The book started out as an assignment she completed in 1936, when she was an unemployed zoologist and freelance writer for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries. Asked to write an introduction to a brochure on marine life, she submitted an essay entitled “The World of Waters” neatly typed by her mother, as all her manuscripts would be.The next day Carson sat in Higgins’s Washington D.C. office waiting for his verdict.The government ichthyologist knew at once that it was unsuitable. What he was reading was a piece of literature. Carson never forgot the conversation: ‘My chief…handed it back with a twinkle in his eye. ‘I don’t think it will do,’ he said. ‘Better try again. But send this one to the Atlantic Monthly.’The essay was a narrative account of the countless sea creatures that cohabit in and underwater and introduced her two most enduring and renowned themes: the ecological relationships of ocean life that have been in existence for millenia and the material immortality that embraces even the tiniest organism. It was the essay that spawned a classic in nature literature.Under the Sea-Wind is structured in three parts, and in each part, we view the sea and sea life from the point of view of one of its inhabitants.In Part One, Edge of the Sea, written for the life of the shore, and inspired by a stretch of North Carolina sea-coast, we meet a female sanderling she names Silverbar, it is Spring and the great Spring migration of shore birds is at its height and concludes with the end of summer where the movements of birds, fish, shrimp and other water creatures heralds the changing of the seasons.She describes the terror of the shore birds as they hide in the beach grass from the noisy, boisterous migrating flocks that briefly occupy their territory; the terrible snow storm that will freeze hundreds of egg embryos, where only the fittest and strongest survive; the way the birds lure a fox away from their nests and the day the parents finally abandon their young, their job complete.Part Two The Gull’s Way, is dedicated to the open sea, a parallel time period in the open ocean and here we encounter Scomber the mackerel, following his journey from birth through infancy and youth in a quiet New England harbour, only to join a school that follows its instinct into the great sea where numerous predators await. As the fish move from one location to the next, trying to outwit predators, including man, the sea becomes the scene of a thriller and Scomber the mackerel, our fugitive!Part Three River and Sea is written in the deepest, darkest, fathoms, we follow Anguilla, the eel from the far tributaries of a coastal river pool, downstream to the gently sloping depths of the sea, ‘the steep descent of the continental slopes and finally the abyss’.After 10 years of uneventful river habitation, the eels are drawn by instinct downriver returning to their place of birth, a deep abyss near the Sargasso Sea where they will spawn and die. It is the most remarkable journey, as is that of the newborn spawn originating from two continents, who float side by side and drift towards those same coastal rivers their parents swam from, a voyage of years and over time the two species will separate and veer towards their continent, the US or Europe.Rachel Carson writes about the sea, the sand, the birds, fish and the smallest of creatures and organisms in a way that makes us realise how little we observe of what is occurring around us, though we may stand, swim, float or fish in the midst of it. For the sea, its shore and the air above thrum like a thriving city of predator and prey of all sizes and character, constantly fluctuating, its citizens ever alert to when it is prudent to move and when it is necessary to be still.Original, enthralling, it opens our eyes to much that we do not see or understand, I am in awe of shore birds, mackerel, eels, the sea, streams, rivers, ponds and the interconnectedness of them all.My complete review here at Word by Word.
This is the first book that I picked up following a Google Doodle prompt. I am hoping to make my way through Carson's three Sea books and Silent Spring.Clearly this is a classic (the cover says "Penguin Classics"). I enjoyed the brief introduction that told the story of how Carson came to write the book and how the advent of World War II delayed the "discovery" of this classic for a decade.I really liked how she highlighted the circles of life. We more often see the circle of life where larger animals feast on each other to the point that the top predator dies and is becomes food for the smallest creatures. Carson also highlights another perspective. When a top predator fails to live to an adult, it means that thousands of creatures down the food chain will flourish. I also appreciated that Carson wrote about the lives of the animals, but did not mask that their worlds were and are irrevocably changed by the wanderings of humans with nets, boats, guns, and spaces that they have claimed for their own. In this volume, Carson tells the story of how animals live and die. Humans are there and often play more of a role in the death than the life, but this simply is the story. The only judgement in Carson's book seems to be for the angler fish and his "two small, evil eyes." Education about a larger world is the intent. Carson writes a larger world into being.And, now for my confession: This was a good read, but I was not a good reader. I needed to insert a palate-cleansing buffer book, so that my mind was ready to absorb Carson's writing better. I had just finished reading a popcorn thriller about a company that places interns into jobs, but really trains assassins to infiltrate their targets by playing the role of the invisible intern. It was not driven by character or writing style. It was not written to carefully lift the veil on something that a single human could never witness. But, my mind wanted to race forward to the next ridiculous plot point, so I found that I constantly had to slow down and push my eyes back several paragraphs to re-read Carson's descriptions about the lives of various creatures. To be fair, Carson isn't the only read that is not fitting in. The Margaret Atwood novel is lying fallow at the side of my bed. Good news for Atwood is that Carson probably played the role of the buffer book.
