Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; 1st Owl Books Ed edition (June 15, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0805061223
ISBN-13: 978-0805061222
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #102,583 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #70 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Ecosystems #86 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Animals > Wildlife #131 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Oceans & Seas
I cannot, absolutely cannot, stress of how much import this book is. Safina writes of politics, poverty, economics, history, technical minutiae, and biological science with the flair of a poet - combined with passages that will make you weep for their ability to communicate the visceral experience of what it's like beneath the water. It's not just a book about marine biology - it's an extended essay on the forces that have shaped civilization at the end of the millennium and its relation to the world at large. The hardest thing is to get across how compulsively readable it is - digressions into issues involving privitization of land and the beuracratical nightmare of listing a species as endangered are communicated so lucidly, cleverly, and with such humanity that the book never devloves into that category called boring that would cause most people to skip it. Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, I wish everyone in that region would read Safina's exhaustive overview of the destruction of the salmon fisheries. Only now, later in life, do I have a clear picture of what those headlines I saw as a kid even meant.And somewhere within all this, you discover that not only is Safina an objective scientist, an environmentalist who cares for the well being of other humans and is actually concerned for the plight of those who make their living off the seas; he is also a gifted writer.I kid you not. This is a book about marine science. It made me bawl like a baby. It is, despite it's complex issues, so innately human. And that's what makes it essential. Safina is no tree hugging environmentalist - he appraises it with a keen eye for its beauty and its terror but is also a firece guardian - of the system which allows us to live with it.
Is it a novel, a journey through the seas, or a scientific work describing the demise of fishes around the world while offering policy suggestions? It doesn't matter what kind of book it is- it may be all in one. What matters is that Carl Safina has written a book, Song for the Blue Ocean, which tells the story of living oceans; a book that catches your attention through adventure and interesting characters, witty writing, strong emotion, and terse opinions strewn amongst simple science.In the preface, Safina mentions that he will be our guide and interpreter, but ultimately we have to make our own decisions regarding what the oceans and their inhabitants really mean to us. Nonetheless, I feel quite comfortable following Safina's lead. After receiving his doctorate in ecology and starting a career as an academic, Safina decided that he needed to take a stronger stand on conservation and scientific policy regarding the world's imperiled fish. He founded and now directs the National Audubon Society's Living Oceans Program, and wrote Song for the Blue Ocean merely 10 years after graduate school. Safina has a unique and open perspective on the state of the world's fishes, once as a commercial and sport fisherman, and now as a world-renowned scientist. Personally, I feel quite comfortable allowing Safina's guide and interpretations to influence my own opinions.Song for the Blue Ocean is split into three distinct sections: the Northeast, the Northwest, and the Far Pacific. In addition, each section focuses on an imperiled species, namely the Giant Bluefin Tuna, pacific Salmon, and coral reefs; nonetheless, Safina is able to depict the bigger picture of the world's fisheries and common problems with these three examples.
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