Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World's Coasts and Beneath the Seas

Interesting read. Nice writing in between all the excessive quoting. The book is split into three parts: tuna, salmon, and coral reefs. The author travels around talking to people about the above subjects, including some ranchers who don't believe they descended from monkeys. Includes some nice maps, selected bibliography, an index, but no illustrations. The part on salmon got pretty repetitive. How many clear-cuts do you need to mention to get a point across? This book could've been a good 50-75 pages shorter. Oh well.

This book is magnificent. Safina’s writing is stunning in its deeply engaging, accessible and phenomenally insightful approach to complex human-marine relationships. His writings will break your heart, but the issues he covers in this book are crucial as we strive for a more harmonious way to coexist with the natural world. The observation of the human experience holds so much value in building more effective policies In the world of conservation, and Safina has absolutely nailed the intricate complexities that create hurtles for conservationists and policy makers. This is a must read, a book that can truly make a difference.

It was hard to stick with this book through the litany of losses. The seas and shore lines as they were when I first became enthralled by the life in them, were full of mystery, magic, and endless delight. My early investigations into life in the tidal zone, when I was seven or eight years old ( seventy years ago), taught me about abundance and variation and a million ways of being alive. They grew me to become a scientist and environmental educator/advocate. Even now, I try to spread that contagion to the kids I teach. I hope--but with ever-increasing uncertainty-- that we have not left it too late.

I found Safina's "Beyond Words " one of the best books of any genre I have read in a very Long time but "Song for a Blue Ocean " doesn't even come close either in style or substance. It seems as if Safina wrote it in order to fulfill a contract with his publisher or maybe he just needed cash and dashed it off Ina big hurry. If you haven't read "Beyond Words" by Carl Safina don't miss it. If you have, skip "Song of the Blue Ocean" and wait for something better or at least as good.

I'm only about halfway through this book, but it's so moving that I decided I needed to rave now. Carl Safina uses an amazing grasp of language to paint mental pictures of what he writes about. I work in the scientific community and have spent a lot of time on that water, and his writings are not only objective and scientifically sound, he constructs them in such a way that they are beautiful. You will have a thirst for each topic and region of which he writes. I borrowed this book from the library and had vowed to buy it before I'd finished the first chapter. It has only improved as I've proceeded.

Everyone should read this book even if you don't care for conservation biology. It's entertaining and incredibly well-informed, and it'll make you care about fish. That's right, fish. You'll sympathize with fish for the first time since you watched Finding Nemo. Oh, and it'll make you hate politicians even more than ever, and you'll hate them because of fish.

This book would be twice as good if it were half as long. Evidently the only editors were fawning friends of the author, who must have felt that every observation, no matter how offhand or trivial, needed to be included in the bloated text. This is too bad, because he is a decent writer, knows and cares about fish and fisheries, and the story is compelling. Imagine John McPhee full of Red Bull and vodka and you get the idea.Also, a book that uses the silly word "waitron" without irony, and "heregia" twice in a hundred pages can be a little precious.

I absolutely love this book. Safina does a great job affecting the reader emotionally, making one feel connected to the ocean on a whole new level. I recommend this book to my all of my environmentalist peers, surfer buddies and anyone with even the slightest admiration for the ocean.

Haven't had the chance to read it all yet, but loving it so far. Ordered 2 so that I could give one to my daughter for her birthday.

Thank you. Book in very good condition!