The Sea is not made of water

Life Between the Tides

The Sea is not made of water
Adam Nicolson
Our Price:
NZ$ 39.99
Paperback
h234 x 153mm - 384pg
24 Jun 2021 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9780008294786
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
From Adam Nicolson, winner of the Wainwright Prize 2018 Few places are as familiar as the shore - and few as full of mystery and surprise. How do sandhoppers inherit an inbuilt compass from their parents? How do crabs understand the tides? How can the death of one winkle guarantee the lives of its companions? What does a prawn know? In The Sea is Not Made of Water, Adam Nicolson explores the natural wonders of the intertidal and our long human relationship with it. The physics of the seas, the biology of anemone and limpet, the long history of the earth, and the stories we tell of those who have lived here: all interconnect in this zone where the philosopher, scientist and poet can meet and find meaning. The intertidal has been the scene for all kinds of scientific discovery - from the process of evolution to the inner workings of biological networks. But its story is as much human as natural history: how far should our lives be understood within the vast landscape of ecology? What do our buried beliefs about the tidal sea reflect of our relationship to nature? And is it the shifting condition of the tidal world, its pervasive uncertainty, its fierce interfolding of opportunity and threat, that makes it one of the most revelatory and beguiling habitats on earth? The Sea is Not Made of Water is an invitation to the shoreline. Anyone who chooses can look beyond their own reflection and find the marvellous there, waiting an inch beneath their nose.
Praise for Adam Nicolson' s The Seabird' s Cry' An exquisitely written paean to ten ocean-going birds . . . make no mistake, this is a clever book . . . a call to arms against the loss of this crucial part of our rich natural heritage' Books of the Year, The Times' An extraordinary book, nothing less than a masterpiece' Financial Times' Gorgeous book, a poetic soaring exploration of 10 species of seabirds. . . Generous and beautifully composed' Observer' Nicolson writes with a heart full of poetry and a head full of science. He is up to speed with recent seabird research and tells the tales with relish' Mail on Sunday' Full of fascinating and often gruesome details. . . [he] succeeds in expressing his sense of awe at these magnificent creatures' Sunday Times' He is dizzyingly, dazzlingly good' Sunday Herald' Breathtaking. . . [Nicolson] has an intuitive understanding of the birds that feels almost uncanny. . . presents. . . research in a way that is not just comprehensible but compelling, even moving. . . His swithering between the forensic and the poetic creates a sense of wonder' SpectatorPraise for Adam Nicolson' s The Making of Poetry' Dazzling . . . Before I read this book I was something of a Wordsworth-sceptic. But Nicolson is one of the most persuasive advocates of his genius I have read . . . It has paid off brilliantly' The Times' The perfect marriage . . . Poetry and place are perfectly braided together in prose whose biographical mood pays tribute to Richard Holmes and whose topographical fervour evokes Robert Macfarlane' Observer' Passionate, original, intensely personal, and thrillingly observant . . . Completely captivating. It is also truly moving' Richard Holmes
Adam Nicolson is the author of many books on history, travel and the environment. He is winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and the British Topography Prize and lives on at Sissinghust Castle in Kent. His most recent book for HarperCollins is Sissinghurst, a wonderful and personal biography of a place - the story of a heritage, of a vision of connecting once more buildings and garden, fields and farms and of how that dream was realised.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9780008294786
Published: 24 Jun 2021
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: William Collins
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Format: Paperback
Height: 234mm
Width: 153mm
Spine: 33mm
Weight: 610g
Pages: 384

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