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Book Review: Secret of the Seas – A Journey into the Heart of the Ocean
The Authors
Alex Mustard and Callum Roberts
Review by Nick and Caroline Robertson-Brown
Secrets of the Seas is a visual feast with a strong conservation message as leading underwater photographer, Alex Mustard, teams up with Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation at the University of York, to create this celebration of life beneath the waves. It is a hardback coffee table book, packed full of information and images from regions around the world. As I first unwrapped it, I could not fight off my first instinct, which as to simply look through all the images in the book. They are breath-taking and show off the beauty and extraordinary diversity that awaits us beneath our seas and oceans.
So then, I turn back to the beginning of the book and start to read. Callum Roberts is a scientist with a wonderful turn of phrase. His eloquent, and often poetic, words transport you to the world below, without the need for images. Each chapter is a 1500 essay that, along with his captions for the images, transport you to destinations like the Coral triangle, the North Sea, or in the deep blue with a shark for company. I particularly loved the final chapter on seals and sea lions.
A group of young California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) playing in the sun in the early morning. Santa Barbara Island, Channel Islands. Los Angeles, California, United States of America. North East Pacific Ocean.
However, this is not just a pretty picture book with some information on and descriptions about our oceans. Much as this would have been fine, the book has a higher objective and that is to also make us aware of what we have lost already and what we stand to lose in the future if we continue along the same path. The chapters give the reader a feel for what the oceans were like before destructive human impact of recent years; the damage already done, and offers hope for the future. It offers great insight into the biology of the marine life featured, but also includes oceanography and maritime history.
A spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari) feeds by digging in the sand and seagrass for invertebrates. East End, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, British West Indies. Caribbean Sea
This, in my opinion, is a proper coffee table book. It is a book that you want to have out all the time. One that you will be happy to re-visit and dip into over and over again. Both the images and the text will continue to draw you back in. It is a thing of beauty and quality and the passion for the marine world in both author and photographer is blatantly apparent.
- Secrets of the Seas
- Published by Bloomsbury Natural History
- 22nd September 2016
- Hardback
- £25
Scubaverse readers have the opportunity to get an amazing 25% off ‘Secret of the Seas – A Journey into the Heart of the Ocean’.
Visit bloomsbury.com and enter the code SEA25 at the checkout to receive 25% off Secrets of the Seas and free P&P.
Over the next 12 months, specialist scuba holiday company Dive Worldwide will be supporting Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation with donations collected from client bookings to any one of its stunning dive destinations around the world. The independently-owned operator expects to raise £3000 for the UK charity.
Manager at Dive Worldwide, Phil North, said: “We’re especially excited to work with Bite-Back and support its intelligent, creative and results-driven campaigns to end the UK trade in shark products and prompt a change in attitudes to the ocean’s most maligned inhabitant.”
Bite-Back is running campaigns to hold the media to account on the way it reports shark news along with a brand new nationwide education programme. Last year the charity was credited for spearheading a UK ban on the import and export of shark fins.
Campaign director at Bite-Back, Graham Buckingham, said: “We’re enormously grateful to Dive Worldwide for choosing to support Bite-Back. The company’s commitment to conservation helps set it apart from other tour operators and we’re certain its clients admire and respect that policy. For us, the affiliation is huge and helps us look to the future with confidence we can deliver against key conservation programmes.”
To launch the fundraising initiative, Phil North presented Graham Buckingham with a cheque for £1,000.
Visit Dive Worldwide to discover its diverse range of international scuba adventures and visit Bite-Back to learn more about the charity’s campaigns.
MORE INFORMATION
Call Graham Buckingham on 07810 454 266 or email graham@bite-back.com
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