Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Title: Aleck, and the Mutineers of the Bounty; : Or, Thrilling Incidents of Life on the Ocean. Being the History of Pitcairn's Island and a Remarkable Illustration of the Influence of the Bible; Original Publisher: Boston : John P. Jewett ... Read more

Product Description
Discover what life is like in the ocean for seals, turtles, whales, manatees, and much more. This spiral bound activity book is filled with photographs and activities, and is sure to be a favorite of young readers this season. It also includes markers, wipe-off activity pages, and miniature plastic animals. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A great book for my daughters
My parents sent this to my 4 and 2 year old and has been a hot toy since.The first half of the book has pictures and information on ocean life (they particularly like the picture of the sea turtle, eggs, and babies).The book also came with four little plastic toys about and inch big: one whale, dolphin, turtle, and octopus.My youngest likes to the pick out the right toy when she sees them in the book.There are a handful of pages that the kids get to use a dry erase marker (comes with it) on.They can draw a line from one colored fish (left hand side) to the corresponding color on the right.Circle the pictures that don't belong on the page.And so on.My girls really like this book.The only problem is if I let my two year old play without me in the vicinity, she likes to color on the none dry erase pages.Kind of wish they'd have made all the pages dry erase. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Caught Many
This is a fantastic book for all ages and disiplines.Children of all ages will appreciate it for fact and fantasy.Art students will be enthralled by the creatures.It is a must have for teachers.

Great book, good cause...
Wonderful black and blue artwork features endangered ocean life.It's accompanying A to Z primer (featuring endanged animals) is great too.

Another ingenious and gorgeous book from a Caldecott winner.
The illustrator David McLimans once more celebrates the intriguing beauty of our vanishing natural world with his sophisticated drawings.This is a book that attracts both adults and children, and its mournful thesis of the oceans' demise is put to constructive use with a respectful look at the miracles of sea life and the need to counteract the harmful habits of humans.Breathtaking in every way. ... Read more

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From the desert to the rain forest, animals adapt to their surroundings for survival. Explore the world's habitats and the animals that make these places their homes. ... Read more

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Whimsical, appealing drawings spring like magic from the page as young artists learn how to make charming creations from simple shapes. Each step is carefully shown and finished in full color. Fun examples and instructions all but guarantee success for budding cartoonists!

Starting with simple shapes and the most basic materials, these books show young artists the essential skills involved in combining shapes to make characters and objects, simplifying and coloring them.

Anyone familiar with Freddie Levin's previous titles will recognize her warm and inviting colored pencil drawing style in 1-2-3 Draw Ocean Life. After introducing basic shapes and fish vocabulary, she includes whales and dolphins, sea turtle, squid and octopus, crab and shrimp, starfish, sea cucumber and jellyfish, and much more.

In addition to their subject-matter appeal, the simplicity of many of the colorful drawings makes success easy for younger, less experienced artists, while at the same time the more challenging subjects (an eel and a shark twisting away from the viewer), subtle colors and shading will engage those with more finely-honed skills. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Great for young artists to be
Great product for kids that wish to learn to draw without expensive art lessons.My daughter, age 9 has several books and is creating a wonderful folder of art and bonus I can even draw and my talents are very limited.

Practical Step-by-Step Guide
Through the use of basic shapes like circles, ovals and triangles, children can learn to draw a variety of creatures from the sea. You can start with easy sea shells and move on to the more complex shrimp and octopus.

The Clown fish begins with a simple oval and the instructions take you through a instructional and visual journey. All the steps are sketched out making the drawings super fun and easy to copy. A pencil, eraser and colored pencils are all you need. You could also paint the final drawings.

The pictures include a cute Sea Horse, Sea Turtles, Crab, Shrimp, Coral Reef Fish, Dolphins, Whales, Anemones and many more...

1-2-3 Draw books are perfect for new artists learning about the basics of drawing and this book will provide hours of fun activities. Once you learn how to draw the sea creatures, you can then put them all in one picture with a coral reef.

