Great Waters: An Atlantic Passage by Deborah Cramer, W. W. Norton, 拢22, ISBN 0393020193
ITS waters reach from the Arctic ice to the cold shores of Antarctica, and bring heat, fish and floating bits of plastic from the sunny Caribbean to the grey fjords of Norway.
The Atlantic Ocean, the subject of Deborah Cramer鈥檚 dense yet poetic book, has long been travelled, yet we know little about its depths. Cramer, a science writer who has read a formidable number of original sources and secondary texts, covers everything from the beginnings of oceans and life itself to global warming and PCB pollution. History, geology and warnings of environmental catastrophes are woven into the log of her own voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in a research vessel.
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Whether you enjoy Great Waters will depend upon your reaction to Cramer鈥檚 prose style: 鈥淭hey summon the rains and beckon to the deep sea. Atmosphere and ocean, sea surface and depths, are wedded,鈥� she writes of the ocean鈥檚 currents. If you find such language beautiful, buy the book. If it sounds pompous, sail on.