The Edge of the Sea

Having never heard of Rachel Carson except in relation to "Silent Spring", I was pleasantly surprised on first reading her writing in this book by the masterly and near-poetic elegance of her prose. Written in the 1950s, before nature documentaries allowed most of us to see the wonders of marine life with our own eyes, Carson's ability to introduce those wonders to us through evocatively-written description alone (with occasional illustrations) remains truly amazing. The problem is that a generation raised on visual stimuli would probably find it quite difficult to sustain enough patience to go through the whole book, since it does make substantial demands on one's sense of imagination. I found myself struggling by the time I had finished two chapters - even though each chapter is generally about a different kind of seashore (rock, sand, or coral reef), trying to visualise one fascinating organism after another just got rather tedious and confusing. My recommendation to other readers would be to maximise your enjoyment of this book by reading it at the seaside, or in conjunction with a relevant documentary on the Discovery Channel.

I just finished this and I can't wait to read the rest of the author's work. Carson has a gift for describing the world around her and a command of the language that few seem to appreciate today. This is basically a natural history book written as if it where a novel. In "Edge of the Sea" she describes seashores, the environment and how it defines the animals and plants that a visitor will see. She concentrates on America's East Coast. The text left me with a longing to be there. Where modern writers would use pictures, Carson uses words. This book would be good (4 stars) for anyone who enjoys written imagery. If you already love the sea then it deserves 5.