The Sea Around Us

“Eventually man, too, found his way back to the sea. Standing on its shore, he must have looked out upon it with wonder and curiosity, compounded with an unconscious recognition of his lineage. He could not physically re-enter the ocean as the seals and whales had done. But over the centuries, with all the skill and ingenuity and reasoning powers of his mind, he has sought to explore and investigate even its most remote parts, so that he might re-enter it mentally and imaginatively.”

While some of the information is dated, the timeless nature of the prose drew me in from the first page. Rachel Carson was a gifted writer, whose subject of interest was the oceans and seas and our symbiotic relationship with it. She fully explores it show more in this jewel of a book. show less

Summary: A survey of what is known about the oceans-- including their beginnings, the dynamics of currents, tides and waves, the topography of the oceans, the life within, and our own relationship with this dominant feature of our planet.

Rachel Carson is probably best known for her book Silent Spring (reviewed here) on the environmental impacts of pesticides, notably DDT, that led to its eventual banning. However, it was The Sea Around Us, published eleven years earlier that brought Carson to national attention as a science writer. It sold over a million copies, won a National Book Award and was a New York Times bestseller.

Oceans cover 71 percent of the earth's surface and account for 97 percent of the water on the planet. At points, show more oceans covered much of North America between the Appalachians and the Rockies and have left their traces to this day. Carson tells the story of oceans, mixing the latest scientific data available to her with a lyrical account of this most salient feature of our planet. Consider this passage about sedimentation:

"When I think of the floor of the deep sea, the single, overwhelming fact that possesses my imagination is the accumulation of sediments. I see the steady, unremitting, downward drift of materials from above, flake upon flake, layer upon layer--a drift that has continued for hundreds of millions of years, that will go on as long as there are seas and continents.

"For the sediments are the materials of the most stupendous 'snowfall' the earth has ever seen. It began when the first rains fell on the barren rocks and set in motion the forces of erosion. It was accelerated when living creatures developed in the surface waters and the discarded little shells of lime or silica that had encased them in life began to drift downward to the bottom. Silently, endlessly, with the deliberation of earth processes that can afford to be slow because they have so much time for completion, the accumulation of the sediments has proceeded. So little in a year, or in a human lifetime, but so enormous an amount in the life of earth and sea."

With her writing, what sounds like a dull subject, sedimentation, takes on wonder as it is likened to an unremitting snowfall. It is a skill we see over and over in her work as she takes facts and explains them in a way that captures the imagination.

The Sea Around Us introduces us to oceanography from its account of the beginnings of the oceans on a cooling planet to the inhabitants of the seas on the ocean surface and in the dark depths (I found her discussion of squid, and their ubiquity especially fascinating). She explores the seasonal cycles of life, the topography of the ocean floor, the formation of volcanic islands (and their disappearances), and the evidence of historic rises and falls of the oceans, which in the past, and likely in the future, will inundate much of North America, as well as other coastal and low areas around the world. Even when she wrote, oceans were rising and glacial melts were in process, but in her time this was still seen as merely a cyclical occurrence, unrelated to human causes. Whatever you think about these things, one thing she makes clear--significant areas where humans make a home will be under water some day. The only questions are "how soon?" and "how will we prepare for that day?"

She explores the movements of the oceans, from wave actions to tidal patterns to the vast sea currents that circulate around the globe. The final part of her work considers the impacts of the oceans on our lives, from providing us life-giving salt to functioning as the earth's thermostat (she emphasizes the incredible heat storage capacities of the ocean and how significant a one degree rise in ocean temperature can be), and finally our human quest to sail, circumnavigate, and explore the depths of the sea.

