What do you think?
Rate this book
A Sea in Flames: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout
Carl Safina has been hailed as one of the top 100 conservations of the 20th century ( Audubon Magazine ) and A Sea in Flames is his blistering account of the months-long manmade disaster that tormented a region and mesmerized the nation. Traveling across the Gulf to make sense of an ever-changing story and its often-nonsensical twists, Safina expertly deconstructs the series of calamitous misjudgments that caused the Deepwater Horizon blowout, zeroes in on BP’s misstatements, evasions, and denials, reassesses his own reaction to the government’s crisis handling, and reviews the consequences of the leak—and what he considers the real problems, which the press largely overlooked.
Safina takes us deep inside the faulty thinking that caused the lethal explosion. We join him on aerial surveys across an oil-coated sea. We confront pelicans and other wildlife whose blue universe fades to black. Safina skewers the excuses and the silly jargon—like “junk shot” and “top kill”—that made the tragedy feel like a comedy of horrors—and highlighted Big Oil’s appalling lack of preparedness for an event that was inevitable.
Based on extensive research and interviews with fishermen, coastal residents, biologists, and government officials, A Sea In Flames has some surprising answers on whether it was “Obama’s Katrina,” whether the Coast Guard was as inept in its response as BP was misleading, and whether this worst unintended release of oil in history was really America’s worst ecological disaster.
Impassioned, moving, and even sharply funny, A Sea in Flames is ultimately an indictment of America’s main addiction. Safina “In the end, this is a chronicle of a summer of pain—and hope. Hope that the full potential of this catastrophe would not materialize, hope that the harm done would heal faster than feared, and hope that even if we didn’t suffer the absolutely worst—we’d still learn the big lesson here. We may have gotten two out of three. That’s not good enough. there’ll be a next time.”
Safina takes us deep inside the faulty thinking that caused the lethal explosion. We join him on aerial surveys across an oil-coated sea. We confront pelicans and other wildlife whose blue universe fades to black. Safina skewers the excuses and the silly jargon—like “junk shot” and “top kill”—that made the tragedy feel like a comedy of horrors—and highlighted Big Oil’s appalling lack of preparedness for an event that was inevitable.
Based on extensive research and interviews with fishermen, coastal residents, biologists, and government officials, A Sea In Flames has some surprising answers on whether it was “Obama’s Katrina,” whether the Coast Guard was as inept in its response as BP was misleading, and whether this worst unintended release of oil in history was really America’s worst ecological disaster.
Impassioned, moving, and even sharply funny, A Sea in Flames is ultimately an indictment of America’s main addiction. Safina “In the end, this is a chronicle of a summer of pain—and hope. Hope that the full potential of this catastrophe would not materialize, hope that the harm done would heal faster than feared, and hope that even if we didn’t suffer the absolutely worst—we’d still learn the big lesson here. We may have gotten two out of three. That’s not good enough. there’ll be a next time.”
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
34 people are currently reading
467 people want to read
About the author
Carl Safina
46 books583 followersCarl Safina’s work has been recognized with MacArthur, Pew, and Guggenheim Fellowships, and his writing has won Orion, Lannan, and National Academies literary awards and the John Burroughs, James Beard, and George Rabb medals. He has a PhD in ecology from Rutgers University. Safina is the inaugural holder of the endowed chair for nature and humanity at Stony Brook University, where he co-chairs the steering committee of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and is founding president of the not-for-profit organization, The Safina Center. He hosted the 10-part PBS series Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina. His writing appears in The New York Times, Audubon, Orion, and other periodicals and on the Web at National Geographic News and Views, Huffington Post, and CNN.com.
He lives on Long Island, New York with his wife Patricia, the two best beach-running dogs in the world, some chickens, a couple of parrots, and Frankie the kingsnake.
He lives on Long Island, New York with his wife Patricia, the two best beach-running dogs in the world, some chickens, a couple of parrots, and Frankie the kingsnake.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
August 23, 2011
The book has three parts, with part 2 getting the most pages.