~The Rebecca Review

1-2-3 books are all great
Having been introduced to the 1-2-3 books at our local library, I was excited to see the ocean life being released as the aquarium is one of our children's favorite places to visit.They love to draw the different types of sea creatures and the way that the illustrations are broken down, even very young children can create a fish that resembles the actual creature.I love all the 1-2-3 books and we use them regularly. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the paperback edition of the great pop-paleontology book with the fabulous art that inspired a show that toured the nation's natural history museums. In its own way it has inspired many people to take a new look at the fossil record and imagine creatures and things as they might have been—a blend of word and image unlike any other. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A story of life, the sea...fossils...Planet Earth!
I bought this book essentially to serve as additional curriculum support to my 'Science & The Art of Discovery' workshop designed for kids, 8-12. I have kept it in the office library where the kids can have ready access.

Participating kids often like to take out the book to browse. I often find them transfixed with awe.

The book is a wonderful visual & intellectual treat. The printed text integrates natural history, paleontology, geology, & biology into a wholistic narrative about the origins of all life on earth.

I like to conclude this review with a quotation from the book: "We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started. And know the place for the first time. (T S Elliot, 'Four Quartets')"

I would enthusiastically recommend this entertaining book to your kids, particularly when they have an interest in science.

As good as palaeontology gets! Sagan would be proud! A+
The late Carl Sagan thought that science should be "user-friendly," presented not in jargon but in regular English. He believed that the general public could -- and should -- have access to the latest scientific discoveries.

Sagan would be proud of _Planet Ocean._ The central theme of the book is stated clearly on page 1: "Nature is a workshop, not a temple." Matsen spends the rest of the book supporting this concept, explaining that life is not a stately, well-executed design where species climb a ladder of progress; rather, evolution is an inescapable and completely random condition. Animals and plants breed, have offspring that are slightly different, and continue to become slightly more different with each successive generation until the distant grandkids look nothing like the original parent. In addition, through totally weird, sometimes avoidable and sometimes unavoidable circumstances, the species as a whole will either do very well, or get pushed out of the scene. The environment works like the stock market -- fortunes are made, and fortunes are lost. (The metaphor of "rolling the dice" comes up more than once.)

Matsen's prose is engaging, entertaining, and extremely informative. In one of my favorite sections, he describes the success of the trilobites (who survived for 300 million years in Earth's oceans):

"They would eat anything and breed anywhere, and they made themselves as unattractive to predators as possible. We all have relatives like them. From [trilobites] and their success and longevity, an evolutionary rule of thumb has emerged: 'The more specialized a species, the less able to cope with change it will be once the inevitable happens and old habitats change beyond the point of recognition' [...]. In other words, generalists usually outlast specialists, and evolutionary progress is not necessarily a matter of refinement. [...] Ninety percent of success is just showing up. Ask an arthropod, like a trilobite or a cockroach. [...] Generalism won't get you to Carnegie Hall with your cello, but a cockroach doesn't need a cello." (p. 14).

This conversational tone is used throughout the book, and it really works. Matsen's prose reminds one of an after-class discussion with a very generous, patient biology teacher -- the kind you always wished you had, and didn't. Matsen takes otherwise very difficult subject matter and explains it in understandable terms that don't insult the intelligence of the reader. He even suggests amusing mnemonics to remember the order of epochs in the Palaezoic and Mesozoic eras ("Crying over sleeping dragons may puzzle people, terrify, (or) joyfully convert") as well as for the Cenozoic era ("Palaeontologists eat only murky plankton porridge hot").

Interwoven with the education that Matsen offers is the story of his and artist Ray Troll's voyage of discovery. Brad and Ray actually travelled to many of the sites discussed in the book, and the little personal touches -- Brad's vision of the Cretacious sea as they drove across Kansas, Ray's discovery and naming of a totally new species of pterasaur, and the fishing trips enjoyed by both -- really draw in the reader. One becomes intimate with the friendly voice, the casual, personal stories, and history of life on Earth.

