Rachel Carson | July 1951

Here is the strange story of the seas – how they were born, how life emerged from them, and the marine world within them. Rachel Carson’s writing teems with images – the newly-formed Earth cooling beneath an endlessly overcast sky; volcanic action throwing up huge masses on the ocean floor to create immense mountains and desolate canyons; giant squid battling sperm whales hundreds of fathoms below the surface.

A new chapter by Jeffrey Levinton brings the science of “The Sea Around Us” up to date. Levinton incorporates the most recent thinking on continental drift, coral reefs, the spread of the ocean floor, the deterioration of the oceans, the mass extinction of sea life, and many other topics. First published in 1951, this work won the 1952 National Book Award.

“Published in 1951, The Sea Around Us is one of the most remarkably successful books ever written about the natural world. Rachel Carson’s rare ability to combine scientific insight with moving, poetic prose catapulted her book… It inspired an Academy Award-winning documentary and won the 1952 National Book Award and the John Burroughs Medal. This classic work remains as fresh today as when it first appeared.”

Today, with the oceans endangered by the dumping of medical waste and ecological disasters such as the Exxon oil spill in Alaska, this illuminating volume provides a timely reminder of both the fragility and the importance of the ocean and the life that abounds within it. Anyone who loves the sea, or who is concerned about our natural environment, will want to read this classic work.

Bibliography

Carlson, R. (1951) The Sea Around Us. Oxford: Oxford University Press