1) The timeline leading up to the blowout
2) An account of the authors time spent in the gulf region the months after the spill
3) An early look at the aftermath and commentary about our energy future
Part 1 (timeline) is excellent and the best explanation for what caused the blowout that I have read. There was no one mistake that caused the blowout, there were a dozen. This section of the book gets 5 stars.
Part 2 (dear diary) starts out ok, but eventually drags the book to a halt. I call this section dear diary because that is how it reads. It is the jumbled thoughts of the author intermixed with the stories of people impacted by the spill. I give this section (which accounts for more than half of the page count) 2 stars.
Part 3 (aftermath) includes a look at where the gulf is a year later and commentary on where we, as a nation, need to go to end our dependence on oil. The fact that we have destroyed more more marsh land with canals than the oil spill could ever have touched is just one of the enlightening facts found in the book. I give this section 4 stars.
I highly suggest reading the first and last quarter of this book, while skimming or outright skipping the middle half.
1) The timeline leading up to the blowout
2) An account of the authors time spent in the gulf region the months after the spill
3) An early look at the aftermath and commentary about our energy future
Part 1 (timeline) is excellent and the best explanation for what caused the blowout that I have read. There was no one mistake that caused the blowout, there were a dozen. This section of the book gets 5 stars.
Part 2 (dear diary) starts out ok, but eventually drags the book to a halt. I call this section dear diary because that is how it reads. It is the jumbled thoughts of the author intermixed with the stories of people impacted by the spill. I give this section (which accounts for more than half of the page count) 2 stars.
Part 3 (aftermath) includes a look at where the gulf is a year later and commentary on where we, as a nation, need to go to end our dependence on oil. The fact that we have destroyed more more marsh land with canals than the oil spill could ever have touched is just one of the enlightening facts found in the book. I give this section 4 stars.
I highly suggest reading the first and last quarter of this book, while skimming or outright skipping the middle half.
May 15, 2015
While the rest of the world watched the events of the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill play out on TV Carl Safina was there poking around in places where he wasn't wanted and asking questions that the powers that be refused answer. The first part of this book are his real time reflections and his thoughts were not sentimental nor pretty. He was angry at how BP took control of the whole Gulf Coast area telling people where they could and could not go and at the draconian ways they restricted the flow of information.
He got up close and personal to the 'real' people whose world revolved around the Gulf. He saw their anger and frustration.
He pulls no punches and did not reign in his anger. If he thought a certain Senator was a knucklehead, he called him a knucklehead. The word 'blistering' has been used in several reviews to describe his tone and the reviewers are correct. I would hate to have this man angry at me.
Then after the well is capped he turns his attention to our dependence on oil. They are common sense observations that cut through the spin.
A very good read if you want to know the 'rest of the story' of the aftermath of the explosion on the Deep Water Horizon.
He got up close and personal to the 'real' people whose world revolved around the Gulf. He saw their anger and frustration.
He pulls no punches and did not reign in his anger. If he thought a certain Senator was a knucklehead, he called him a knucklehead. The word 'blistering' has been used in several reviews to describe his tone and the reviewers are correct. I would hate to have this man angry at me.
Then after the well is capped he turns his attention to our dependence on oil. They are common sense observations that cut through the spin.
A very good read if you want to know the 'rest of the story' of the aftermath of the explosion on the Deep Water Horizon.
January 23, 2015
One of the saddest books I ever read, filled with stories of unpreparedness, incompetence, lack of leadership, and downright greed.
August 20, 2020
A tragedy intertwined with and propelled by a global climate crisis. A catastrophe threatening the livelihood of millions. A failure to heed the warning signs. Promises of change followed by adoption of flawed policies. A manageable crisis quickly spiraling beyond control. A series of off-the-cuff solutions that inevitably fall flat. A failure to learn from previous mistakes.
Government dithering when prompt action is required. A president deviating from his campaigning platform to grant favorable deals to powerful multinationals. A White House keen to apportion blame to foreigners while its various talking heads spin their way out of the science. A commander-in-chief trying to boost tourism and assuring safety in the face of overwhelming concerns to the contrary. Risk being ignored while inadequate plans are signed off by compromised government regulators.
