Odious Oceans

by Anita Ganeri

A guide to oceans with the gritty bits left in! Read the reporter's guide to the seabed

uncover the details of the Titanic's last day

see if you're nautical enough to join the Navy

shudder at ships lost in the Bermuda Triangle

and tremble over modern-day pirates who terrorize the seas.

Genres: Nonfiction, Geography, Science, Childrens, Animals, Humor

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Anita Ganeri is a highly experienced author of children’s information books, specialising in religion, India/Asia, multiculturalism, geography, biography and natural history. She became a freelance writer after working at Walker Books (as foreign rights manager) and Usborne Publishing (as an editor). Since then, she has written over 300 titles, including the best-selling Horrible Geography series for Scholastic. The series won the Geographical Association Silver Award in 1999 and was cited as being ‘an innovation that all geographers will applaud’. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society where she conducts most of her research for the books.

Reviews

[Klinta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected that this book will cover a lot more of biology than it did. It was sort of a mixture of biology, chemistry, geography and history.

Some of the images were funnier that other, but overall I was not impressed. I did learn a couple of things, but I am secretly scared that because of the format I can't really believe them (if someone asks for proof, will I really say that I read it in a comical book for children?).

I expected something more, but this is the first book from the series I'm reading, so, hoping for better continuation.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've taken a few science classes and watched some Discovery Channel in my days, but I still learned some stuff from this. Laugh all you want at the fact that I may be stuck at a 4th grade reading level...the illustration/text interactions in this book are second to none.

[Laura Fan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book you learn how to trick your teacher using questions like this one: Please, Sir, how heavy is the sea? And I am sure this one your teacher will not guess. You will also learn about the first two people to get to the bottom of the Marianas Trench and also how to make a pearl (you'll need a clam). What I remember when I think about the book is the tragic story of the titanic *_*. (-age 9)

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Educational and fun!!!

[Mohammad Islam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike the Volcano book, this one tried to cover too many topics.

[slowmokim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nội dung ngắn gọn, dễ hiểu, hài hước 3,5/5🌷

[Enisan]

Ok

[Anirudh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a great fan of the Horrible Histories and the Dead Famous (now Horribly Famous) series from Scholastic but little did I know the existence of a series named Horrible Geography till I came across the book at a throwaway price in a book fair and I was even more excited by the fact that the book was written by Anita Ganeri for I used to be a geography enthusiast back in school (perhaps still am) and used to visit the school library to read books on geography and hence, this was a familiar name.

This book was similar to the Horrible Histories series, well illustrated and was filled with very interesting facts. Even when I used to read those geography books, reading about oceans barely interested me but then, the author has done an excellent job to bring that interest, writing about several facts / mysteries known to everyone (Bermuda Triangle!) and also on what is under the sea, which contrary to what is visualised, is not a sand bed but has valleys and mountains and active volcanoes. Moreover, I really loved her 'earth shattering facts' and yes, considering that the book is meant for children, she didn't use too many of these technical terms regarding oceans, which is something that made the book enjoyable to someone like myself, for whom it has nearly been seven years since a geography book was touched.

On the flipside, I found this book emphasising a little too much on history, especially, Magellan's journeys, much as it was a great feat, I really feel it had very little to do with oceans as such though you, as a reader may disagree with me on this. Moreover, this is something that the author could hardly be blamed for, there was too much content on seafood and myself, being a vegetarian, could appreciate what she has written, but hardly understand.

Like any other book in the series, I felt this was an excellent light read for a person like me and a very informative read for kids and yes, certainly more interesting than their geography text books from school.

[gleb_ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is by Anita Ganeri and illustrated by Mike Phillips. This book is non-fiction. It's a facts book which is written in an unusual manner. It's really funny, silly and has a lot of jokes in it. I love this book's idea and how it is written. Really nice connections between entertaining and geography, facts and science.
So this book is about oceans as you see in the title. So far that I've read (this report while I am still reading the book) it talked about different fish, Mariana Trench expedition, how do we get oil from oceans, underwater mountains and volcanoes, tsunami and ... how seals were created... Is the most awkward one so far to me... Read the book and find out yourself. At this point the book is really cool and I love it. It teaches and entertains you at the same time. For a book about facts it's kind of unusual. 3 coolest things that I learned so far:
1. There are living organisms at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
2. There are really big mountain ranges underwater.
3. Everest is not the tallest mountain in the world. There is a taller on which is underwater but the end of it reaches out of the water.
As I mentioned many times this book can be used for entertaining and learning. This proves it one more time. Now let's talk about the illustrations. I really like them because they are easy to look at. What I mean by that is that they aren't too silly or too serious. Thanks for that to the illustrator Mike Phillips!.
To finish this off I wanted to say that the book is easy reading and double-sided (fancy way of me saying entertaining and teaching). I really like everything in this book. One of my favourites so far. I would rate it 9/10 or 10/10. As I said this is written while I still didn't finish the book so not sure yet. The age would be around 11-14. Thanks for reading!

[Daisy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bit of a disappointing book. I gave up around page 130 because I felt it would have been pretty pointless for me to carry on. I don't remember learning much (if anything) from this book and I know the way it is displayed is supposed to be interesting and funny but I found it tiresome and overcomplicated if I'm honest. Also, I wish there had been more about just the ocean itself rather than human exploration in the ocean. It really should have been called Putrid Pirates ... But With a Little Bit About the Oceans Too.

[Mao Mao · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book actually makes the ocean more "odious". It tells about different types of fish. It tells about pirates, and the Navy. The math questions were too easy for me. I didn't know that pirates have rules too!
I'm almost finished with the Horrible Geography series, the Horrible Science series, and the Murderous Maths series. I don't know which horrible series to read next.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun and entertaining read. A very enjoyable way to learn about this topic.

[Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some thing nostalgic to read on the way to Southport today! Fun to refresh the knowledge this book provided over eight years ago now :D

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

516 - 2016

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good interesting facts and less patronising than others in the series.