The World's Beaches: A Global Guide to the Science of the Shoreline

by Orrin H. Pilkey, William J. Neal, James Andrew Graham Cooper

Take this book to the beach; it will open up a whole new world. Illustrated throughout with color photographs, maps, and graphics, it explores one of the planet’s most dynamic environments―from tourist beaches to Arctic beaches strewn with ice chunks to steaming hot tropical shores. The World’s Beaches tells how beaches work, explains why they vary so much, and shows how dramatic changes can occur on them in a matter of hours. It discusses tides, waves, and wind; the patterns of dunes, washover fans, and wrack lines; and the shape of berms, bars, shell lags, cusps, ripples, and blisters. What is the world’s longest beach? Why do some beaches sing when you walk on them? Why do some have dark rings on their surface and tiny holes scattered far and wide? This fascinating, comprehensive guide also considers the future of beaches, and explains how extensively people have affected them―from coastal engineering to pollution, oil spills, and rising sea levels.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Science

302 pages, Paperback

First published February 19, 2011

About the author

Orrin Hendren Pilkey Jr. was an American marine geologist who was Professor Emeritus of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Nicholas School of the Environment, at Duke University, and founder and director emeritus of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines (PSDS) based at Western Carolina University.

Reviews

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you live near a beach or like beaches, please read this book.

This book really helped give me a much deeper appreciation for this heavily exploited border between land and sea. Not every chapter may fascinate you, but there is a lot in this short book that really reminded that most of us know so little about the how, why and what of beaches.

[Patrick Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This could be the model for scientific information given in a fascinating way. A great book. Highly recommended.