Big Business ignoring the plight of humanity in search of maximizing shareholder returns. News crews being hampered and obstructed while trying to report. Private security guards and rent-a-cops harassing citizens and pulling them off public roads. The extent of damage being horrifically understated despite scientific research to the contrary. Guards being lowered because danger seems rare and remote.
Heck, even arguments over who should and should not be wearing masks.
It all sounds disenchantingly familiar reading this in the summer of 2020. The nature of the disaster and the cast of characters may change. The underlying issues and reactions remain the same.
“It’s hard to see how America can accomplish anything as long as two parties locked in a death battle can’t see past two-year congressional cycles,” Safina aptly wrote in 2010.
Yet here we are a decade later with seemingly no alternative to, or no appetite to challenge, another generation of duopolistic, neoliberal corporatism.
Government dithering when prompt action is required. A president deviating from his campaigning platform to grant favorable deals to powerful multinationals. A White House keen to apportion blame to foreigners while its various talking heads spin their way out of the science. A commander-in-chief trying to boost tourism and assuring safety in the face of overwhelming concerns to the contrary. Risk being ignored while inadequate plans are signed off by compromised government regulators.
Big Business ignoring the plight of humanity in search of maximizing shareholder returns. News crews being hampered and obstructed while trying to report. Private security guards and rent-a-cops harassing citizens and pulling them off public roads. The extent of damage being horrifically understated despite scientific research to the contrary. Guards being lowered because danger seems rare and remote.
Heck, even arguments over who should and should not be wearing masks.
It all sounds disenchantingly familiar reading this in the summer of 2020. The nature of the disaster and the cast of characters may change. The underlying issues and reactions remain the same.
“It’s hard to see how America can accomplish anything as long as two parties locked in a death battle can’t see past two-year congressional cycles,” Safina aptly wrote in 2010.
Yet here we are a decade later with seemingly no alternative to, or no appetite to challenge, another generation of duopolistic, neoliberal corporatism.
July 6, 2023
"A Sea in Flames" is a personal, varying memoir of Safina's experience living through and examining the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
That sentence might be controversial in both directions. On one hand, I'm not sure Safina would characterize it as a memoir; on the other, I'm not sure local activists would be very content with the claim that he lived through it.
The book, though, is something of an odd hybrid of journalistic investigation and personal recounting. Written in a largely first-person voice with both significant research and editorializing, though, it's something of a difficult tome to classify. It's a raw exploration of his horror of watching the events unfold, but it also somewhat lacks either the transparency of a journalistic deep-dive but also the grounding and honesty of a memoir.
There were some useful insights, of course. "For a crisis begun so spectacularly, it's a murky, uncertain ending," Safina reflects, which I think beautifully captures the whimpering and unresolved end of many disasters (p. 222). And, he captures several wonderfully frustrating moments, like contradictory advice on whether or not folks should be using respirators to reduce the harms to which they are exposed (p. 114).
Overall, though, it is something of a 'proceed with caution' book. By being neither purely investigatory nor entirely reflective, it sits in an interesting middle ground of genres and methods. It's a valuable contribution and interesting book to read, but also one which requires some metacognition and reflection.
That sentence might be controversial in both directions. On one hand, I'm not sure Safina would characterize it as a memoir; on the other, I'm not sure local activists would be very content with the claim that he lived through it.
The book, though, is something of an odd hybrid of journalistic investigation and personal recounting. Written in a largely first-person voice with both significant research and editorializing, though, it's something of a difficult tome to classify. It's a raw exploration of his horror of watching the events unfold, but it also somewhat lacks either the transparency of a journalistic deep-dive but also the grounding and honesty of a memoir.
There were some useful insights, of course. "For a crisis begun so spectacularly, it's a murky, uncertain ending," Safina reflects, which I think beautifully captures the whimpering and unresolved end of many disasters (p. 222). And, he captures several wonderfully frustrating moments, like contradictory advice on whether or not folks should be using respirators to reduce the harms to which they are exposed (p. 114).
Overall, though, it is something of a 'proceed with caution' book. By being neither purely investigatory nor entirely reflective, it sits in an interesting middle ground of genres and methods. It's a valuable contribution and interesting book to read, but also one which requires some metacognition and reflection.
