Book Readings!

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For my Marine Resources class (GEOG 646) at SF State this semester we are required to read two books related to the oceans in some way, whether it be about physical processes, ecology, endangered species, and so on. I chose The Sea Around Us, by Rachel Carson (1951), and The Tide: The Science and Stories Behind the Greatest Force on Earth, by Hugh Aldersey-Williams (2016):

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The Sea Around Us is an educational book that describes the world's oceans, as well as the various natural phenomena and organisms that exist within them. I chose this Rachel Carson book partly because it was recommended by our professor, Dr. Ellen Hines, but also because I've never read any of Carson’s work and I feel that I really should have by now! (She wrote the landmark environmental science book Silent Spring, in case you don’t know who she is.) I've always heard that Carson was an eloquent science communicator and that's exactly why I love Carl Sagan, so I'm looking forward to reading her work.

The second book, The Tide, features multiple stories from around the world about the tides and the history and folklore surrounding them. I picked up this book because while I feel that I understand how tides work on an abstract level, I don't have the tides "in my blood" the way some people seem to do. I currently work in a lab where more than one person just seems to know off the top of their head when a low tide is going to occur on a certain day, or at what time of day during a certain season the tides will be best for certain activities. I realize this knowledge isn't an innate gift and that it was probably built up over months and even years of field research, but nevertheless it still seems magical and it represents a mindset that is deeply connected to the rhythms of the moon and the sea. That's a mindset I'd like to cultivate for myself: I'd like to be at that same level of understanding some day.

Anyway, as you can probably tell, I'm ready to get started on these books! I used to be a voracious reader but I haven't read a book that wasn't a textbook in ages, so I'm looking forward to this. My boyfriend is the only person I know who still reads actual, physical, non-textbook books on a regular basis, and I'm excited to be joining that club again.

Expect a blog post on these two books once a week. I will be reading and blogging about both books concurrently because I want to compare science writing from decades ago (Carson) to modern science writing (Aldersey-Williams).

References:

  • Aldersey-Williams, H. (2016). The tide: The science and stories behind the greatest force on Earth. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
  • Carson, R. L. (1951). The sea around us (1989 ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc.