The Edge Of The Sea

Front Cover
HarperCollins, Oct 15, 1998 - Nature - 304 pages
From the National Book Award–winning author of Silent Spring: An exploration of marine life that takes us into “a truly extraordinary world” (The Atlantic Monthly).

Known for “catching the life breath of science on the still glass of poetry,” nature writer and marine biologist Rachel Carson is an icon of environmentalism, and her first love was the sea (Time). In this book, she explores rocky shores, sandy beaches, and coral reefs, leading us into unknown worlds to catch the evanescent beauty of a tide pool and tell the story of a grain of sand, and conveys the true complexity, beauty, and wonder of marine life, both animals and plants. With an introduction by Sue Hubbell, author of A Country Year, and illustrations by Bob Hines, The Edge of the Sea serves as both a field guide and a pleasurable, enlightening read.

“It is a truly extraordinary world which Miss Carson vividly unfolds to us . . . a world full of marvels such as the tiny periwinkle, which has 3,500 teeth, and the sea pansy, which has responded to the struggle for survival by turning itself from an individual into a colony.” —The Atlantic Monthly
 

Contents

Frontispiece
The Rocky Shores
The Rim of Sand
The Coral Coast
The Enduring
Index
Copyright

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About the author (1998)

Rachel Carson (1907–1964) spent most of her professional life as a marine biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. By the late 1950s, she had written three lyrical, popular books about the sea, including the best-selling The Sea Around Us, and had become the most respected science writer in America. She completed Silent Spring against formidable personal odds, and with it shaped a powerful social movement that has altered the course of history.

Sue Hubbell was the author of eight books, including A Country Year and New York Times Notable Book A Book of Bees. She wrote for the New Yorker, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Smithsonian, and Time, and was a frequent contributor to the “Hers” column of the New York Times.

Researching her films, articles, and more than forty books, Sy Montgomery has trekked into the cloud forest of Papua, New Guinea, cage-dived off Mexico with great white sharks, and scuba-dived off two continents to commune with wild octopuses. A National Book Award finalist, her work has been honored with a Sibert Medal, a Cook Prize Gold Medal, two Science Book and Film prizes from the National Association for the Advancement of Science, four honorary degrees, and many other awards. She lives in Hancock, New Hampshire. Visit her online at symontgomery.com.

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