December 10, 2019
More of a (well-deserved) rant than a science news book. I had a library copy and it was full of hair! Probably the reader before me pulling their hair out in a rage. The final point is that however terrible this disaster was, it doesn't compare to the danger of continuing to pump CO2 into our atmosphere with no sense of the urgent, impending catastrophe that we're making.
February 9, 2020
The book does a good job weaving together the many different components of the oil spill. It was an eyeopener and really made me think long and hard about extraction methods and the risks they impose. It also shined light on how clean energy is challenged and ridiculed mostly by those who profit from oil. Overall, it was a good book and makes you think.
April 11, 2019
I enjoyed the books presentation on both the oil rig explosion and the resulting gulf coast oil spill and cleanup efforts. The author was tough but fair to BP regarding both the explosion and cleanup.
June 21, 2020
A very poor book by an author who is capable of much better. Disorganized and uninteresting. Did he rush this out? Did he have an editor? Did he just want to raise some cash? Any further books I read from this author will come from the library.
January 19, 2019
Simply put:
A moving, powerful, educational read
A moving, powerful, educational read
Read
November 1, 2021I had to read this book for school - it was pretty good & very informative. (Didn’t rate - book very out of my comfort zone)
Read
April 4, 2024DNF @ 7%
It vacillates between overly technical (albeit with a weird straw analogy) and like this stream of consciousness and I can’t deal with it.
It vacillates between overly technical (albeit with a weird straw analogy) and like this stream of consciousness and I can’t deal with it.
May 22, 2011
This was a fascinating read on so many fronts. One of the most interesting things for me as a huge Safina fan, was to watch him write from a state of blinding, towering rage. This book was written in real time, with a few later comments inserted here and there. I think that writing well from a place of blistering anger is incredibly difficult, and watching Safina fulminate wildly at the beginning was both a little disconcerting and a little reassuring- he's just as human as the rest of us, for all he's arguably the greatest nature writer of our times.
The story itself is heartbreaking but ultimately not what I thought it would be. The conclusions drawn at the end are fairly magnanimous and even-handed- and the eventual thrust of the book is more about our need for and use of fossil fuels than the chain of tragedies which come about because of that need.
The other cost of the tragedy, the loss of livelihood and culture in the Gulf, is highlighted starkly throughout. The interviews with shrimpers and fishers and the supporting community members are very moving.
A couple of quotes from near the end of the book:
"The best way to respond to the Gulf disaster? Not washing oil off birds, picking up turtles, spraying dispersants, or cleaning beaches. Rather, pulling the subsidies out from under Big Petroleum. Since we pay those subsidies in our income taxes and lose sight of them, it'd be better to put them right in our gasoline and oil taxes and let ourselves be shocked at the pump by the true cost we're paying - and hurry toward better options."
"There was another time when people vehemently insisted that changing America's main source of energy would wreck the economy. The cheapest energy that ever powered America was slavery. Energy is always a moral issue."
There's a lot to learn here, and some of it will make you furious all over again. Some of it will make you think. Highly recommended.
The story itself is heartbreaking but ultimately not what I thought it would be. The conclusions drawn at the end are fairly magnanimous and even-handed- and the eventual thrust of the book is more about our need for and use of fossil fuels than the chain of tragedies which come about because of that need.
The other cost of the tragedy, the loss of livelihood and culture in the Gulf, is highlighted starkly throughout. The interviews with shrimpers and fishers and the supporting community members are very moving.
A couple of quotes from near the end of the book:
"The best way to respond to the Gulf disaster? Not washing oil off birds, picking up turtles, spraying dispersants, or cleaning beaches. Rather, pulling the subsidies out from under Big Petroleum. Since we pay those subsidies in our income taxes and lose sight of them, it'd be better to put them right in our gasoline and oil taxes and let ourselves be shocked at the pump by the true cost we're paying - and hurry toward better options."
"There was another time when people vehemently insisted that changing America's main source of energy would wreck the economy. The cheapest energy that ever powered America was slavery. Energy is always a moral issue."
There's a lot to learn here, and some of it will make you furious all over again. Some of it will make you think. Highly recommended.
