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unladylike's review
4.0
I'm positive I would give this 5 stars if I had more of a personal connection with the coast (specifically the North American Atlantic coast) or if I had paid closer attention. Rachel Carson's writing is like poetry; like a soothing breeze. In audiobook form, it was easy to let it play in the background as pleasant guided meditations. I have a feeling I'll be more into her other books; I'm just not *that* interested in grains of sand and the microscopic creatures that live on the shore, but I admit Carson makes their stories into a thing of awe.
bupdaddy's review
2.0
The Dewey Decimal system puts this in the 500's - hard science. Sure, yeah, I guess. It struck me more as Carson's love letter to the several ecosystems on the American Atlantic coast.
And Carson shows her love by enumerating and describing in grad-student field-notes-level detail all the species found there.
It's all important, and good, stuff, but came across as several laundry lists to me.
And Carson shows her love by enumerating and describing in grad-student field-notes-level detail all the species found there.
It's all important, and good, stuff, but came across as several laundry lists to me.
leavingsealevel's review against another edition
5.0
I think if Rachel Carson and Muriel Wylie Blanchet had lived at the same time on the same side of the continent, they would have been friends.
This is like Pagoo for grownups :) My other favorite book about sea creatures.
This is like Pagoo for grownups :) My other favorite book about sea creatures.
graywacke's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
Carson's 3rd book. Early on she writes:
"<i>There is a common thread that links these scenes and memories—the spectacle of life in all its varied manifestations as it has appeared, evolved, and sometimes died out. Underlying the beauty of the spectacle there is meaning and significance. It is the elusiveness of that meaning that haunts us, that sends us again and again into the natural world where the key to the riddle is hidden. It sends us back to the edge of the sea, where the drama of life played its first scene on earth and perhaps even its prelude; where the forces of evolution are at work today, as they have been since the appearance of what we know as life; and where the spectacle of living creatures faced by the cosmic realities of their world is crystal clear. </i>"
And she follows up, going again and again to different details along the North American Atlantic cost, from rocks and massive tides to Florida's keys and ten-thousand islands. I found it tough on my little attention span, to listen and stay on top of each detail. It's a lot. : )
"<i>There is a common thread that links these scenes and memories—the spectacle of life in all its varied manifestations as it has appeared, evolved, and sometimes died out. Underlying the beauty of the spectacle there is meaning and significance. It is the elusiveness of that meaning that haunts us, that sends us again and again into the natural world where the key to the riddle is hidden. It sends us back to the edge of the sea, where the drama of life played its first scene on earth and perhaps even its prelude; where the forces of evolution are at work today, as they have been since the appearance of what we know as life; and where the spectacle of living creatures faced by the cosmic realities of their world is crystal clear. </i>"
And she follows up, going again and again to different details along the North American Atlantic cost, from rocks and massive tides to Florida's keys and ten-thousand islands. I found it tough on my little attention span, to listen and stay on top of each detail. It's a lot. : )
imdillionen's review against another edition
3.0
Well this was hard work for me, for most of it. I read the first 50 pages in some kind of learning euphoria, underlining and writing things down. But I slowed down, and by the end, I finished this is small spurts of one or two pages, sometimes even just a paragraph.
The book is obviously beautifully written and full of interesting things. But I increasingly suffered of the possibly inevitable list like structure. Just too often the chapters advanced by listing things: then there's this thing, and then this creature, and then this. That didn't hold my attention.
I enjoyed the illustrations, and they partly kept me reading.
I might return to this one day, with a different mind. Hopefully that mind I had to begin with.
The book is obviously beautifully written and full of interesting things. But I increasingly suffered of the possibly inevitable list like structure. Just too often the chapters advanced by listing things: then there's this thing, and then this creature, and then this. That didn't hold my attention.
I enjoyed the illustrations, and they partly kept me reading.
I might return to this one day, with a different mind. Hopefully that mind I had to begin with.