Not to be missed, of course, is the wonderful art. Ray Troll is a meticulous artist, and his offbeat sense of humor is perfectly in place with the spirit of the book. For example, his illustration of a lungfish's hesitant voyage out of water is captioned, "Out of the ooze and born to cruise." Not to be missed are his "ads" for a wrist watch that measures geologic time; Burgess Brand Primordial Soup; and that great French wine, Chateau Mosasaur. Doodles, sketches, and highly detailed pastel paintings are strewn throughout, and they are worth the price of the book by themselves. (Interested readers can preview some of Ray's art at his homepage, www.trollart.com)

This book is an excellent introduction to evolution, palaeontology, marine biology, and/or marine science. Alternately light and serious, one is sorry to finish the book. It -- like the 650 million year history it encapsulates -- is such a joy to experience. Highly recommended.

Evolution gets its start
Brad Matsen and Ray Troll's "Planet Ocean" is a lively swim through the fossil record, beginning at the beginning 650 million years ago in the watery depths.

Troll's whimsical illustrations accompany Matsen's humorously accessible explanations of what we've learned - and think we've learned - from the earliest fossils. Matsen traces evolution from the primordial soup to the first colonies of multicellular organisms to the ubiquitous trilobytes- "the most diverse and successful animals on Planet Ocean until the Permian extinction claimed the last of them."

He discusses the engineering that went into chambers (the nautilus) and hard shells and the arrival of backbones and speculates (with the experts) on the role of extinctions in evolution, including our own.

Although he sometimes demolishes or supports theories without sufficient scientific explanation, Matsen's watery perspective is well-organized and refreshing and Troll's drawings and paintings are as likely to be detailed and informative as they are fanciful and quirky.

A beautiful, well-written view of past life in the ocean!
This book was a pleasure to read- even though it was mostly facts (and this is coming from a teenager)!Sure, I love learning about evolution and fossils, but I rarely sit down to read long, boring books about it.But this book is fresh, colorful, full of information, and INTERESTING!!!I congratulate the author and illustrator for putting out such a masterpiece!It is sure to recruit paleontologists for the next generation! ... Read more

Product Description
Whales, sharks, and dolphins are just a few of the strange and amazing creatures that live in the sea.Each ocean animal ­ from a tiny coral shrimp to an enormous squid ­ is an important part of the ocean environment. See close-up pictures of krill and the mouth of a cookiecutter shark like none before! ... Read more

Product Description
This colorful book for young readers follows a hermit crab as it searches the Florida reef for a new shell to inhabit while it grows. As the crab hunts for a shell, she encounters an array of marine life on the reef, including shrimp, a school of sturgeonfish, starfish, and jellyfish. The book ends with facts about currents, climate change and how it affects our reefs, and things you can do to make a difference. The endsheets feature a map of bleached reefs and world currents. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Beauty of Reefs and Oceans
This beautifully illustrated book takes children on a trip across the reef where they learn the habits of the hermit crab and his fellow inhabitants of the reef. Through Mason's amazing illustrations and informative text young readers will learn more about the fragility and importance of coral reefs. The glossary will help them define new words relating to the sea as well as giving them important facts about the endangered coral reefs. Both entertaining and educational, this book will make readers of all ages passionate about helping to preserve our reefs and oceans.

Fantastic Book!
I just finished reading this book with my Godson.He was fascinated by the beautiful pictures, and we learned so much about the ocean and the creatures that live on the reef through the story of a hermit crab searching for a new shell.

He picked up interesting facts on each page, and when we got to the end of the story, we found a glossary that told us more about each of the creatures that we read about!