August 13, 2012
Named one of “Ten Books That Matter” by the Project on Government Oversight for 2011
“Offers a revealing, thoughtful history of a moment when human manipulation of nature malfunctioned spectacularly...Written in a clear, conversational style...Readers will find the book accessible and agreeable...An insightful work.” --The New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice
“Environmentalist Safina brings his signature compassion, marine expertise, and gorgeous writing to his candidly expressive coverage of the Deepwater Horizon disaster a year after the explosion.” --Booklist
“Not since Rachel Carson wrote her sea trilogy has a conservationist written about marine ecosystems with the factual elegance of Carl Safina.” --Douglas Brinkley, The Washington Post
“The author begins in an artful, participatory-journalist mode, endeavoring to get his facts straight while unafraid to voice his interpretation of unfolding events...[An] illuminating, monitory study.” --Kirkus
“Safina offers an impassioned, on the ground chronicle of the 2010 Gulf oil blowout that surpassed Exxon-Valdez to rank as the worst in history...His account achieves a broad, reasoned perspective that frames events against the more insidious damage that farm and industrial runoff, canal-digging, levee-building, and rising sea level have wrought on the Gulf and its wetlands.” --Publishers Weekly, listed among Top 10 Science Books for Spring 2011
“Offers a revealing, thoughtful history of a moment when human manipulation of nature malfunctioned spectacularly...Written in a clear, conversational style...Readers will find the book accessible and agreeable...An insightful work.” --The New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice
“Environmentalist Safina brings his signature compassion, marine expertise, and gorgeous writing to his candidly expressive coverage of the Deepwater Horizon disaster a year after the explosion.” --Booklist
“Not since Rachel Carson wrote her sea trilogy has a conservationist written about marine ecosystems with the factual elegance of Carl Safina.” --Douglas Brinkley, The Washington Post
“The author begins in an artful, participatory-journalist mode, endeavoring to get his facts straight while unafraid to voice his interpretation of unfolding events...[An] illuminating, monitory study.” --Kirkus
“Safina offers an impassioned, on the ground chronicle of the 2010 Gulf oil blowout that surpassed Exxon-Valdez to rank as the worst in history...His account achieves a broad, reasoned perspective that frames events against the more insidious damage that farm and industrial runoff, canal-digging, levee-building, and rising sea level have wrought on the Gulf and its wetlands.” --Publishers Weekly, listed among Top 10 Science Books for Spring 2011
October 7, 2016
I only review books that I really love and there are so many good things to say! There is such tangible passion and anger in the author's telling of this event. The effects of this event were human, environmental, political and more far-reaching that I realized. People...read this book!
The book begins with a rather interesting preface that I didn't quite appreciate until Part Three. The bulk of the book is information, education, emotion. It is asking "Why" in all the right places. Yes, there was a great deal of corporate negligence. No, there is no way to buffer the loss of life (both human and animal). But the best message is the call to action for change in our energy-future. Part Three takes everything we learned from this event and shines a finer light on it. What can we learn from our mistakes? Did what we thought would happen actually happen? Where should our emotions and passions be directed to make our planet healthier? What has the greatest impact on our oceans and our atmosphere? Will the turtles be ok?
2016 was the year I decided to read all of Jon Krakauer's books (yes, I do love Jon Krakauer). Carl Safina is the Krakauer of our Oceans, our Seabirds, our Earth. And so, 2017 will be the year I read all of Carl's books. I can't wait!
The book begins with a rather interesting preface that I didn't quite appreciate until Part Three. The bulk of the book is information, education, emotion. It is asking "Why" in all the right places. Yes, there was a great deal of corporate negligence. No, there is no way to buffer the loss of life (both human and animal). But the best message is the call to action for change in our energy-future. Part Three takes everything we learned from this event and shines a finer light on it. What can we learn from our mistakes? Did what we thought would happen actually happen? Where should our emotions and passions be directed to make our planet healthier? What has the greatest impact on our oceans and our atmosphere? Will the turtles be ok?
2016 was the year I decided to read all of Jon Krakauer's books (yes, I do love Jon Krakauer). Carl Safina is the Krakauer of our Oceans, our Seabirds, our Earth. And so, 2017 will be the year I read all of Carl's books. I can't wait!
