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48th out of 349 books
—
382 voters
The Sea Around Us
Published in 1951, The Sea Around Us is one of the most remarkably successful books ever written about the natural world. Rachel Carson's rare ability to combine scientific insight with moving, poetic prose catapulted her book to first place on The New York Times best-seller list, where it enjoyed wide attention for thirty-one consecutive weeks. It remained on the list for...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
December 12th 1991
by Oxford University Press, USA
(first published 1951)
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I read the 1963 edition, the ninth printing of this, Rachel Carson's 1951 winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction. (Note: This date is taken from text on the book's jacket. However, Wikipedia says the award was in 1952.) This '63 edition included an Appendix of 16 notes (in 11 pages) by Carson that updated the mid-century science of the original with several relevant discoveries in the 12 years subsequent to first publication. Rachel Carson is in most circles more famous for "Silent Spr...more
The Sea Around Us
Rachel L Carson
Into the Deep!
While there were many fine nature books published in the years prior to 1951, The Sea Around Us is the one that reset the bar for all that followed. Eminent marine biologist Rachel L Carson wrote this as part of a "Sea Trilogy" that began with Under The Sea Wind and ended with The Edge Of The Sea. All three were well written efforts that took readers to places few had ever even thought of. Winner of the National Book Award-Nonfiction and the Burrough...more
Rachel L Carson
Into the Deep!
While there were many fine nature books published in the years prior to 1951, The Sea Around Us is the one that reset the bar for all that followed. Eminent marine biologist Rachel L Carson wrote this as part of a "Sea Trilogy" that began with Under The Sea Wind and ended with The Edge Of The Sea. All three were well written efforts that took readers to places few had ever even thought of. Winner of the National Book Award-Nonfiction and the Burrough...more
Jan 09, 2012
Judy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
every darn human being
Shelves:
books-from-1951,
non-fiction
Without reservation I can say this is one of the most amazing reading experiences I have ever had. I rarely read non-fiction in book form. When I do, I read memoirs, biographies (usually of writers and artists), and occasionally history, but never science. I decided to read The Sea Around Us because it was a non-fiction bestseller in 1951, a year that falls within my Big Fat Reading Project, but also because Rachel Carson is one of my heroines.
She is an eloquent and inspiring science writer. She...more
Carson's National Book Award winner predates "Silent Spring" by a decade or so. It's not, however, an alarm-sounding book, but rather a widescreen look at the forces that shaped the oceans as we know them, from geological cataclyms billions of years ago to the erosion of today. It's quite beautiful and cogent, though it lacks any sustained narrative and certainly the urgency of "Silent Spring." I found especially interesting her discussion of subsurface currents and how they affect weather -- so...more
This is an older book so, to be expected, some of the science is outdated. For example, though she doesn't say so explicitly, she seems to think that the Pacific islands were populated from South America (ala Kon-Tiki) although it has been pretty well established that they were populated from West to East. However, the writing is lyrical and there are some things to learn about the oceans which are unchangeable.
On an alarming note, she writes about the vast Pacific Ocean garbage dump which, if i...more
On an alarming note, she writes about the vast Pacific Ocean garbage dump which, if i...more
Lacks the frightening overtones of Silent Spring.
This classic is great! Very informative, but the scientific language is engaging and readable. I learned a lot from this book. Though it was written in the 1950's and some of the theories have since been changed erased, for the most part it is accurate.
Loved the first chapter in particular where she talks about one of the theories of the moon's creation, torn from the top layer of the Earth's crust from what is now the Pacific ocean, pulled by tidal waves of force into space - as the moon.
Even...more
Loved the first chapter in particular where she talks about one of the theories of the moon's creation, torn from the top layer of the Earth's crust from what is now the Pacific ocean, pulled by tidal waves of force into space - as the moon.
Even...more
This book launched Rachel Carson’s career as a popular science literature writer. If you have never read any of her ocean books, start with this one. Her writing is unique in that she describes science facts almost poetically, weaving story after story of the wonder and mystery of the oceans. She involves the reader by asking questions and then exploring possible answers, all the while revealing new facts to the reader. Delving into marine biology, ecology (a term that she originally coined, alo...more
Great!
Rachel Carson has a way of making science sound like poetry. I hope someday I have a tenth of her talent in conveying how beautiful and exciting science and nature are to me. She is so passionate that it rubs off on the reader. All I wanted to do while reading this was to be by the beach. I miss it so much and hearing her write about the oceans like they are her lover was wonderful. Despite all the marvelous advances in research that have happened since the publication of Carson's original...more
Rachel Carson has a way of making science sound like poetry. I hope someday I have a tenth of her talent in conveying how beautiful and exciting science and nature are to me. She is so passionate that it rubs off on the reader. All I wanted to do while reading this was to be by the beach. I miss it so much and hearing her write about the oceans like they are her lover was wonderful. Despite all the marvelous advances in research that have happened since the publication of Carson's original...more
A kindred spirit who also grew up in Pittsburgh and managed to escape to live her dream of being by the sea. Her natural history opus that brought the mysteries of the ocean to millions of non-scientists. Fun to read a science journal cira-1950 and hear Carson mention a new "theory" of plate tectonics.