I recommend this book, particularly as a teaching tool for our children to become interested and learn more about the ocean and the reefs and what we can all do to make sure that they are still as beautiful and lively as they are today for generations to come! ... Read more

Product Description
What's the difference between a lizard and a salamander? Can you guess why poison dart frogs are so colorful? What's so funny about a clown fish? And what in the world is an anemone? REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS and OCEAN LIFE are the newest titles in the Blue Zoo Guides series. Close-up photos, charming illustrations, and a clever ruler for measuring the animals will make these big books a sure-fire hit with young animal lovers. ... Read more

Product Description
Changes in climate and sea level are nothing new - over the last 700 million years, the Earth has been slowly but constantly changing from within. We now know that our planet's surface, far from being fixed or stable, is composed of tectonic plates in continual movement, drifting in oceans which themselves appear and disappear over millennia. Such insecurity lies at the heart of both the physical and the living world, providing the creative impetus for all life forms to confront change, adapt and evolve.

This exceptional book celebrates the inevitability of global change and highlights our need as human beings to recognize and adjust to it. Its entertaining and accessible text displays a remarkable breadth and diversity of knowledge, drawing upon discoveries in natural history, geology, geography and paleontology to unravel secrets of millions of years. Its unique structure offers the opportunity to pursue two distinct but parallel narratives in one volume - the first characterized by discrete photo-essay spreads, and the second by authoritative running text illustrated with clearly numbered icons. Designed either to be browsed through like a website or read in chronological sequence, each chapter provides a fascinating glimpse into the formation and development of our world.

Glorious panoramic photography by the author, a specialist in interpretive landscape, reveals the physical legacy of the Earth s distant past. This intriguing exploration of key sites, often remote and inaccessible, provides a clear and original perspective on the Earth as a dynamic, interactive planet. The compelling narrative by a bestselling science writer places the history of our planet in a challenging contemporary context in which human beings, like all living things, must embrace change or fail to survive. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A unique and compelling history of earth
Although I'm a scientist and I love the outdoors, I had only a rudimentary knowledge of geology/earth sciences before reading this book.Origins interweaves the history of the earth's continents, climate, and the evolution of life, and explains with clarity how they are interconnected.A running theme is that change has been, and will remain, a hallmark of our planet.Continents move.Ice advances and retreats.And life is always adapting.

The issue of man-made climate change is touched upon, but Redfern's primary goal is to elucidate the inevitable longer-term forces at play.For instance, it is nearly certain that Earth will re-enter a glacial period within the next couple of thousand years -- a tiny time frame by geological standards.

But, what makes this book truly compelling is the photography.The author utilizes dramatic landscape (and ice-scape) photography to tell the story of Earth's history.Origins serves as a non-technical science book AND a beautiful piece of art for the coffee table.

And, no, I have no connection to the author.I'm just very impressed with this book.

Like being there through words and pictures
I can't add anymore about content than what has already been said.This is an excellent introduction to anyone interested in the Plate Tectonic history of the Earth.

The narrative along with the excellent images went a long way in helping clarify the dance that the continents have been doing for the last 4.6 billion years.

I kept an Earth globe with me along with several other paleo-maps I've collected over the years.They all helped in keeping track of what the author was refering to in each chapter.

I'm really glad that he took the time in laying out the early part of the Earth's geologic history and made only a fairly brief mention of mans time on the planet.It could have been even shorter that it was, but for the most part he kept it reasonable.

I am a retired USGS Geologist/Scientific Illustrator, and have read and Illustrated many USGS publications.I only wish I could have been involved in the preparation of this book.

Plate Tectonics
This is, without doubt, the best review of plate tectonics yet published.I'm surprised that more has not been popularly written about this subject than has been.

A Unique Approach to Earth Systems Understanding
I have had the priveledge of close association with the author, Ron Redfern, throughout the writing, organization and photographic activities that support this publication. In acareer of geology-based endeavors, I have never enjoyed a more unique, thorough and emminently readable portrayal of the interlocking sciences that result in the Earth's evolutionary history. This is a complex subject. However, the author has made the 700 million year trip a pleasure. The beautiful, panoramic photography, the interweaving of summary-level essays, and meticulously time-based text, lavishly supported by color illustrations, gives the reader a multi-disciplinary view of not only our planet's geologic evolution, but also its close association with meteorological events and the evolution of life. The reader will want to read and re-read this book. A wonderful adventure, every time, with new perspectives of "how things work" discovered on each page.