January 5, 2018
The first section of the book tells the story of the hows and whys of the Deepwater Horizon Blowout — untested technology in a unexplored environment, pressure to save money by making decisions quickly, shoddy work by subcontractors, hubris and stupidity.
The second section deals with the efforts to contain the flow of oil into the Gulf and the confusion about what was happening and what might happen. As bad as environmental horror story was, the thing that make my skin crawl was how a foreign corporation was basically allowed to turn the whole Gulf region into a police state.
In the final section, Safina tries to get behind what looked, at the height of the chaos, like some very suspect management decisions. What I came away with as his major argument is that whatever ends up being the final environmental cost of the disaster is, the cost of actually having pumped and used the oil from that well will be more significant in terms of atmospheric pollution and climate change. He makes the case for stripping away the huge government subsidies that prop up the oil and coal industries so that consumers realize that actually costs, and by doing giving renewable energy sources a chance. Unfortunately, he skips over the other obvious strategy: use energy more efficiently.
The second section deals with the efforts to contain the flow of oil into the Gulf and the confusion about what was happening and what might happen. As bad as environmental horror story was, the thing that make my skin crawl was how a foreign corporation was basically allowed to turn the whole Gulf region into a police state.
In the final section, Safina tries to get behind what looked, at the height of the chaos, like some very suspect management decisions. What I came away with as his major argument is that whatever ends up being the final environmental cost of the disaster is, the cost of actually having pumped and used the oil from that well will be more significant in terms of atmospheric pollution and climate change. He makes the case for stripping away the huge government subsidies that prop up the oil and coal industries so that consumers realize that actually costs, and by doing giving renewable energy sources a chance. Unfortunately, he skips over the other obvious strategy: use energy more efficiently.
November 22, 2012
I read Carl Safina's book on leatherbacks, and I was intrigued when this book came out.
I wanted a diagram when reading the first chapter, but the detailed description of the operations of the rig were appreciated, as was the step by step intricacies of what happened. There's a lot of questions in the book about why the BP explosion happened, who was responsible and what was being done to clean it up, among other questions. Safina inserts himself into the book and is blunt many times about the situation, which is surprising, but I think it was necessary as it gave you a sense of what was going on and the depth of the anger and confusion felt by many - and a good reminder of what happened and definitely put you back in the mindset of those living with this disaster on a daily basis. There were a lot of hard questions that were asked in this book, and need to be continued to be asked by the public and lawmakers alike so this doesn't happen again. A very impactful book that I think should be read by anyone who cares about the environment as well as our nation's leaders.
I wanted a diagram when reading the first chapter, but the detailed description of the operations of the rig were appreciated, as was the step by step intricacies of what happened. There's a lot of questions in the book about why the BP explosion happened, who was responsible and what was being done to clean it up, among other questions. Safina inserts himself into the book and is blunt many times about the situation, which is surprising, but I think it was necessary as it gave you a sense of what was going on and the depth of the anger and confusion felt by many - and a good reminder of what happened and definitely put you back in the mindset of those living with this disaster on a daily basis. There were a lot of hard questions that were asked in this book, and need to be continued to be asked by the public and lawmakers alike so this doesn't happen again. A very impactful book that I think should be read by anyone who cares about the environment as well as our nation's leaders.
December 11, 2016
The history of the the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill is covered in this book both by reporting on what led up to the blowout and explosion and the author's personal reactions as he toured the Gulf coast after the disaster. It's a comprehensive look at the effects of the spill on the environment and the people, but I was a bit bothered by the first person viewpoint in the recounting of the aftermath. The author is a respected wildlife biologist, so I did appreciate his impressions of the effect on the animals. I grew up on the Gulf Coast in a town so far east in Texas it was culturally southwest Louisiana, so I was able to relate to much of what Safina has to say about the culture and environment of the place, which was the most heavily affected by the spill. Worth read if you want to learn more about the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
January 17, 2017
I'd give this 3.5 stars. The information about this devastating spill (and how oil spills, drilling, and fossil fuel dependence are inherently devastating to the natural environment) and its long-term and permanent impacts on the Gulf of Mexico, its wildlife and flora, and the people who depend on them, was excellent. Safina's perspective as a world-renowned conservationist is one I respect. I did think he drew conclusions regarding legal authority and why the government did or did not do things a little quickly (which he acknowledges in part 3 a bit, but perhaps this would have been more effective if it had been balanced throughout), and there are passages that are, as others have described, something like "dear diary, so and so is a jerk" that didn't convey much more than Safina's disgust regarding the actions of certain individuals. Nonetheless, given the incoming administration and its celebration of rolling back environmental protections, this book is one to be read.
