Addison Beecher Colvin Whipple was an American journalist, editor, historian and author. Before his retirement he was editor of Life's International Editions and executive editor of Time-Life Books.
The further I read in to this series the more I am drawn in to it. Yes but choice or random luck I read some of the more sensational titles such earthquake and flood however the more general titles such as this one the Restless Oceans have their part to play (both in the series and in planet story that is being told through the various books).
The book is rather lower key than some other titles I have read - however rather than being a weakness it helps bridge the gap. For example there are references to how the oceans feed the weather which sets the scene for others books such as Storm.
So as surprising as this may seem the series is forming in to an interconnected collection. This may seem obvious but since you are trying to condense a subject with such huge amounts of information on in to a relatively slim book you have to find that compromise between subject topics and depth of detail.
I have said this before but I will say it again - for a series printed in the 80s these books still have the ability to surprise and impress
I was 2/3 of the way through this book before I realized that this book is not simply about oceans, it is about ocean currents. Four of its five chapters are about ocean currents, and the fifth chapter is about the environmental damage that humans are doing to the ocean. It was a good book, I just found the topic of currents to be more challenging to read about than I thought, and I wish that the book had been more clear that it was about specifically ocean currents and not the ocean as a general topic. A little knowledge of physics could be helpful because they talked a lot, although not in a mathematical way, about fluid dynamics.