M.M. Thacker
Geologist

President, the La Mancha Company (consulting)

A paleo-archologist's point of view
One of many subjects treated here is the initial colonization of the New World, which has been the subject of often vitriolic scholarly debate for the past two decades. In this book Ron Redfern has managed to distill the essence of that debate in a highly readable fashion and shows how new data has dramatically altered our previous reconstructions of the timing and modes of arrival and dispersal of the first Americans. As always, the environment remains the dynamic stage upon which the prehistoric actors of antiquity operated-a theme which permeates the entire volume.
Prof. James M. Adovasio: Exec.Director: Mercyhurst Archeological Institute: Erie, PN ... Read more

Product Description
Discusses the characteristics that insure the survival of plants and animals in the sea. ... Read more

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Secrets?Bryn O'Connor is good at keeping secrets. But when a car accident reveals her boyfriend's abusive behavior, the truth is unleashed. And it starts a tidal wave of trouble in Bryn's life: enemies who were once friends, a restraining order violation, and her world unraveled. If that weren't enough, her grandmother Mim arrives, attempting Mexican cuisine and insisting that Bryn try surfing. It's all too much! Even Bryn's habit of daydreaming won't offer an escape this time. But could a mysterious book she found hold the secret to riding a tsunami like her life? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent novel, highly recommended
"Boyfriends, Burritos & An Ocean of Trouble" is a young adult novel with some romance that also deals with serious, real life teen issues. I loved it. I very highly recommend it to teen girls and adult women. This is the second book in the "Real Life" series, but you can read them in any order without missing information or spoiling the other books in the series.

The world-building was excellent in all areas and brought the story alive in my imagination. I liked the characters. They acted realistically and dealt with realistic, hard problems. I really cared about what happened to Bryn and the other main characters, so I had a hard time putting the novel down. The suspense/tension kept building throughout the story as the situation kept getting worse and worse. Despite the tough issues, the book was realistic but encouraging rather than depressing.

This was definitely a novel intended for Christians. Bryn found a strange, "RL" book with stories from the Bible about Jesus but they seemed written just for her and the situation she's going through. The Christian element was a main part of the story, but I didn't feel like the author was lecturing the reader or Bryn. It was just...comforting and challenging.

The minimal bad language was of the "he said a five letter word" type. There was no sex. Overall, I highly recommend this as a touching, well-written, clean novel.

I received this book from the publisher as a review copy.

Eye-Opening, Entertaining and Inspiring
First of all, I would like to extend a heartfelt "Thank you" to Nancy Rue and her publisher for sending me a copy of "Boyfriends, Burritos and An Ocean of Trouble" to review for them. I am truly grateful for this generosity. I really appreciate the time, effort and expense it takes to make a reviewer copy available to me.

My 16-year old daughter is in the bathtub, fully clothed, and crying.She is nursing a broken heart with a book.When she explains to me, "I don't know why I'm crying because this book isn't sad," she starts crying and laughing at the same time.

"Boyfriends, Burritos and an Ocean of Trouble" by Nancy Rue is another work of teen fiction that I can recommend. Brynn, our teen heroine, learns about life and love and herself as she experiences things that no one - especially not a teen girl - should ever face.An abusive relationship and an automobile accident lead to a visit from Brynn's grandmother, who brings a bit of Hawaii with her in the form of teaching the girl to surf and really get to know herself.

This is a fabulous novel that really captured my daughter's attention and gave her a positive outlook on how to handle some horrific problems.It also led to some significant discussion between us so that I understand a bit more about what she and her friends face on a daily basis.Things are definitely not like they used to be. This will change how I pray for her.What a positive affect for a book to have!

