The Sea Around Us
First published 1950 · English · 237 pages
- Children's
- History and politics
- Science and nature
The Sea Around Us is a portrait of the ocean, from its origins to its present life. Carson describes the formation of the sea, the movement of currents and tides, the creatures of the surface and the dark depths, islands rising from the ocean floor, and the ways people have used and studied the sea.
She turns difficult science into graceful, readable prose, with a strong sense of awe. The book was a great popular success and won major awards, making Carson a well-known writer. It remains a model of how to write about science for general readers.
Quotes
Fishes and plankton, whales and squids, birds and sea turtles, all are linked by unbreakable ties to certain kinds of water—to warm water or cold water, to clear or turbid water, to water rich in phosphates or in silicates.
The sediments are a sort of epic poem of the earth.
It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose, should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist; the threat is rather to life itself.
The truth is that disposal has proceeded far more rapidly than our knowledge justifies. To dispose first and investigate later is an invitation to disaster, for once radioactive elements have been deposited at sea they are irretrievable. The mistakes that are made now are made for all time.