Classic sea tale
First published more than fifty years ago, Rachel Carson’s 1951 best-seller, The Sea around Us, recently reappeared in a handsomely-illustrated commemorative edition by Oxford University Press, 2003.
With an Introduction by oceanographer/explorer Robert Ballard, an Afterward by geologist Brian J. Skinner, and an eloquent Preface by Carl Safina of the Blue Ocean Institute, the new edition contextualizes Carson’s classic work, and brings it up-to-date. Rarely are such informative books so delightful to read. Before Carson became a marine biologist, she studied English literature. Her biographer, Linda Lear, has described Carson’s method of reading aloud her works-in-progress, to assess the flow and euphony of her prose!
Branner Library owns both the 2003 edition, and a 1991 paperback edition with an introduction by the naturalist and artist/writer Ann Zwinger.