Real Life -- it can include some not-so-nice things too.
The strange book mentioned in the title is the RL (Real Life) book that each girl reads while dealing with her real-life issues (as opposed to a fantasy adventure or historical fiction). This series provides a wholesome alternative to other series in popular literature, contemporary teen fiction.

In Boyfriends, Burritos& an Ocean of Trouble (Real Life), Bryn has been good at keeping secrets, even about her boyfriend's abusive behavior. When a car accident reveals the truth and unleashes trouble, her friends don't believe her, and her world unravels.

Her athlete boyfriend and friends blame her for the accident. When she decides to tell the truth and press charges, she is alienated by them. Her grandmother arrives to help her live through the process of going to court, and teaches her how to surf and make Mexican cuisine. She learns that telling the truth has a price as she faces name calling, threats, and more.

Like Jessie, she also finds a mysterious RL book that could hold the secret to riding out the tidal wave her life has become since the car accident. Through it, she learns about Yeshua, the main character, and the book seems to meet her where she is at, emotionally and spiritually.

This book can be easily read by students 5th grade and up. It's not a heavy book that promises false hope, but one that shows how a real girl faces her personal demons and tries to search for spiritual significance. In the next book Boyfriends, Burritos& an Ocean of Trouble (Real Life)), it is an abusive relationship and what happens when you stand up for the truth. In the first book, Motorcycles, Sushi& One Strange Book (Real Life), it is dealing with ADHD and a dysfunctional family.

5 stars for an excellent read -- can't wait to read the 3rd book, coming out in the fall! I'm passing my copy on to a middle school friend.

----Taken from review published in CHRISTIAN LIBRARY JOURNAL (April 2010). ... Read more

Product Description
A Learning Bank of Information and Irresistible Activities That Teach About This Fascinating Nonfiction Topic
Everything you need to teach ocean life!
Take a field trip the ocean floor! Both teachers and students will love this one-stop resource filled with photos, information, and lots of learning-rich activities such as non-fiction mini-books, fact cards, puppets, easy science experiments, games, research projects, and more. Includes a pull-out poster. ... Read more

Product Description
Telling the story of the greatest sailor of them all, "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" is a vivid and definitive biography of Columbus that details all of his voyages that, for better or worse, changed the world. 50 drawings, maps & charts; 4 fold-outs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Exhaustive and lengthy
Well researched and written tome on Christopher Columbus.It is thorough to the point of excessive and gets to be slow a points but the information included is well presented.The obvious pro Columbus bias is present, but the reader understands this in advance and can adjust as necessary.The research done included the actual sailing of similar ships along the most possible route Columbus took.Another negative during this time is the nautical jargon used by the author which is hard to understand.Morison writes with the understanding that any reader interested in Columbus will identify with the technical verbiage, but he does attempt to simplify the terms without being condescending.Despite these minor bumps in the road, this book is well worth the time to understand Columbus and the rediscovery of America.

Worth my time
My quick summary of Morison's Columbus...

Politician -- useless
Administrator -- dismal
Navigator and Seaman -- heroic

I tried to tackle this book in chunks, which made it much longer to read.But it gave me the time to really read it.

Morison set out to resail the Columbus voyages in 2 boats very similar in draft (if not tonnage) to what Columbus used.He pinpointed the bays, harbors, and landfalls as described in Columbus's journals (and the letters and journals of others who sailed with COlumbus), and as a result, the book is entirely credible on the sailing portions of the book.Morison's admiration for Columbus's feats of navigation seems boundless.

There is quite a lot of sailing terminology to absorb throughout the book, and it takes time.Morison has included excellent maps for each Voyage, as well as coastline maps that illustrate very well what Columbus accomplished.

The book makes clear that, while Columbus was a plain genius on the sea, in port was entirely another story.His attempts at administering New World colonies were disastrous (for natives and Spaniards, alike), and his efforts to win favor at Court first in Portugal and then in Spain were lame.Morison likens Columbus to the Biblical David trying to please Saul and always falling further into disfavor (p. 516).

