Ocean: Earth's Last Wilderness

“OCEAN - Earth’s Last Wilderness”, ATTENBOROUGH, David, BUTFIELD, Colin, John Murray Publisher, 2025, ISBN: 978-1-399-81850-6, HardcoverMy wife and I recently attended David Attenborough’s five-wall, fifteen projector, visual display at the Natural History Museum (highly recommended - book first, better still, like us, become members). After this, we had an inkling of what to expect reading “Oceans”.This book is a page turner, difficult to put down as Attenborough re-tells some of this many adventures linked to the oceans (throughout his nearly one hundred year life) and Butfield adds his modern take with up-to-the-minutes research. It opens within a reflection on the life of a blue whale, Attenborough’s own life and how much the world and our knowledge of the oceans have changed in that time.Pages are immersed in the enthusiasm of Attenborough, his love of Nature, ninety-plus years of study and Butfield’s own modern research illustrating ways in which our knowledge has grown and the serious implications of the findings of modern research for our world as a whole.There are very few pictures but, for those who enjoy them, the pictures they include are wonderful. Throughout the book, Carl Sagan’s “pale blue dot” (attached) came to mind, not only because he drew attention to how small, insignificant, fragile our home is within the vastness of the Universe but also because the “blue element” is water - the oceans.They study each of the oceans in turn, commenting on the diverse life within each of them, the ways in which life has changed / evolved and the future of each if we do not act. Attenborough highlights the difference in the Great Barrier Reef from his first dive; Butfield deals with the additional science.Like the NHM’s show, hazards, dangers and shock are included but far from being overpowered by these, the book leave s on positive notes, ways in which we can change our ocean’s futures once we begin to appreciate what our oceans are, not just at the surface levels we are more familiar with but at the dramatic and unexpected depths and the startling life within these depthsAfter reading this book, no one will look at the oceans in quite the same way again - climate change effects, over-fishing and bottom-trawling dangers, temperature changes, coastal region effects … the science is explained in manageable mindfuls.Carl Sagan featured the “pale blue dot” picture in awe of what it showed clearly. Today, the view is no less awe inspiring but it is a stark reminder of the precariousness of our home.My first non-fiction book, read around ten years-old, was Attenborough’s “Zoo Quest for a Dragon”, which I loved. It is good to read he has not lost his touch, even if the message is very different and his view of the World has changed with modern research.Highly recommended.

Bought for son who loves anything sea related. We gave it to him after we watched the documentary which was equally brilliant!

A very informative read on the state of our oceans and also attempts to address the damage in areas

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Excellent book by the legend himself, if only the world leaders would take the action needed to protect the ocean's as Sir David Attenborough describes in this well written book.