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The Great Barrier Reef
The real Great Barrier Reef is not just a single clown fish or a colony of branching stag horn coral. Nor is it simply the crystal clear water, cocktails and beautiful bodies of the tourist ads. It is not just the stage for murders, mishaps, shipwrecks, shark attacks, crocodile death rolls or groupers that swallow men's heads whole and only sometimes spit them back out.
The real Great Barrier Reef is a living thing – a 2600-kilometre-long, untamed organism, made up of trillions of animals. It is the magnificent and terrifying home to the wild things of nightmares and hallucinations.
James Woodford wanted to understand the real reef in all its complexities and along its entire, extraordinary length. For a year he worked and dived with marine biologists, exploring it from the coral outpost of Lord Howe Island in the south to the crocodile haunted waters at the reef's northern boundary in Cape York. The Great Barrier Reef is a thrilling study of the Reef – of its beauty, mystery and terror as it faces its greatest threat, rising sea temperatures that stem from global warming. Part science, part history, part travel and wholly adventurous, Woodford's book is as captivating, grand and magical as the Reef itself.
The real Great Barrier Reef is a living thing – a 2600-kilometre-long, untamed organism, made up of trillions of animals. It is the magnificent and terrifying home to the wild things of nightmares and hallucinations.
James Woodford wanted to understand the real reef in all its complexities and along its entire, extraordinary length. For a year he worked and dived with marine biologists, exploring it from the coral outpost of Lord Howe Island in the south to the crocodile haunted waters at the reef's northern boundary in Cape York. The Great Barrier Reef is a thrilling study of the Reef – of its beauty, mystery and terror as it faces its greatest threat, rising sea temperatures that stem from global warming. Part science, part history, part travel and wholly adventurous, Woodford's book is as captivating, grand and magical as the Reef itself.
- GenresNonfictionAustralia
388 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2010
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37 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 30, 2015
This book was my souvenir from my Great Barrier Reef trip. I enjoyed the book but it was too long and got repetitive for the uninitiated. Every chapter was telling the story of another scientific diving trip and from half-way onwards I was just waiting for the book to end.
February 3, 2024
A rewarding read for someone who wants to understand the Great Barrier Reef including threats and it’s complexity, without having to read the many scientific papers relating to its ecology. A surprise twist in the author’s life is enlightening in its sensitive first hand descriptions. I am the richer for reading this and it certainly a balanced non-fiction book that is enjoyable and compelling.
August 14, 2019
A great book taking you on a magic journey through the great barrier Reef. This book is very well written, and addictive. Recommended to whoever likes to daydream and immerse him/herself in wonderful places, thanks to the practical details that make the story even more real.
July 8, 2018
In this delightful, fascinating and intensely readable book the author, James Woodford takes us on his personal voyage of discovery, to become intimate with the Great Barrier Reef. Stretching all the way from Papua New Guinea down to (by one definition) the Swains this massive, ever changing Reef is at best hard to 'know'. Woodford solution to this was to become a research diver with several Marine research groups traveling the length and breadth of the reef on various projects.
The book follows Woodford as he makes his first baby diver steps to acquire his rescue diver certificate (a minimum for some research diving) and as he travels to remote island research stations on the great barrier reef. Names like Lizard Island, Lord Howe, One Tree Island are casually scattered through the pages of the book that describes the highs and lows of research diving so vividly I could practically taste the salt sea spray. The authors personal journey, hurdles and challenges form the structure around which the story forms, they make it easily to relate to the journey, even for a person who has not had research or diving experience. The experience of the author as a privileged outsider among the scientists and career caretakers, gives perspective to the extremely niche, focused lifestyle of dedicated marine scientists.
It is very hard to write a book that brings to life the intense experience of scuba diving - it must be; so few people have done it. As a recreational diver I have to say that the descriptions of the GBR were so compelling that I wanted to quit my job and become an errant research diver. The book effectively reignited my fascination with all things marine and motivated me toward future involvement in diving, a motivation I have been looking for for some time.
Thank you James Woodford.
The book follows Woodford as he makes his first baby diver steps to acquire his rescue diver certificate (a minimum for some research diving) and as he travels to remote island research stations on the great barrier reef. Names like Lizard Island, Lord Howe, One Tree Island are casually scattered through the pages of the book that describes the highs and lows of research diving so vividly I could practically taste the salt sea spray. The authors personal journey, hurdles and challenges form the structure around which the story forms, they make it easily to relate to the journey, even for a person who has not had research or diving experience. The experience of the author as a privileged outsider among the scientists and career caretakers, gives perspective to the extremely niche, focused lifestyle of dedicated marine scientists.
It is very hard to write a book that brings to life the intense experience of scuba diving - it must be; so few people have done it. As a recreational diver I have to say that the descriptions of the GBR were so compelling that I wanted to quit my job and become an errant research diver. The book effectively reignited my fascination with all things marine and motivated me toward future involvement in diving, a motivation I have been looking for for some time.
Thank you James Woodford.
January 26, 2014
This is neither a tourist guide nor a dry scientific paper. Mr. Woodford, not being a scientist, got himself into a one-year-long adventure of a few scientific expeditions, and described it all thoroughly, with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor. His prose is joyous and thoughtful, full of real people and real stuff, names and quotations (in fact, I'm picking up some of the books he mentioned). It's one of these rare books that make you go 'Aww, he really DID it! I wish I could, if not for... insert_reason_here' (:
Ironically, I did read this book on a huge cruise liner, where a starting point of any conversation around me would be "Too much alcohol!", followed by self-indulgent chuckles and ordering more... This book was my only intellectual challenge and salvation during sea days, when there was no port and real adventures to look forward to. I wonder, if it will impress me just as much during second read. Meanwhile, it left me wanting more - which rarely happens.
Ironically, I did read this book on a huge cruise liner, where a starting point of any conversation around me would be "Too much alcohol!", followed by self-indulgent chuckles and ordering more... This book was my only intellectual challenge and salvation during sea days, when there was no port and real adventures to look forward to. I wonder, if it will impress me just as much during second read. Meanwhile, it left me wanting more - which rarely happens.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews