THE GREAT OCEAN BUSINESS

How to make the ocean dry. Horsfield and Stone, pushing oceanography as the ""new big science,"" offer a scholarly and frequently quite technical review of the current state of research and development into the deep, emphasizing the evolution of sea floor exploration, both theoretical (Hess' ""spreading"" theory; the later ""plate"" theory) and technological (deep mining and drilling systems and equipment; submarines and more innovative underwater capsules). The essential message is that the ocean is a virgin natural resource which should be exploited as quickly as possible -- after all, there's ""money at the bottom of the sea."" They speak enthusiastically of ""colonizing"" the ocean environment, plans which include ""a full array of underwater equivalents to bulldozers, jeeps, cranes, mechanical shovels and pipe layers."" Naturally ""big defence installations, underwater outposts to keep an eye on the deep ocean no-man's-land"" will also be required. Did we say dry? Although principally a text or supplementary reading for oceanography students, parts will interest engineers, DOD functionaries, industrialists, investors, and outrage conservationists.