Rachel L. Carson, 1951. The Sea Around Us. Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press, 250 p.

Rachel Carson’s bestselling book is focused very much on physical oceanography, the origin and life of the oceans. Its 14 chapters are organised into three sections “Mother Sea”, “The Restless Sea” and “Man and the Sea About Him”. The current special edition also contains an Introduction by Ann. W. Zwinger and an Afterword by Jeffrey S. Levinton.

The book won the 1952 National Book Award for nonfiction and a Burroughs Medal for nature writing. Its often poetic language conveys an awe-inspiring image of the sea from its very origin, its life-giving nature but also the raw forces of the elements.

A short introduction to the history of the book is on wikipedia.

Part of its scientific legacy with strong emphasis on the effects of fishing on marine resources and their ecosystems is painstakingly researched and made available in the public domain through the ‘Sea Around Us’ project led by Prof. Daniel Pauly at the Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.