Best Seashells
Florida has 1200 miles of coastline, almost 700 miles of which are sandy beaches. Blair Witherington is a research scientist with the FWC Fish and Wildlife Research Institute.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is the perfect book for those who love exploring Florida's beaches and want to learn more about what they find."
"I came to using it after beachcombing with either pictures (preferred) or specimens."
"Good gift for an adult or young beachcomber."
"I learned a lot about beaches and sand movement from the "Beach Features" section."
"What impressed me was seeing that it covers the entire gambit of everything and anything a person may find at the beach, from shells to corals, sponges, jellyfish, land and water animals, plant/tree life, seabeans and seeds and even drift item that commonly wash ashore. As others have mentioned it's full of photographs on every page, a corresponding map telling you where in Florida you'll tend to find each particular item and during what season, and is a well organized, easy and fun to read high quality book."
"If you live in Florida, this is a must."
"What an incredible book!"
"It is so entertaining and informative that you can spend hours with it and you will certainly be referring to it often to identify things that you see on the beach or shells that you collect."
Helen Scales leads us on a journey into their realm, as she goes in search of everything from snails that 'fly' underwater on tiny wings to octopuses accused of stealing shells and giant mussels with golden beards that were supposedly the source of Jason's golden fleece, and learns how shells have been exchanged for human lives, tapped for mind-bending drugs and inspired advances in medical technology. Weaving through these stories are the remarkable animals that build them, creatures with fascinating tales to tell, a myriad of spiralling shells following just a few simple rules of mathematics and evolution. “Marine biologist Helen Scales sees a vast and complicated universe inside a shell . an enchanting, accessible tour of the seashell and its place and purpose within the natural world.” ― Kirkus Reviews. [her] eclectic approach to this ancient bridge between the human and natural worlds conveys her curiosity and appreciation.” ― Publishers Weekly. “Helen Scales, a marine biologist-turned-science writer, makes an impassioned and convincing case . “With the soul of a poet and a talent for finding the most intriguing trivia about familiar seaside sights, marine biologist Scales turns the mundane into the magical.” ― Discover Magazine. Helen Scales is a marine biologist who has tagged sharks in California and studied the diverse fish that live on coral reefs in the South Pacific. Scales is the author of Poseidon's Steed: The Story of Seahorses, from Myth to Reality , and lives in Cambridge, England.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Other hermit crabs will take notice of the situation, come over and have a look at the empty shell, and all interested crabs will then form a line in size order, biggest nearest the empty shell. The first crab in line will move into the shell he just abandoned, the next crab will move into the shell that one leaves behind, and so-on down the line."
"A wonderful, fascinating read."
"This book is full of fascinating facts, enough to make you want to go to the beach right now."
"Excellent!"
"Brilliant."
"Good book, but I expected more pictures."
"As author Helen Scales writes in her introduction: "This book is made up of my choice of shell stories, ones that together paint a picture of a remarkable company of animals along with some of the more offbeat, forgotten and little-known tales of how those shells have made their way into the human world." Her sound science and knowledge of the subject matter combined with the ability to present the information in an entertaining and engaging manner made Spirals in Time an utterly delightful and accessible book."
Best Ecology of Marine Life
From the author of the forthcoming book, Valiant Ambition , the riveting and critically acclaimed bestseller, soon to be a major motion picture starring Chris Hemsworth, directed by Ron Howard, premiering on December 11, 2015 Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw, and Brendan Gleeson will star in a new film based on this National Book Award–winning account of the true events behind Moby Dick . Nathaniel Philbrick 's In the Heart of the Sea is certainly cast from the same mold, examining the 19th-century Pacific whaling industry through the arc of the sinking of the whaleship Essex by a boisterous sperm whale. The story that inspired Herman Melville's classic Moby-Dick has a lot going for it--derring-do, cannibalism, rescue--and Philbrick proves an amiable and well-informed narrator, providing both context and detail. The epicenter of the whaling industry was Nantucket, a small island off Cape Cod; most of the whales were in the Pacific, necessitating a huge journey around the southernmost tip of South America. A maritime historian, Philbrick recounts the hellish wreck of the Essex (which inspired Melville's Moby-Dick) and its sailors' struggle to make their way to South America, 2,000 miles away. Philbrick shows how the Quaker establishment of Nantucket ran a hugely profitable whaling industry in the 18th and 19th centuries and provides a detailed account of shipboard life.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Very good book, and a great story."
"Interesting."
"I thoroughly enjoyed this true story."
"Based on watching the trailer, I'm very happy that I read the book first."
"Very entertaining and well researched, and it is a fascinating look at the life of whaling men, and those back on shore as well during that time period."
"Not for the weak of heart."
"I recently read other books by Philbrick, Bunker Hill and Valiant Ambition which I liked very much."
"One of the best books I have ever read."