I have a soft spot for illustrated encyclopedia-type books and this one was no exception. It follows the lineage of including focused stories that everyone from the non-science lay reader to the college graduate with a biology degree (as opposed to many modern popular science encyclopedias, which are virtually all photos with some generic text that shadows the might of a dozen Zoobooks).

The journey travels all the major oceans and seas, ecosystems within those waters, species profiles, major human-environment issues, and more.

What was special for me, a land lubber, was how well the author described the subsurface world. It has grass meadows, mangrove forests, corals, trenches, life between ice, Sargasso. Essentially I got to see the ocean a second world with every bit as much habitat diversity as land. It wasn't the blob of water that had stuff in it. I easily marked a plethora of pages to come back to so I can use those specific topics to spur research projects that I can write for my blog. I haven't had a book like that in a while.

It can be slow to read at the beginning. This isn't Douglas Adam's Last Chance to See--the reader has to be entertained by learning the content and not the author's effort to charm. That said, the sheer volume of niche topics and renewed perspective will definitely keep the true nature nerd occupied from start to finish.

Taste of trivia? Oil spills may be bad, but they are sporadic and seem disproportionately bad because of media sensationalism. What's every bit as bad, constant, and under the radar? Every ship out there not spilling enough to catch headlines. All ships leak, just like cars. Together they poison the waters moderately more than famous spills. ( )