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No matter where we live, 'we are all ocean people,' Helen Scales observes in her bracing yet hopeful exploration of the future of the ocean. Beginning with its fascinating deep history, Scales links past to present to show how prehistoric ocean ecology holds lessons for the ocean of today. In elegant, evocative prose, she takes readers into the realms of animals that epitomize current increasingly challenging conditions, from emperor penguins to sharks and orcas.
Yet despite these threats, many hopeful signs remain. Increasing numbers of no-fish zones around the world are restoring once-diminishing populations. Astonishing giant kelp and sea grass forests, rivalling those on land, are being regenerated and expanded, while efforts to re-engineer coral reefs for a warmer world are growing.
Offering innovative ideas for protecting coastlines and cleaning the toxic seas, Scales insists we need more ethical and sustainable fisheries and must prevent the other existential threat of deep-sea mining, which could significantly alter life on Earth. Inspiring us all to maintain a sense of awe and wonder at the majesty beneath the waves, she urges us to fight for the better future that still exists for the Anthropocene ocean.
Dr Helen Scales is a marine biologist, acclaimed author and broadcaster who explores the wonders and plight of the oceans and the living planet. Her books include The Brilliant Abyss and Spirals in Time. She teaches Marine Biology and Science Writing at Cambridge University and divides her time between Cambridge and France.
"Authoritative and entertaining [...] a passionate look at how saving the seas is an essential part of saving ourselves [...] The author's writing is lucid and compelling, featuring a nice mix of personal experience and convincing scientific data"
– Kirkus Reviews
"Examines how humans are endangering marine life and what might be done to save it [...] [Scales is] clear-eyed about the threats facing the ocean and remarkably forthright about the sacrifices required to protect it [...] This will galvanize readers."
– Publishers Weekly
"[A] thorough overview of the current dismal state of the oceans and the diverse animals who depend on their vitality [...] [Scales is] a learned guide for this important topic, and [readers'] faith in her expertise will be well rewarded."
– Booklist
"In What the Wild Sea Can Be Helen Scales has created something remarkable: a thrillingly expansive, deeply personal and often startlingly beautiful portrait of the ocean and its inhabitants that also charts a path to a better and more sustainable world. Urgent, exhilarating and marvellously researched and written, it is necessary reading for anybody who cares about the future of the planet"
– James Bradley, author of Deep Water
"Here is one of our greatest communicators whose brilliance as a scientist is matched by her sublime skill as a writer. Helen Scales paints a dazzling picture of our seas from top to bottom and all around the edges to show us why – and how – we must protect them. She is not afraid to spell out what we stand to lose if we don't change our ways, and it is terrifying [...] This is a book of love and urgency and sense. What the Wild Sea Can Be dives deep into the titanic power of the ocean's life-giving system. It is rich and fascinating, stirring and mind-expanding, and utterly essential"
– Keggie Carew, author of Beastly
"A wonderfully wise and richly researched examination of our blue planet's extraordinary and precarious living seas; I learned so much from this delightfully detailed book. Scales is the perfect guide on a dive into these fascinating ocean ecosystems, whence the reader surfaces newly galvanised to protect its wonders"
– Gaia Vince, author of Nomad Century
