The Sea Around Us and Under the Sea-Wind introduced Rachel Carson to a reading public eager to welcome a scientist who wrote like a poet. This poetic quality is again dominant in this interpretation of the nature of the shore and the life in which it abounds. All of us brought up near the coast have something of the beach comber in us. Here is a book that will make that beach combing meaningful. The life of the creatures that inhabited the shells we find, the kinds of living creatures that can be sought and found on rugged, rocky shores, on sand beaches, on coral reefs — these are made integral parts of the basic theme of the sea and its forces, its tides and currents. Miss Carson begins with her own Maine seacoast, and with her we explore the surf zone- where barnacles, limpets, periwinkles manage to survive. She identifies for us the zones of life, synchronized with the tides, the animal and vegetable world these rocky shores support. She makes the tide pools seas in miniature... Next on the rim of sand beaches she explores the holes and tracks of sand beach fauna, the burrowers, and the clams and whelks that come out at low tide, the flotsam of the upper beaches. Farther south- geologic history is written in the reefs off the Carolina coast, and the sponges, starfish, the barnacles and shipworm tunnels of the spars and driftwood tell their story. Ocean currents and the variety of mollusks they bring up, from the northeast down to the Florida Keys, chart the geographic areas and limitations. In the Keys one encounters the coral coast — with a new sea world of vast variety. And in this area, too, the mangrove swamps and shore lines, the sea grasses, play host to other mollusks, to camouflaged sea creatures, to fresh evidence of the balance in the life at "the edge of the sea". The Appendix and the Index contribute important data on classification and nomenclature. But for the average layman, the fascination of the book lies not in its scientific value as a hand book, but in the exquisite form in which it is cast. Once again a poet speaks.
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0395924960
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1955
An authoritative, engaging study of plant life, accessible to younger readers as well as adults.
A neurobiologist reveals the interconnectedness of the natural world through stories of plant migration.
In this slim but well-packed book, Mancuso (Plant Science/Univ. of Florence; The Revolutionary Genius of Plants: A New Understanding of Plant Intelligence and Behavior, 2018, etc.) presents an illuminating and surprisingly lively study of plant life. He smoothly balances expansive historical exploration with recent scientific research through stories of how various plant species are capable of migrating to locations throughout the world by means of air, water, and even via animals. They often continue to thrive in spite of dire obstacles and environments. One example is the response of plants following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Three decades later, the abandoned “Exclusion Zone” is now entirely covered by an enormous assortment of thriving plants. Mancuso also tracks the journeys of several species that might be regarded as invasive. “Why…do we insist on labeling as ‘invasive’ all those plants that, with great success, have managed to occupy new territories?” asks the author. “On a closer look, the invasive plants of today are the native flora of the future, just as the invasive species of the past are a fundamental part of our ecosystem today.” Throughout, Mancuso persuasively articulates why an understanding and appreciation of how nature is interconnected is vital to the future of our planet. “In nature everything is connected,” he writes. “This simple law that humans don’t seem to understand has a corollary: the extinction of a species, besides being a calamity in and of itself, has unforeseeable consequences for the system to which the species belongs.” The book is not without flaws. The loosely imagined watercolor renderings are vague and fail to effectively complement Mancuso’s richly descriptive prose or satisfy readers’ curiosity. Even without actual photos and maps, it would have been beneficial to readers to include more finely detailed plant and map renderings.
An authoritative, engaging study of plant life, accessible to younger readers as well as adults.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-63542-991-6
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Other Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A tiny book, not much bigger than a pamphlet, with huge potential impact.
A collection of articulate, forceful speeches made from September 2018 to September 2019 by the Swedish climate activist who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaking in such venues as the European and British Parliaments, the French National Assembly, the Austrian World Summit, and the U.N. General Assembly, Thunberg has always been refreshingly—and necessarily—blunt in her demands for action from world leaders who refuse to address climate change. With clarity and unbridled passion, she presents her message that climate change is an emergency that must be addressed immediately, and she fills her speeches with punchy sound bites delivered in her characteristic pull-no-punches style: “I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.” In speech after speech, to persuade her listeners, she cites uncomfortable, even alarming statistics about global temperature rise and carbon dioxide emissions. Although this inevitably makes the text rather repetitive, the repetition itself has an impact, driving home her point so that no one can fail to understand its importance. Thunberg varies her style for different audiences. Sometimes it is the rousing “our house is on fire” approach; other times she speaks more quietly about herself and her hopes and her dreams. When addressing the U.S. Congress, she knowingly calls to mind the words and deeds of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. The last speech in the book ends on a note that is both challenging and upbeat: “We are the change and change is coming.” The edition published in Britain earlier this year contained 11 speeches; this updated edition has 16, all worth reading.
A tiny book, not much bigger than a pamphlet, with huge potential impact.Pub Date: Nov. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-14-313356-8
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
