I have several reference books, some of which are much larger. This book has 512 pages, weighs 5.9 lbs, and its dimensions are 12 x 10.1 x 1.4 inches. Please measure it out, if you have to, but don't order it and think it's smaller then you thought it would be and then review it badly here. It is idiotic to review poorly because a book isn't the size you imagined it would be, especially since all Amazon books have the weight, dimensions, and page numbers listed. I've seen reviewers rate poorly because they didn't bother to look and see how big a book was, and this can affect the overall rating of otherwise good books.

Also, please understand that this book is not exaustive. How can it be? The ocean is unbelievably huge and diverse. This cannot cover all forms of life that exist around, above, and beneath the waves. But what it does cover, it covers exceptionally well. If you love the Ocean, you won't be sorry you bought it!

This book contains stunning pictures, interesting facts and information, information on the most spectacular beaches and ocean created phenomena, tidal and wave phenomena, weather related phenomena, and information on many, many species of sharks, whales, jellyfish, fish, crabs, coral, etc. A must buy for any ocean/nature lovers, nonfiction coffee table book fans/collectors, or anyone who just love interesting facts and appreciates stunning photography.

This is a huge book packed with information and gorgeous photography. There is plenty of science contained in these glossy pages from how the planets in our solar system formed, to the breakup and movement of our land masses to their current day positions, ocean currents, weather, ecology, glacial periods, and so much more. Most of the first half of the book is devoted to these subjects. The second half of the book gets into ocean life, from the smallest to the largest, how they live, feed, defend themselves. The pictures are breathtaking. This is a great educational book for all family members. Trust me, this one won't just sit around on your coffee table.

I had been looking for a comprehensive ocean book for a while, and more or less found it here. A complete overview of the ocean: physical features, marine life, fishing, exploration - this book covers it all. Great photography and short pieces of information on hundreds of the ocean's species will immerse even the most casual terrestrial browser.

The species featured in this book are well distributed - representing all classes of animals and plants, and all zones and ocean communities, from the coastal to deep sea ecosystem. Their mini synopsis of species is proceeded by a helpful overview of the general category that covers them (such as mollusks: their basic anatomy, movement mechanics, feeding and life cycles for the entire group) before telling you about, let's say, the octopus. The bulk of the book is on ocean biota, with a smaller sections on ocean environments and an atlas of the oceans.

Perhaps the biggest gap I see in the book is that it covers fisheries and other human impacts (trash, pollution, warming, acidification) only minimally and sporadically. The human impacts are highlighted for only a few key species, instead of treating it as an separate issue in its own right that affects, directly or indirectly, all forms of marine life. Indeed, the subtitle for the book, "the world's last wilderness revealed," is misleading and biased. It's akin a travel brochure selling an overrun tourist destination like Waikiki as exotic and pristine ("come and watch the natives surf!" I read once somewhere) - given our massive interference with most of the ocean, the term "wilderness" simply does not apply, except perhaps for the Antarctic region, for now.

But what the book does cover, it covers it well, being both engaging and informative. Over 500 pages serve as a good introduction to our waterworld.

This book not only has beautiful photography but a wealth of information. Ocean is a beautiful encyclopedia.

A beautiful book to view, it is as informative as it is attractive! DK books usually rely quite heavily on excellent photographs and illustrations and this book continues that trend. The almost chart-like layout of the pages makes this book very easy to use while also being very entertaining and just plain fun to look at. It's a great book for people of all interest levels. Not too simple but at the same time not too complex. If you're interested in ocean life, you'll want this book!