July 19, 2015
His books are always good. This one is about the BP blowout and while he is always fairly strident about climate change, species extinction, etc., he is downright angry through this.
While I followed it a high level, he provided a lot of detail. I waited a while to read it so that I would have an idea of the long term ramifications.
After spending a week looking for and at whales and dolphins, it is horrific what we are doing to the ocean. They actually burned the oil at sea and he talks about seeing a row of dolphins with their heads out the water staring at it in the distance.
While I followed it a high level, he provided a lot of detail. I waited a while to read it so that I would have an idea of the long term ramifications.
After spending a week looking for and at whales and dolphins, it is horrific what we are doing to the ocean. They actually burned the oil at sea and he talks about seeing a row of dolphins with their heads out the water staring at it in the distance.
December 31, 2015
Strong mixture of investigative journalism and poetic mourning.
Safina's account of the BP DWH catastrophe is at turns cynical, rational, indignant and insightful. None of the principals are spared from BP to the USCG to the EPA to NOAA. It's one thing to have an ecological disaster result from base corporate greed; however, to watch the disaster magnified by government latitudes in prevention and incompetence in response leads you to question our way of life and the institutions invested with our public trust.
Safina's account of the BP DWH catastrophe is at turns cynical, rational, indignant and insightful. None of the principals are spared from BP to the USCG to the EPA to NOAA. It's one thing to have an ecological disaster result from base corporate greed; however, to watch the disaster magnified by government latitudes in prevention and incompetence in response leads you to question our way of life and the institutions invested with our public trust.
July 5, 2011
Solidly reported and pretty comprehensive, if emotional in spots
Recommended if you wish to review the events and first months of the ongoing ecological and human disaster of the Deepwater Horizon blow-out relieved of the fog of the "BP Cares" damage control campaign
Concludes with call for real cost accounting of our apparently unshakable petroleum habit
Recommended if you wish to review the events and first months of the ongoing ecological and human disaster of the Deepwater Horizon blow-out relieved of the fog of the "BP Cares" damage control campaign
Concludes with call for real cost accounting of our apparently unshakable petroleum habit
August 2, 2011
Only made is about 1/2 way through. Interesting, but he swings wildly from objective observer and fact gatherer to rabid environmentalist and conspiracy theorist. This book was obviously pushed out very quickly after the disaster and it reads like it, too. I vastly prefer Carl Safina's other books.
November 28, 2012
My interview with author Carl Safina in The Atlantic: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainm...
Read
August 7, 2015couldn't finish it. needs an editor.
June 28, 2016
Reviewed here: http://www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blo...
April 28, 2017
I read this book after watching the movie about the Deepwater Horizon and realized that I had not heard any of the real facts involving this crisis. I had been in my 2nd year of college when this happened and had foolishly only listened to what others said (someone told me it was a busted pipe that was spewing oil into the Gulf), but when I realized I knew exactly nothing about this I found the most detailed book I could find. This book is so detailed about the ENTIRE event, the moments leading up to the blowout, the crisis and everyone involved, how BP failed to respond with anything resembling a plan, and the cost not only financially to BP and the U.S. but the residents who lived off the coast that lost their jobs (anyone in the fishing industry or tourism was ruined), the effects on marine life, and the ecological ramifications that will affect our lifetimes and the future. While the book is a detailed recording, there is so much information and despair in this book that its difficult not to get angry with a flawed system and just want to become a hermit and refuse to pay taxes or something drastic. Read it if you want to know every detail of how corrupt the oil companies are and how little they care about anything other than money.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews