Book Review: David Attenborough takes readers to ‘Earth’s Last Wilderness’ in ‘Ocean’

British biologist Sir David Attenborough will celebrate his th birthday two days after the publication of his latest book Ocean Earth s Last Wilderness co-written with long-time BBC collaborator Colin Butfield And I m willing to bet instead of a cake or any gifts he d appreciate it if every nation would sign on to the U N High Seas Treaty and stop exploiting the ocean for short-term gains Ocean is the complementary book to a National Geographic film of the same name available on the Disney family of streaming services It will no doubt be an amazing look at the watery world that makes up two-thirds of this planet s surface and of its habitable area But if you don t want to wait for the main subject - Attenborough s dulcet tones narrating over stunning high-definition images from the deep blue the book serves as a fine appetizer Covering eight unique salt-water habitats Ocean transports readers to coral reefs the deep open ocean kelp forests the Arctic mangroves oceanic islands and seamounts and the Southern Ocean Attenborough begins each chapter with a story from his lifetime of exploration including his first scuba dive in I was so taken aback by the spectacle before me that I momentarily forgot to breathe Butfield picks up the baton from there offering a wealth of scientific facts and history about each habitat Trivia buffs or people who just like to learn new stuff will delight in all the evidence The end of each chapter can prompt a fun match of Did You Know with friends and family For example The average depth of the ocean is meters feet phytoplankton absorb of the carbon dioxide produced by human activity and a blue whale s tongue weighs two tons Despite detailing the impact of global warming throughout the ocean ecosystem the book is not all doom and gloom The authors present a incident inquiry in hope near the end of largest part chapters like the coral reefs of Cabo Pulmo off the coast of Baja California Once teeming with life unrestricted commercial fishing decimated the region in the s But after a local fisherman teamed up with a marine professor to convince the Mexican regime to declare a no-fishing zone and create a marine preserve Cabo Pulmo recovered over the next decade a sign they write that completely leaving parts of the ocean alone creates the limit for it to regenerate Here s hoping that reading or watching Ocean will help raise the level of global awareness required to protect this last wilderness AP book reviews https apnews com hub book-reviews Source