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The Blue Planet by Andrew Byatt, Alastair Fothergill and Martha Holmes, BBC, 拢24.99, ISBN 0563384980

PLANET Earth-as David Bowie鈥檚 Major Tom observed-is blue. The Blue Planet, a tie-in to a BBC television series, begins by explaining what gives it that distinctive hue.

When it comes to geography and biology, the oceans have size on their side. They provide 97 per cent of the Lebensraum of our planet and the setting for its greatest animal migration. Every evening, 100 million tonnes of creatures commute from the ocean depths to the surface.

The Blue Planet should revive anyone jaded by the 鈥測ear-in-the-life of a cuddly mammal鈥� fare offered by too many wildlife series. So swap those wildebeest for herds of echinoderms, lumbering across the vast abyssal plains and preyed upon by fish far more voracious than any lion.

But the book is more than just a round-up of marine life. It offers a glimpse of what it is like to be a citizen of the ocean, governed by the waves, currents and cycles of the Sun and Moon. Brimming with spectacular images, the text is also punctuated with special sections covering topics from ice sheets to blue whales.

The Blue Planet saves a real treat until last, with a chapter on the deep sea and its denizens. These creatures are captured in pictures that rarely make it onto coffee tables. For a visiting alien, this is what life on Earth is really like.