What do You think about Under The Sea Wind (2007)?
A series of interconnected chapters and vignettes following the lives of creatures living in and around the sea - animals and plants from algae to whales, but focusing on some fish and birds. Carson explains animal life cycles in an engaging narrative fashion and tells how they connect to the lives of other creatures and how they are affected by the seasons and changes of the earth. It was fascinating and compelling, I did not want to put it down, and it made me want to be at the beach in the worst way. I look forward to reading the rest of Carson's works and would recommend this to lovers of nature and of the coast.
—Anna
A Midsummer Night's Dream:Reading Rachel Carson's first book, "Under the Sea Wind" (1941), is like reading poetry. Not so much a science book, even though the science therein is accurate, but more of an intimate look into the lives of the fish, birds and mammals that live in and around the sea. The text follows a continual narrative, spotlighting various animals as they go about their lives in a challenging environment. Carson's narrative shows that each animal is part a a larger picture, one that shows the endless interplay between species and how life and the environment form a complex Biosphere that has existed for eons. Her beautiful passages describing the weather give the reader a feeling of really being there in the wind, rain and snow. Watch an aerial duel between an Osprey and a Bald Eagle as they fight for possession of a just caught fish. Follow a school of Mullet as they navigate the sea currents to their breeding grounds. But it's not only fish and birds that struggle for life, man, too, plays a part in the modern sea. Whole communities of fishermen and their families depend on the ocean for food and material gain. You'll be with them as they cast their nets over the water to catch mullets by the thousands. For me Carson's writing style was reminiscent of the nature stories written by Canadian poet Charles G D Roberts (*). While Roberts's stories were inspired by his life growing up in a hunting and farming community in the back-woods of Canada, Carson's "Under the Sea Wind" is based on her lifetime of observation and knowledge of the natural world. To help the reader follow the various animal characters through their lives the author gave each one a "name", that name might be part of the animals "scientific name" or taken from Native American (Inuit) lore. With moving prose Carson follows an Atlantic mackerel from egg to adult, tracing its movement down the coast from the spawning grounds, just south of Rhode Island, where it hatched. In this way she paints a picture of life in the sea; the ceaseless dance of predator and prey, the changing flow of currents, the never ending march of the seasons. Carson's knowledge, of the sea and its many creatures, the sky and the countless birds that follow the rugged coastline from winter to summer, is nothing less than astounding. "Under the Sea Wind" is book 1 of Rachel Carson's "Sea Trilogy" (**) and all three books are considered to be one of the most "Definitive works of American nature writing" to come along in decades. This edition closes with a short biography of Carson complete with archival photos from her life. The reader should keep in mind that this book was written in the early part of the 20th Century and while the science was up to date in 1941 moderne research and observations may have altered some of Carson's conclusions on animal behavior but on the whole the science remains valid to this day. For me this timeless story was one that I have carried with me for most of my life and it only gets better with each rereading. I had no technical or formatting problems with this Kindle edition but I did notice an unfortunate "publisher omission". The lovely illustrations by nature artists Howard Frech who's sketches and line-drawings graced the first edition and some later editions, are all missing. Too bad that Open Road Media did not take that extra step to give the reader a truly memorable reading experience. That being said, I still highly recommend this book to nature lovers everywhere.Last Ranger(*) see my review of Robert's "Hoof and Claw".(**) Book 2: The Sea Around Us (1951) and Book 3: Edge of the Sea (1955).
—Last Ranger
A poetic and scientifically sound look at sea life in the Atlantic. I think what I enjoyed most about this book was learning how it came to be in the foreword by Linda Lear. It is obvious that Carson was so deliberate and thoughtful as a writer and a scientist.From the foreword:Carson's mother flawlessly typed the finished manuscript, and Carson sent it off on New Year's Eve 1940. Editors at Simon & Schuster still tell the story of how Under the Sea-Wind was the only manuscript ever received that had not a single typographical error.Now that is something I can aspire to.
—Sarah
