Washed Up: The Curious Journeys of Flotsam and Jetsam (2006)

If you've never read a book about garbage, this would be as good a place as any to start. The author traces the trash on our beaches - the flotsam and jetsam that wash up - and does it in with a lively style and a good sense of humor. ( )

This is a very informative, enjoyable book. This short volume covers the full range of things that the sea gives up to the land. Exploring everything from seaweed to missives in bottles this is a wonderful book on a little known subject, little known to most of us landlubbers at least. Ms. Moody is a long time lover of the sea and the descendent of seafarers who writes with an easy chatty style.

The volume is very loosely tied together by her search for the identity of a mysterious item that she failed to pick up on a beachcombing expedition. This recurring theme proves to be, in my eyes at least, to give the only weakness in the book. There is a recurring dialog with a psychiatrist throughout the book that I found confusing. I was unable to decide if this was an actual problem the author had or a reflection on society’s viewpoint toward people with non mainstream hobbies.

However, this was a very enjoyable book that I would recommend to anyone. My one tiny quibble may well reflect my weakness as a reader as opposed to any fault Ms Moody has as an author. ( )