[on phosphorescent displays] "But usually the blaze and glitter of the sea, whatever its meaning for those who produce it, implies no menace to man. Seen from the deck of a vessel in open ocean, a tiny, man-made observation point in the vast world of sea and sky, it has an eerie and unearthly quality. Man, in his vanity, subconsciously attributes a human origin to any light not of moon or stars or sun. Lights on the shore, lights moving over the water, mean lights kindled and controlled by othe...more
The Sea around us explores ocean currents, the history of humans traveling on the sea, tides (my favorite section) and waves, the creation of the ocean and our atmosphere and things of that nature. I did get a few new interesting facts out of it, but a lot of this I already knew. I liked that it looked at the ocean from an interdisciplinary perspective. Also, the updates in this book are incredibly helpful, providing more current information than was available to Rachael Carson when she wrote th...more
Rachel Carson exposed me to the ability to combine your love of nature and writing. She connects science to poetry and takes you on a journey you've never been on. Her love and knowledge engross you in the mystical world of the sea.
My friend lent me this book and said I should read the first chapter. Carson turns the beginnings of the Earth into poetry. Reading this reminded me of how little I think about science anymore, partly because it can be so dry and technical, and the interesting ideas get bogged down by vocabulary. But that's not the case at all in this book. It's good to remember how many changes the Earth has gone through and how long it has been existing--so far one of my favorite theories in the book is that w...more
For anyone interested in the ocean or natural history in general, Rachel Carson's The Sea Around Us is elegant, beautiful and still relevant 50 years later. It is a good way to begin a conversation about the sea.
Carson gives a panoramic geological history and of the sea and the land in and near it as well as what we have learned about it since WWII. Not my favorite of her books, but well worth the read.
I first read this book in high school. Rachel Carson's description of the formation of the seas millenia ago particularly awed me - lyrical writing by an environmentalist ahead of her time.
I understand that the edition of Carson's 'The Sea Around Us' for young readers was edited from the original. However, I am unaware of the extent of the changes. That said, the book maintains the strong sense of wonder about the ocean that I expected based on others' reviews of the original. The ideas expressed in this book are extremely relevant today and must have been progressive at the time of publishing. This particular edition looks a lot like a high school text book and I couldn't help re...more
A classic, a 'best-seller' even, among books on nature. I like this book for the voice of quiet assurance with which Carson writes to introduce us to the many dimensions of the sea: its science, its wonder, its mysteries, and its poetry.
Oct 19, 2008
Michaela
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who like scientific non-fiction that reads like prose
Shelves:
nonfiction
A heavy read - I couldn't get all the way through it until I was out of high school and had matured a bit as a reader. But it is written with passion and interest, and not dull by any means. A comprehensive look at, broadly, the Sea. It is filled with interesting information. As a side note, Rachel Carson was one of the first people to bring environmentalism to the public's attention, especially with her book Silent Spring, which I have not read, but would like to after reading this. She made pe...more
This is the first book I read cover to cover without stopping, a life changing book for me in college 50 years ago.
Feb 17, 2013
Mark Ray
added it
Opened my eyes to the marvels of oceanography and the importance of oceans to the balance of the earth.
I did not enjoy this book. It was to dry. Nothing compared to her other book silent spring.
Sep 05, 2011
Deb Martin
added it
Loved the 2003 illustrated commemorative edition ISBN# 0195147014. Beautiful.
One of the early works I read that directed my life into research.
i'm sure a classic for biologists, a little technical for me
Fabulous overview of life and it's cycles in the sea,
Nov 12, 2012
Granuaille
marked it as to-read
Suggested by R Kunzig - mapping the deep
If ever there was a book that can get you enthralled about primordial life and how inter-connected we are to nature--in particular, the ocean--this is it. A non-fiction masterpiece that reads like a science fiction thriller sprinkled with exquisite prose, Rachel's Carson's 1950 classic had me reading the chapter about the Sargasso sea over and over. I kept imagining the plants feasting on the salty calm of the Sargasso's brown weeds, achieving immortality; some possibly living for centuries and...more
Loved it!
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Rachel Carson, writer, scientist, and ecologist, grew up simply in the rural river town of Springdale, Pennsylvania. Her mother bequeathed to her a life-long love of nature and the living world that Rachel expressed first as a writer and later as a student of marine biology. Carson graduated from Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham University) in 1929, studied at the Woods Hole Marine Biol...more
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