The beginning of the book (about Columbus's origins and early years) addresses controversies about the man that I didn't even know existed.Morison essentially pooh-poohs rumors about Columbus's origins, effectively pins his family down in Genoa for several generations, and explains how Columbus became an ocean-going man and chart-maker.The book is convincing that Columbus is who he is.

Morison's style can be grating.At times, it was like having the M*A*S*H character Charles Emerson Winchester III read aloud some tedious part of his own diary.Bleah.You get the impression that Morison is one of those snobbish, ivory-tower academic elitists until you remember that this guy MADE THESE OCEAN CROSSINGS, which is not a wimpy undertaking.And then you read his perspective on America's coming war with the Axis powers (this book was done in 1939 and 1940), and it puts him in a more favorable light.For example, p. 493 has this (discussing the native Taino population of Hispaniola):

"The fate of this gentle and almost defenseless people offers a terrible example to Americans who fancy they will be allowed to live in peace by people overseas who covet what they have."[My note: if you are one of the people whose wealth is going to get "spread around" by new American policies, then this goes double for you.]

And this gem, when discussing Columbus's mishandling of the rebellion of some of his own men:

"The only way to handle tough fellows is to be a little tougher than they are."

This biography honors Columbus as a man of action, a heroic mariner, and an expert seaman.That is enough for me.

How Times Have Changed For Cristobal Colon
Morison wrote this fine book in honor of the 450'th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America. I think Morison would be surprised at how people's perceptions of the event have changed in the decades since.
First off, let me say that the book is well worth reading. Morison was a man of the sea himself and he sailed in the same waters as Columbus.We see in the book how Columbus was a master seaman as well as being a great salesman, but on the other hand he was a poor geographer and even worse politician.The Portuguese were right in turning down his proposal for the Enterprise of the Indies, their geographers knew that Columbus was way off the mark regarding the distance from Europe to East Asia.In any event, they were making good progress down Africa and they felt it was just a matter of time until they found the bottom of the continent and the entrance to the Indian Ocean.

I would now like to address the change in fortune for Columbus's reputation.

(1) People now like to say that he didn't "discover" America.One reason is because there were already people (the American Indians) there, but that is simply world-games. Of course he "discovered" it, no one in Europe or Asia knew about it, and the Indians didn't know about Europe or Asia either. Secondly, the fact that Columbus wasn't necessarily the first to cross the Atlantic doesn't change anything. The Vikings who reached North America simply viewed it as another Arctic land and had no idea of the geographical relationship of this new continent to the rest of the world. In any event, they didn't exploit their discovery in the long run, only Columbus's voyage led to that. It is also speculated that Portuguese fisherman were crossing the Atlantic before Columbus, after all, they discovered the Azores already in the 1420's (already one-third of the way across the Atlantic) but we don't know if they sighted the continent, and even if they did, they, like the Vikings didn't do anything to exploit their knowledge.

(2) People say that he is responsible for the destruction of the Indian society that existed on Hispaniola. It certainly wasn't his original intention to do this. He wanted to convert the natives to Christianity, so killing them off wouldn't help this mission.Morison himself points out that Columbus did contribute to this tragedy, but even if Columbus had been more careful, I think the Indians would have had the same fate.The settlers that came in the wake of the discovery brought new plants and animals in addition to previously unknown diseases and all these things would have grievously damaged the Indians agricultural system and society.Add to this the Spaniard's missionary religion which no doubt was attractive to at least some of the native population and we see that things could just not remain the same.
(3) Some people claim the pre-Columbian New World was some sort of paradise that the Europeans ruined. This is also knows as the myth of the "noble savage".Unfortunatley it is just a myth because human nature is the same all over the world. Greed, cruelty, avarice and the such are not just European or Western traits. The Carib tribes who inhabited the Caribbean Sea (and gave it its name) were very warlike and fought other, more peaceful tribes.Similarly, the Mexica (also knows as the Aztec) the Hernan Cortes conquered in the wake of Columbus was hated by its Indian neighbors for supressing them and taking prisoners for the human sacrificial system.Thus, we should be more realistic in evaluating the pre-Columbian societies and remove the "politically correct" rose-colored glasses.

