Blue

Seven-tenths of the Earth's surface is covered by water yet, in an era when we can send probes to the outer reaches of the solar system, the oceans remain relatively unknown. The people who have contributed to this book are sea lovers, and their combined knowledge and passion has produced a unique publication. Their stories will take you on a voyage into a universe where fish fly and huge beasts float through a fluid space we struggle to understand. Side-by-side with the text, amazing pictures illustrate these wondrous beasts and the worlds they inhabit. While the contributors to the book hope to share with you the awe they feel when they contemplate the ocean's vastness, they also want to make you aware of the accelerating decimation of this natural wonder. The intensity of our use of our natural environment has become such that there is now hardly any place on the surface of this Earth- even in the depths of the oceans- that has not been altered in some profound way by human activities. We have a chance, and unless we take it, the last great whale will never know that the song he sings is a requiem to his vanished kindred. Only we, the perpetrators of their passing, will mourn for the inhabitants of the once-living seas. Mankind is linked to the ocean, its warm salt flows through our veins. It is part of us, its soul is our soul, its future our own- our duty is to manage it well. So join us on a voyage into the blue. Breathtakingly illustrated and designed, this special and limited edition published in conjunction with UNESCO to celebrate our planet's oceans. It features some of the greatest ocean writers and underwater photographers, among others. Jean Michel Cousteau shares his vast experience in warm blood, cold seas. David Bellamy reports on the beauty of the coral gardens. Buzz Aldrin and Julian Partdrige take us to the unknown in hidden depths.Cousteau, Jean Michel is the author of 'Blue' with ISBN 9780953703203 and ISBN 0953703207.