Tides
The Science and Spirit of the Ocean
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- $36.99
Publisher Description
In Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean, writer, sailor, and surfer Jonathan White takes readers across the globe to discover the science and spirit of ocean tides.
In the Arctic, White shimmies under the ice with an Inuit elder to hunt for mussels in the dark cavities left behind at low tide; in China, he races the Silver Dragon, a twenty-five-foot tidal bore that crashes eighty miles up the Qiantang River; in France, he interviews the monks that live in the tide-wrapped monastery of Mont Saint-Michel; in Chile and Scotland, he investigates the growth of tidal power generation; and in Panama and Venice, he delves into how the threat of sea level rise is changing human culture—the very old and very new.
Tides combines lyrical prose, colorful adventure travel, and provocative scientific inquiry into the elemental, mysterious paradox that keeps our planet’s waters in constant motion. Photographs, scientific figures, line drawings, and sixteen color photos dramatically illustrate this engaging, expert tour of the tides.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Conservationist White (Talking on the Water) combines scientific investigation with personal memoir in this solid examination of the nature of tides and waves. He looks at how tides are affected regularly by the moon and how they in turn affect both humans and sea life. White grew up surfing, diving, sailing, and fishing in coastal waters, and for years navigated the Pacific Northwest archipelago aboard his schooner, Crusader. Setting out to learn more about the tides, he identifies four zones of tidal exposure: the splash zone and the high, middle, and low intertidal zones. Sections about monster swells near Half Moon Bay, Calif., prove especially fascinating. At a spot named Mavericks, 20-foot waves attract surfers from around the world every winter. White also describes the changing tide in Venice, Italy, where residents have for decades dealt with flooding in lower elevations and consider its vicissitudes a normal feature of life. With an eye on the future, White outlines ways in which tidal energy can be "harnessed as a source of heat and light," citing the importance of a supportive government and the need for strong renewable energy policies ideals with which many readers will agree. Color photos.