(3) While it is true that slaves from Africa were brought over to Hispaniola, it must be remembered that the European slave traders who brought them over to the New World did not land in West Africa and grab natives "off the streets". They bought them from local African chiefs who captured prisoners in their local wars and then sold them to the Europeans. Thus, regarding the cruelty of the slavery system, there is plenty of blame to go around and not just to the white men involved.

All-in-all, this is a very enjoyable book to read about a man, who perhaps more than any other single person, brought about the most massive revolution in human history.

Excellent work
Morison's pulitzer prize winning work is an engaging, balanced, well written look at the life of the great explorer. The emphasis of the book is on Columbus, the mariner.(Morrison, a Harvard professor with a sailing background, actually retraced Columbus journeys in his own sailing craft). I was interested in finding a fair and objective historical biography of Columbus (without all the negative, politically correct, anti-European propoganda that permeates the thinking of modern leftist academics).In my opinion, this book provides it. I would highly recommend this work for students of history, who want to gain a better appreciation of the nature and significance of Columbus Voyages.

"Adelante! Adelante!" (Land! Land!)
"Admiral of the Ocean Sea", Samuel Morison's 1942 Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Christopher Columbus, is still considered by many to be the best there is. Morison spent 2 years on a sailboat re-tracing Columbus' voyages bringing a first hand immediacy and perspective that gives it unusual authority on all technical aspects of sailing and navigation. In addition Morison was a Harvard history professor whose research of the written record is impeccable. Even before Columbus died in the early 16th century, there have been countless controversies and debates about many aspects of his life and voyages. Into this maelstrom of legend, myth and folklore - like the discover he writes about - Morison brings order, calm and reliable passage for one of the most fascinating and mythological figures of World History. ... Read more

Product Description
This unrivalled field guide covers over 1,400 species of the most common forms of marine life that inhabit our coasts - including the invertebrates, fish, reptiles, mammals birds and plants. The book documents a selection of these, concentrating on the most frequently encountered species living in the intertidal zone and in shallow subtidal waters that can readily be explored by scuba divers.

There is a particular focus on open-coast beaches and rocky shores, and aquatic estuarine animals and plants are also covered. Fish that are commonly seen in tidal pools or by divers, or those frequently caught by angers are included, as are smaller rock-pool fish. It will meet the needs of scientists, students, fishermen, scuba divers and beachcombers alike, encapsulating current knowledge and enabling the identification of diverse species, fromsponges to whales and from seaweeds to mangroves. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Book - very practical and informative!
One of the best books covering sea life around Southern Africa!Very practical and informative with excellent photographs enabling easy identification of fish, corals, plants, sponges, et.al. Thanx for abrilliant book! ... Read more

Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: Little, Brown, and company in 1908 in 383 pages; Subjects: Voyages and travels; Seafaring life; History / General; Sports & Recreation / Sailing; Transportation / Ships & Shipbuilding / General; Travel / Essays & Travelogues; ... Read more

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Young readers dive into non-fiction with the help of these vibrant books about the intriguing world of marine life. ... Read more

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Changes in climate and sea level are nothing new; over the last 700 million years, the Earth has been slowly but constantly changing from within. This fascinating story of our planet explores how continents have come and gone, climate patterns have altered and a multitude of life forms battled for survival in an unstable environment. The entertaining and accessible text displays a remarkable breadth and diversity of knowledge, drawing on discoveries in natural history, geology, geography and palaeontology to unravel the secrets of millions of years. Glorious panoramic photography of key sites reveals the physical legacy of the Earth's volatile past in a striking celebration of inevitable global change. ... Read more