The Restless Sea: Exploring the World Beneath the Waves

by Robert Kunzig

A vivid, up-to-date tour of the Earth's last frontier, a remote and mysterious realm that nonetheless lies close to the heart of even the most land-locked reader. The sea covers seven-tenths of the Earth, but we have mapped only a small percentage of it. The sea contains millions of species of animals and plants, but we have identified only a few thousand of them. The sea controls our planet's climate, but we do not really understand how. The sea is still the frontier, and yet it seems so familiar that we sometimes forget how little we know about it. Just as we are poised on the verge of exploiting the sea on an unprecedented scale-mining it, fertilizing it, fishing it out-this book reminds us of how much we have yet to learn. More than that, it chronicles the knowledge explosion that has transformed our view of the sea in just the past few decades, and made it a far more interesting and accessible place. From the Big Bang to that far-off future time, two billion years from now, when our planet will be a waterless rock; from the lush crowds of life at seafloor hot springs to the invisible, jewel-like plants that float at the sea surface; from the restless shifting of the tectonic plates to the majestic sweep of the ocean currents, Kunzig's clear and lyrical prose transports us to the ends of the Earth.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Biology

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

In reading this immensely stimulating and informative book, it is striking to realize how much our knowledge of the oceans has changed and grown in the past fifty years, and how it is continuing to do so. So much for the notion that there is nothing left for science to do! I would recommend Kunzig's well-written account of these recent developments to anyone with even a slight interest in the subject.

The chapter on the collapse of the North Atlantic cod fisheries is enough to make anyone despair about the ability of human beings to look out for their own best interests.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book looks at several aspects of oceanography, from astronomical origins through biology to climate effects. It ramps up in complexity & the last chapter on currents, heat transfer, glacier & sediment cores, and climate was fascinating. This book isn't as light-hearted as Mary Roach's style, but it had moments of gentle humor. Some of the info in this referenced book is fairly alarming, w/o being alarmist, informing w/o being political. Good science writing. Really cool stuff about the interactions & modeling of things like ocean currents, salinity, atmosphere, glaciers, phytoplankton, CO2, etc etc. A geeky pleasure read.

[Tracy Covey · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a neat experience, leaning about our worlds oceans, how they might have arrived, how they work, what we dont know...and nicely explained the history of all that science...some of which was truly facinating. How can one not give five stars to a book that helps one see the earth as one never did before? And the life of scientists, walking us through how our knowledge base came about, I'm surprised to,say I found that facinating too!

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A review of what we know about the ocean, and a history of how we learned it. The author deftly portrays the explorers who plunged into the mysteries of the sea, and tells their stories. Recommended reading for oceanographers, marine biologists, naval architects, and anybody who's interested in the deep blus sea.

[Frederick Bingham · Rating 1 out of 5]

A popular book about oceanography.