The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson

First published: 1951, rev. ed. 1961; illustrated

Subjects: Nature and science

Type of work: Science

Recommended Ages: 10-18

Form and Content

In The Sea Around Us, Rachel Carson lovingly leads her readers through a clear and scientifically careful history of the sea, from the first formation of oceans on the planet to the middle of the twentieth century when the book was written. The text is divided into three main sections: “Mother Sea,” “The Restless Sea,” and “Man and the Sea About Him.”

In part 1, “Mother Sea,” provides in eight titled chapters a history and description of the life found in the sea. In “Gray Beginnings,” Carson gives a scientific history of the origin of the earth’s oceans. In “The Pattern of the Surface,” the complexity of life in the surface waters is described: “Unmarked and trackless though it may seem to us, the surface of the ocean is divided into definite zones, and the pattern of the surface water controls the distribution of its life.” The chapter entitled “The Changing Year” describes the ways in which the surface waters are affected by seasonal changes, and “The Sunless Sea” describes life in the depths of the ocean and discusses advances in deep-water oceanography. Other chapters in this section provide a history of the scientific efforts to sound the bottom of the ocean and what was learned of its topography; describe the significance of sediment; chronicle the birth and life of oceanic islands; and, in “The Shape of Ancient Seas,” assess the evidence of former seas on dry land.

Part 2 of The Sea Around Us, entitled “The Restless Sea,” describes in three chapters the motion and turbulence of the sea in the form of waves, currents, and tides. “Wind and Water” provides a clear and fascinating description of the scientific study of ocean waves, as well as historical information, such as stories recorded by lighthouse keepers, and explanations of the difference between seismic sea waves and “rollers.” The chapter “Wind, Sun, and the Spinning of the Earth” discusses oceanic currents. “The Moving Tides” explains how the force of the tides is even stronger than waves and currents, explaining theories of “tidal oscillation,” “bores,” and the influence of tides on life in the sea.

Part 3, “Man and the Sea About Him,” presents and discusses in three chapters the relationship between humans and the sea. In “The Global Thermostat,” Carson notes that, “For the globe as a whole, the ocean is the great regulator, the great stabilizer of temperatures. It has been described as a ‘savings bank’ for polar energy, receiving deposits in seasons of excessive insolation and paying them back in seasons of want. Without the ocean, our world would be visited by unthinkably harsh extremes of temperature.” In this chapter, Carson describes early research on the phenomenon now familiar to the public as “global warming.” The next chapter in the book, “Wealth from the Salt Sea,” discusses the ocean as “the earth’s greatest storehouse of minerals” and includes a discussion of oil and offshore drilling. The final chapter, “The Encircling Sea,” considers the history of navigation, the first voyages of marine exploration, and the development of navigational instruments and charts. It also profiles Lieutenant Matthew F. Maury, of the U.S. Navy, whose book The Physical Geography of the Sea (1855) “is now considered the foundation of the science of oceanography.” The Sea Around Us concludes with a hopeful look forward to further advances in oceanography—although “no one now can say that we shall ever resolve the last, the ultimate mysteries of the sea”—and with a final philosophical view of the sea as encompassing all of life.

The book has numerous black-and-white, mostly photographic, illustrations.

Critical Context

The Sea Around Us was Rachel Carson’s second book, after Under the Sea Wind (1941), which was neglected in its first edition because it came out just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that began the United States’ involvement in World War II. The Sea Around Us quickly became a best-seller and was followed by The Edge of the Sea in 1955. Carson’s greatest book, Silent Spring, was written to inform and warn the world about the dangers of DDT and other pesticides. It was published to great controversy, as pesticide companies tried to suppress the information. Carson, who was conducting her own private fight against cancer, had to endure many harsh attacks, many of which questioned the validity of her scientific findings simply because she was a woman. Nevertheless, Silent Spring proved itself to be accurate and had much to do with the passing of legislation to protect the environment from dangerous pesticides. Moreover, its author received many awards for her service to nature and society.

Carson’s last book, The Sense of Wonder (1965), was the first written specifically as a children’s book. She began it for her grandnephew Roger, whom she had adopted after his mother died, but the book was not published until after Carson’s own death in 1964. All of her books, however, can be recommended for young people as models of good writing, good science, and a responsible and caring attitude toward the environment. Rachel Carson was one of America’s greatest science and nature writers and is also an inspiring figure in the history of women in science.