Synopses & Reviews
Rachel Carson is best known for Silent Spring, one of the most influential books of the twentieth century. But while she was profoundly concerned about the environment as a whole, her deepest passion was for the sea, and many readers consider The Edge of the Sea and her other classics on marine life to be her finest works. In this remarkable book, Carson explores rocky shores, sandy beaches, and coral reefs, leading us into unknown worlds to catch the evanescent beauty of a tide pool and tell the story of a grain of sand. With poetry and science she transforms the seemingly simple animal and plant life in the sea into complex and stunningly beautiful creatures deserving of our compassion, understanding, and finally, protection. This is a book to be read for pleasure at any time and in any place, and it is also valuable as a field guide. Carson's vivid descriptions and the superb, scientifically accurate drawings by Bob Hines enable the reader to identify many plants and animals at a glance.
Review
"Miss Carson's pen is as poetic as ever, and the knowledge she imparts is profound." Christian Science Monitor
Review
"It is a truly extraordinary world which Miss Carson vividly unfolds to us and which is admirably illustrated in Bob Hines's drawings: a world full of marvels as the tiny periwinkle, which has 3,500 teeth, and the sea pansy, which has responded to the struggle for survival by turning itself from an individual into a colony." The Atlantic Monthly
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"Catching the life breath of science on the still glass of poetry." Time
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"A brilliantly written argument that changed the course of history." Al Gore
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"People who get bored by too much lolling on beaches should read it as a guidebook." The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
With all the hallmarks of Rachel Carson's luminous prose combined with a scientifically accurate exploration of the Atlantic seashore comes a hauntingly beautiful account of what one can find at the edge of the sea.
The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place. Focusing on the plants and invertebrates surviving in the Atlantic zones between the lowest and the highest tides, between Newfoundland and the Florida Keys, The Edge of the Sea is a book to be read for pleasure as well as a practical identification guide. Its appendix and index make it a great reference tool for those interested in plant and animal life around tidepools.
A new generation of readers is already discovering why Rachel Carson's books have become cornerstones of the environmental and conservation movements.
With an Introduction by Sue Hubbell.
Synopsis
"The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place." A book to be read for pleasure as well as a practical identification guide, The Edge of the Sea introduces a world of teeming life where the sea meets the land. A new generation of readers is discovering why Rachel Carson's books have become cornerstones of the environmental and conservation movements. New introduction by Sue Hubbell. (A Mariner Reissue)
Synopsis
In her luminous descriptions of intertidal life, Carson shows her remarkable ability to describe the beauties of science and the natural world.
About the Author
Rachel Carson (19071964) spent most of her professional life as a marine biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. By the late 1950s, she had written three lyrical, popular books about the sea, including the best-selling The Sea Around Us, and had become the Bee Plumber 76: most respected science writer in America. She completed Silent Spring against formidable personal odds, and with it shaped a powerful social movement that has altered the course of history.