Customer Reviews

The Restless Sea: Exploring the World Beneath the Waves

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Absolutely the only uninteresting thing in this book is the title (which sounds like the title of a filmstrip you might have watched in school in about the sixth grade, back in the 60's.) It's a survey of what's known about the oceans, from their formation (the current thinking is that the water came from comets) and oceanography, what the engine is that keeps continental drift going (gravity), why jellyfish and so many other sea creatures are transparent (because underwater, there's no reason to waste resources on features like pigment) on and on and on, a wealth of information explained and described perfectly lucidly. He has a gift for writing very well, explaining technical information to the non-technical layman (I was a history major) as well as John McPhee ever could. It turns out that we have mapped the surface of Venus more accurately than the ocean floor.

So much of what I thought I knew about the ocean is wrong. Remember those relief maps you see, which show the continental shelf dropping off like the grand canyon into the abyss? Turns out that's not accurate, the continental shelf actually slopes at a very gentle rate, not as steep as the mountain passes the Tour de France racers climb. The maps exaggerate the slopes by a factor of ten, emphasizing the presence of the features over their accuracy.

There is so much information in here that I was feeling, as I approached the end of the book, that I should go back through and read it again, for all the stuff I missed.

The story isn't told in the first person plural, like a textbook, but rather is related through the stories of the scientists who made the discoveries. For instance, much of our current understanding of how continental drift works was done by a scientist heating a pan of paraffin in his kitchen. Because it's focuses on the stories of the scientists, it's a story as much about the development of science as about strict oceanography, how the limits of knowledge shift as our ability to ask questions and interpret the answers changes.

I could go on and on and on, but I won't. This is a wonderful, fascinating book about a very important topic. Read it.

Did you know that we could end 17% of the excess carbon dioxide that we generate every year to the bottom of the ocean? And do it by fertilizing the plankton with iron spread from a freighter? And that this has actually been tested by marine scientists? If not, read The Restless Sea and learn this plus dozens of other fun facts to know and tell. Kunzig is a kind writer. If a scientist has no personality, he writes about the science. If a scientist happens to be a truly warped human being, we get a paragraph or two about the warpage before Kunzig dives back into the science. If you hate James Gleick's endlessly tedious books (e.g., Chaos), you'll be refreshed by Kunzig's work.

Although written by a talented journalist rather than an oceanographer (probably a reading plus anyway), it proficiently introduces the reader to recent discoveries in oceanography and to the personalities responsible for the research. Most texts on the field are somewhat more pedantic. Mr. Kunzig's approach is one of personalizing the subject by introducing the reader to the people behind the it. He gives the reader a greater feeling for the excitement and enthusiasm that such individuals bring to their field of study. I would recommend it to anyone with at least some knowledge of oceanography who is interested in knowing more of the individuals who have contributed to it.

At a time when some scientists fear they are running out of mysteries to explore, this book shows that right here on earth we have a potentially inexhaustible source of marvels and mysteries: the sea. Whether he is pondering the life cycle of plankton or peering at deep-sea vents or tracking the flow of ocean currents, Kunzig always holds my interest. This is science writing at its finiest, passionate, lyrical, vigorously reported. Kunzig does for oceanography what John McPhee did for geology. I loved this book!

The best-written account of what scientists currently know about the ocean since Rachel Carson published her first bestseller, The Sea Around Us, almost 50 years ago. Among other things, it makes you wonder why we're spending so much time, money, and effort exploring the far reaches of outer space when there are so many wonders to be discovered much closer to home--in the 2/3 of our own planet that we're just beginning to fathom.

People have always been drawn to the sea, and Robert Kunzig's amazing book lets us all in on some of the reasons: the sea is alive with secrets and energy and strange creatures, just waiting to be discovered. Kunzig chronicles the many attempts to peer beneath the waves and reveal these secrets, and shows the overwhelming impact the ocean has had on our planet's history and is still having today. Crisply written and compellingly laid out, his story is one that shows us, rather than simply telling us, the power that the oceans have over our planet.

This well-written book attempts to show how little we know about the huge volume of our planet that lies beneath the surface layer of the ocean. Much of what we thought we knew has turned out to be wrong, and much of what we HAVE learned was discovered astonishingly recently---within the last generation in many cases. Also, Kunzig never lets you forget that the fascinating information we've gathered about undersea currents, say, or biological diversity at great depths, even ocean floor topology, is still sketchy and provisional. Rather than depressing, this is an exciting prospect, an adventure that is still in the early stages (and likely to remain so for some time, since undersea research gets hardly any funding). The only truly depressing part of the book, for me, is the account in chapter eight of the collapse (through overfishing) of the cod population off the coasts of New England and Newfoundland. In any case, Kunzig has the McPhee talent for highlighting the personalities of the scientists involved, but never loses sight of the underlying scientific issues. Also, I like how he begins, appropriately, with the water molecule and how the Earth got all it's water in the first place, then ends the book with how the planet may evenually lose it's water, billions of years hence. Nice symmetry there.

I loved this book. Mr. Kunzig took quite a lot of technical information and made it accessible to the average ocean lover. It made me look much closer when I go out cod fishing, especially at the odd jellies that I never noticed before floating around the boat. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the seas.

Finely written, but the book is not for the casual reader. Descriptions are very detailed and heavy in scientific jargon. Great book for someone with a good background on the subject but a bit too encyclopedic for the average reader (like me).

This novel is extremely well written and organized that it so allows the reader to absorb the tremendous amount of dazzling information being explored, yet not feeling overwhelmed.