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| Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World's Coasts and Beneath the Seas | 
| Author: Carl Safina
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $18.00
Buy New: $1.98
You Save: $16.02 (89%)
New (30) Collectible (2) from $1.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 50619
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st Owl Books Ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0805061223
Dewey Decimal Number: 333.95616
EAN: 9780805061222
ASIN: 0805061223
Publication Date: June 15, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Ships immediately! Perfect and New! Has a publisher remainder mark. 1st Owl Books Ed. 1999 Paperback.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
The oceans of the world rank foremost among humankind's last great frontiers, and their climatological and ecological workings remain mysterious to all but specialists. In this lively, well-written survey, marine scientist Carl Safina encourages readers to take a wider interest in the oceans, especially because so much of that great blue expanse is now threatened by human progress. Safina notes, for example, that the North Atlantic's tuna population has fallen by more than 90 percent in just the last few decades. It has gone the way of cod and herring and pilot whales thanks to a combination of changing global temperatures, overfishing, pollution, inland watershed and delta destruction, and other causes--many of them attributable to human activities. Even now, he notes, many Pacific fishing fleets use cyanide to catch fish, a process that destroys sensitive marine ecosystems. Safina's tour of the world's waters may inspire readers to press for changes in the way that fish is brought to their tables, and to take a more careful look at the natural processes that govern this watery planet.
Product Description
Part odyssey, part pilgrimage, this epic personal narrative follows the author's exploration of coasts, islands, reefs, and the sea's abyssal depths. Scientist and fisherman Carl Safina takes readers on a global journey of discovery, probing for truth about the world's changing seas, deftly weaving adventure, science, and political analysis.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
Faulous book - a must read January 18, 2008
Carl is a wonderful writer and brilliant scientist, this book covers a wide range of issues while keeping it lively and hopeful.
First Impression December 21, 2007
I bought this book for my daughter who will go to graduate school to study marine science next year. I have not read the book but based on other reviews I think this must be an excellent book especially my daughter is very much concerned about preserving nature. Anyway, I was a litle bit disappointed when I received the book. I ordered soft copy and the print was so small that I don't know whether it will turn off my daughter's interest since she is very nearshighted. I don't mind if the book is thicker or bigger.
What if we don't? November 27, 2007
Part exploration, part eloquent plea for action, this is the report of a scientist's journey toward understanding the plight of our seas. Safina travelled with tuna fishermen and coral research teams, salmon boats and conservationists fighting for the Columbia Gorge. Their stories are here, in their words, set against a backdrop painted by a Yale professor with the soul of a poet. The litany is one of collapsing fisheries and dying reefs, huge nets that are scraping the sea floor into a featureless, lifeless plain, unbridled greed, and people whose heritage as sailors and fishermen is disappearing in a generation. Here also is the graceful breach of a humpback whale, the slow lazy lolling of an ocean sunfish, and the bullet quick movement of bluefin tuna under Atlantic sunrises and Pacific sunsets. An altogether beautiful book about the slow death of the sea. Safina believes we can protect the bounty and diversity he so eloquently describes. The question he poses is, "Will we choose to?" and suggests that one way to help answer that is to ask another. "What if we don't?"
Absolute poetry August 5, 2004
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I'm only about halfway through this book, but it's so moving that I decided I needed to rave now. Carl Safina uses an amazing grasp of language to paint mental pictures of what he writes about. I work in the scientific community and have spent a lot of time on that water, and his writings are not only objective and scientifically sound, he constructs them in such a way that they are beautiful. You will have a thirst for each topic and region of which he writes. I borrowed this book from the library and had vowed to buy it before I'd finished the first chapter. It has only improved as I've proceeded.
Beauty beyond compare April 29, 2004
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is one of the most beautiful, powerful books I have ever read. Safina's journey encompasses the entire world and all points of view. His words have inspired me to pursue my dreams and opened up new worlds of knowledge. Now, every time I hear of politicians doing something stupid to the oceans or rivers, I just shake my head and say "'Song' should be required reading for them before they can draft a piece of legislation dealing with the oceans."
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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