Those who associate Carson with environmental activism will be surprised at the lack of advocacy in this book. What one encounters instead is description that captures the imagination and awakens us to the wonder that surrounds us. And perhaps this is as vital as any advocacy, because we must first love and deeply care for that for which we advocate. Carson opens our eyes to the wonder of what we might sometimes take for granted and deepens the love many of us have for the sight and sound of waves, the smell of sea air, the delight we take in the creatures of the deep and the awe we have of the power of "the sea around us." show less

Ok Rachel is crazy I love her idk anyone else who does such a good job of science writing but rly good prose at the same time getchu an activist who can do both
Anyway some of the book was weird cuz it was written before certain things were known, namely climate change and plate tectonics, so that was pretty interesting. Once u realize she's not gonna talk abt these things the gaps are painfully obvious and it kinda feels like she's like "OBVIOUSLY somethings up with this but we don't know what it is"
So as a historical thing it's got value too. Also it's just rly kinda soothing to read

24. The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
reader: Kaiulani Lee
OPD: 1951
format: 9:09 audible audiobook (the original edition is 230 pages)
acquired: from Audible included listened: Mar 14 – Apr 8
rating: 5
genre/style: Nature theme: Random audio
locations: the oceans
about the author: 1907 –1964, born on a family farm near Springdale, Pennsylvania. Carson was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose influential book Silent Spring (1962) and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.

A time-capsule gem. A 1951 overview of what was known about the oceans - the sea life, the tides, bathymetry, geology (before plate tectonics!), ocean currents, weather, sediments and salt and oil show more exploration, and human history. She looks into warming oceans, rising sea levels and how all this effects the weather (all without any knowledge of CO2-driven climate change). It's biology, geology, climate, all wrapped together with the knowledge of that time. And it's elegantly written. Terrific.

I was mixed on her first book, [Under the Sea Wind], despite its poetic writing (and exceptional reader). I was much more fully taken in this time.

2023
https://www.librarything.com/topic/348551#8115255 show less

I was born on an island and have lived my whole life by the sea. I love the waves, and the many moods of the ocean. I love the mystery of it, even while the deep sea frightens me. It is so deep, dark and unknown. I find sea creatures both alluring and terrifying--an alien life-form. I'm ashamed at how little I really know about the sea. I didn't want to read a textbook, but I also didn't want just a superficial meditation on how interesting the ocean was. Rachel Carson's book, "The Sea Around Us," is fascinating and the perfect fit for me. I'm sure there are many more contemporary books on this subject (this book was published in the '50s), but her name drew me to this book. After all, her "Silent Spring" (a book I have not yet read), show more has linked her name with environmentalism forever. Her writing style is both precise and enchanting. She tells a story that fascinates with wonder and astounds us with her knowledge. I recommend this book for its topic, for the amazing amount of information it contains in only 200 or so pages, and for Carson's gift of bringing science and passion together in her writing. show less

Carson is so lyrical in her writing. Beauty on the page. When reading The Sea Around Us I could practically smell the salt air, feel the sea rise and fall under my feet. Her words lulled me like the ocean always does. In addition, Carson writes in such a straight forward manner you are never caught up in textbook language. You are never bored. Entertained as you learn. She is not above calling something she doesn't understand just plain "weird." The one drawback? Some of the material is out of date. When Carson describes the diving helmets of the 1950s I wondered what she would think of today's technology. Another mystery of her time was how whales and fur seals could endure the pressure changes in the depths of the ocean. Science has show more since uncovered that mystery and thensome. show less

Rachel Carson's short but detail-packed 1951 book covers many different aspects of human knowledge about the world's oceans, from their history and geography and life, to their tides and currents, to commercial prospects for extracting minerals from seawater.

I can't exactly recommend it as a source of good information for modern readers, just because it is, of course, very dated. Actually, the version I have is a revised edition published in 1961, featuring a preface and a number of footnotes offering updated information, and it is truly astonishing to me just how much scientific discovery on the subject there was in those ten years, no doubt due in large part to the International Geophysical Year that fell during that interval. There show more has, of course, also been a great deal since, not that our knowledge of the oceans is anywhere near exhaustive still. It is also strangely fascinating to contemplate the things that the book acknowledges but doesn't realize the importance of, like the already-rising sea levels.

Dated or not, though, I certainly did find it worth reading, not just as an interesting snapshot of mid-20th-century science, but also as the classic example of science writing that it is, and especially for the way that Carson balances scientific precision with some very evocative prose. show less