More praise for Song for the Blue Ocean

“I hereby nominate Carl Safina to be the person in charge of telling us what’s really going on in the world … . He is an ecologist with the soul of a poet … . The book is a page-turner … . Prescient and powerful … Safina has done what I could only dream about: he has written a plaintive, sensitive, caring, intelligent, indignant paean to his beloved waters and their threatened habitats.”

—Richard Ellis, Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Engrossing and illuminating … Passionate and enthralling narrative … What elevates his book above the usual environmental tract and makes it so compelling and involving is that he is genuinely besotted by fish, and his enthusiasm is infectious.”

—Thurston Clarke, The New York Times Book Review

“A haunting melody. A howl. A lament. And at times, a dirge. Song for the Blue Ocean is all of these, and much more. What Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring did to spur public outrage over pesticides, we can only hope Carl Safina’s magnificent, profoundly disturbing book will do to halt overfishing and the catastrophic depletion of marine species.”

—Barbara Lloyd McMichael, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Environmental writing sometimes shuns the human side of things. Safina’s focus on real people—men and women afraid for their livelihood—is one of the unexpected strengths of a book rich in science and natural observation.”

—Civilization

“Everywhere he goes, Safina finds testimony to the enchantments of the living sea and the pleasure it brings to those who sense its grace … . Invaluable … [Song for the Blue Ocean’s] poetic and powerful reenchantment of nature makes it great.”

—James William Gibson, The Washington Post

“Carl Safina’s moving portrait of our remarkable and endangered water planet is a message of warning and of hope: If we act now, there is time left to leave our children a living planet. As a new century dawns, Song for the Blue Ocean will help inspire progress toward that most critical end.”

—Kathryn Fuller, director, World Wildlife Fund

“Safina’s thought-provoking narrative describes species, sketches local history, and introduces the key players to tell their sides of the story. His moral is clear: marine scientists can no longer stand aside and merely monitor what’s happening to the seas. Their special knowledge and professional passivity (which they call ‘objectivity’) make them as accountable and liable for the damage being done as the most aggressive gilnetters, longliners, purse-seiners or cyanide fishermen … . A must-read for anyone concerned about the future of marine fisheries.”

—George Reiger, conservation editor,
Field and Stream and Salt Water Sportsman magazines

“Sad, serious, wondrous, wise, provocative, funny, full of adventure, but above all, Song for the Blue Ocean is inspirational. You will never think about fish—or the ocean—the same way again after Carl Safina works his magical way with you in this action-packed saga. Carl Safina is to the sea what Aldo Leopold was to the land—an articulate visionary.”

—Sylvia Earle, chief scientist emeritus,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association

“Carl Safina’s firsthand account of the plight of our oceans is both authoritative and impassioned, revealing the human side, and costs, of our use of the sea. This is the most readable and compelling book on ocean conservation to date.”

—Julia Packard, executive director, Monterey Aquarium