The Washington Post
No account of the cataclysm is more engaging than Roberts's The Ocean of Life. Although it contains very little that is new…the book is powerful in its completeness…I love talking to scientists—they're among the world's most interesting people—but often I'm not certain what language they're speaking. The rare treasure is the scientist who can bring clarity and wit to the debates. Roberts is such a scientist, and The Ocean of Life is immensely entertaining, although it chronicles a tragedy.
—Mark Kurlansky
Publishers Weekly
University of York marine conservationist Roberts (The Unnatural History of the Sea) offers an engrossing survey of the relationship between man and the sea for readers living through the greatest environmental changes in 65 million years. From the genesis of life four billion years ago to the increasingly empty dead zones of our planet’s waters, Roberts details the interaction between the ocean and human evolution, food supply, cities, art, science, policy, business, and waste. He skillfully intersperses jaw-dropping anecdotes (one two-pint bottle of ocean water contains four billion unique viruses, albatross feed their chicks an average of 70 pieces of plastic per meal) with the concrete effects of man’s influence on the ocean’s acid levels, species diversity, noise, and food chain. Later prescriptions on how to interact ethically with an ocean at risk walk the fine line between individual accountability and informed policy creation. Roberts’s meditation will have readers gasping aloud with wonder, even as the sobering truth of humans’ profound interdependence with the sea provokes concern. Agent: Patrick Walsh, Conville & Walsh. (May)
From the Publisher
One of the world’s most prominent and articulate marine scientists, Callum Roberts gives us an updated, comprehensive, and engaging account of the ongoing crisis beneath the waves, and how we humans can turn the situation around. Despite the frightening litany of problems facing the seas, Roberts is optimistic that we can and will mend our ways so that marine resources will be there to help support planet Earth.”
—Christian Science Monitor
“Told with both scientific accuracy and narrative skill. . . . I know of no other volume that treats such divergent ocean issues as overfishing, decreasing pH, plastic pollution and biogeographic shifts with this much accuracy and acumen. Each chapter is edged with fascinating details about the life of the sea. At the heart of this book is a deep love of the ocean and a profound concern for its viability as a resource for us all.”
—Stephen Palumbi, Nature
“Roberts is that precious pearl: a practicing scientist who not only knows his field inside out, but also understands how to write compelling, persuasive non-fiction. . . . To use the vernacular of his book, he has trawled and plundered these experiences to craft the nearest thing we are ever likely to get to an all-encompassing manifesto for sustainable marine management.”
—The Guardian
“Callum Roberts has done it again. From showing us the past with the wisdom of a Dickens character in his earlier book, he now leads us toward the future in The Ocean of Life. It’s a book so fine, I wish I’d written it!”
—Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue Ocean
“The urgency of Callum Roberts' message - that we have very little time to save the oceanic environment on which our existence depends - is in no way undermined by the entertaining and brilliantly-written nature of his writing. This is simply a fascinating book, taking in everything from the elemental formations of the oceans to the denizens that inhabit them; from minute plankton to the great whales - and everything that threatens them, and us. Roberts imparts his vast knowledge with a consummate talent for colorful narrative and devastating facts. His book will be required reading for anyone who cares about the oceans—not least because, as well as underlining the scale of the problems, he offers us the hope of real solutions.”
—Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan, or The Whale
“The enormity of the sea’s troubles, and their implications for mankind, are mind-boggling. Yet it is remarkable how little this is recognised. . . . There is a dearth of good and comprehensive books on a subject that can seem too complicated and depressing for any single tome. Callum Roberts, a conservation biologist, has now provided one.”
—The Economist
“The eminent marine biologist Callum Roberts weaves his personal passion for the oceans through the enchanting story of the evolution of the planet’s water… Blending science and observation, he issues a compelling call to move from the catastrophic path we are on. Like Rachel Carson’s seminal book Silent Spring, which catalyzed the environmental movement, The Ocean of Life is eloquent and authoritative.
— David Suzuki, host of “The Nature of Things”
“Those of us who worry about the future of our oceans could do a lot worse than take up this single refrain, "Listen to Callum Roberts!". Shouted in the ears of the world's leaders, it might just make a difference. Meanwhile we should all read Ocean of Life, a thrilling narrative of oceanic natural history and a vital call to action”
—Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, chef, broadcaster and author of The River Cottage Cookbook
“An engrossing survey of the relationship between man and the sea for readers living through the greatest environmental changes in 65 million years. . . . Roberts’s meditation will have readers gasping aloud with wonder, even as the sobering truth of humans’ profound interdependence with the sea provokes concern.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
'For anyone who loves the sea, Ocean of Life is a wake-up call, an urgent alert' —Daily Mail
'At the heart of this book is a deep love of the ocean and a profound concern for its viability as a resource for us all'
—Nature
'An impressive history ... one of this book's strengths is the many solutions Roberts outlines.'
— Financial Times
Kirkus Reviews
Roberts (Marine Conservation/Univ. of York; The Unnatural History of the Sea, 2009) warns that "the oceans have changed more in [the] last thirty years than in all of human history before." In this follow-up to his award-winning account of man's 1,000-year exploitation of maritime resources, the author not only documents the loss of large sea animals, such as whales, sharks and turtles, the destruction of coral reefs and the broader ocean environment, but he anticipates further devastation from the onset of deep-sea mining in the near future. While environmentalists are keenly aware of the danger man poses to animal species, Roberts suggests that the oceans have always played a significant role in human survival. He writes that the view of our ancestors as a "plucky species" of big-game hunters has a "certain mythological ring to it." However, our early survival may have depended mainly on water creatures for sustenance: "Could our shift to bipedalism have been an aquatic adaptation developed by wading to gather shellfish?" While the author notes that the 1880s shift to steam power and then later to diesel "heralded the beginning of the modern era in commercial fishing," these were still just improvements on more traditional fishing methods. Not so the introduction of echo sounders and other electronic devices augmented by computers and satellites, which now allow fishermen to detect the presence of fish with an extremely high degree of precision. Roberts maintains his optimism while looking at the problems that have been compounded by global warming, pollution, the destruction of marshlands, etc., and he notes that remedial action is still possible. It is not too late, he writes, for "strategies that rebuild nature's vitality and fecundity"--e.g., protecting one-third of the ocean from direct exploitation and restricting fishing of tuna, salmon and cod. A timely wake-up call.
