Underwater to Get Out of the Rain: A Love Affair with the Sea [Hardcover]

Marine biologist Norton (Stars Beneath the Sea, 2000, etc.) chronicles his enviable peripatetic life. He grew up in Britain, next to a sullen sea rimmed with coal dust. But underwater, there was gold. The first image he recalls is of a cormorant scooting to the surface, "a dark javelin in a cone of bubbles." There was no looking back for Norton. Water would be his metier. The author here provides shrewd commentary about sponges, anemones, barnacles, sea cucumbers, puffins, limpets, water spiders, coral, sea snakes and kelp. That acuity might be taken for granted, given his reputation, but he also makes intelligent observations about the histories of the regions he visits, a diverse topography including Britain, Sweden, the Canary Islands, Egypt, Yemen, the Philippines and Ireland. He engagingly holds forth on continental drift, the Bermuda Triangle, the strange juju of shipwrecks, the eroticism of the sea world. But he also delivers an elbow to the windpipe regarding humans' degradation of the oceans. Norton claims-and justifies-his air of authority from the fieldwork he has done. He is out there getting wet and dirty, living rough, gathering findings first hand. When he talks about changes in the seascape, readers know that he has seen the before and after. Norton would never suggest that the oceans are anything less than theaters of surprise and wonder, but he reminds us that they are not limitless and recommends some significant remedial behavior to help preserve them. A chattily erudite account of the author's personal pilgrimage. (Kirkus Reviews)

The tender and funny portrait of Norton's discovery of the sea and his exploration of a very British love affair with the seaside. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

On a hot summer's day there could be no quicker transport to the seaside than Trevor Norton's cool and entrancing account of a lifetime's adventures under or near the water. Norton's eye for the bizarre, amazing, and beautiful inhabitants of the oceans, and the eccentric characters who work, study, and live by the shore make his book a wonder-filled experience. An intrepid diver and distinguished scientist, Norton's writing is self-deprecating, very funny, and full of wry and intriguing anecdotes; he is an unfailingly delightful companion. Whether his setting is a bed of jewel anemones in an Irish lough, a giant California cavern shared with sea lions, a mildewed research station, or the glittering coral gardens of Sharm el Sheikh, his captivating prose always finds the mark. Sometimes following the shoreline with earlier beachcombers such as Darwin, John Steinbeck, and George Orwell, Norton also takes the reader to depths where the shapes of creatures living without sunlight defy imagination. Admirers of the gorgeous detail of Rachel Carson's "The Sea Around Us" will revel in Norton's writing, his observations, and irreverent wit.

The tender and funny portrait of Norton's discovery of the sea and his exploration of a very British love affair with the seaside. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Funny and sad stories are woven into a seductive mix of travel, autobiography, history and marine biology. Unlikely topics blend seemlessly in chapters devoted to football and drowning, sardines and Scarlatti, Kalashnikovs and the Queen of Sheba. But above all it is a poetic evocation of magical shores as they once were and a reflection of what they may become. Excursions to the seaside will never be the same again

'Trevor Norton's beautifully written memoir derives much of its power from his literate, witty, luminous prose. This is a book to take to the seaside and to bed' Guardian

'distinguished marine biologist Trevor Norton writes so lyrically that you can taste the salt of his bonding with the oceans' The Times

' a wonderfully readable memoir, full of amazing facts and funny stories, but ultimately an elegy for a fast-disappearing world' Daily Mail

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Trevor Norton is Emeritus Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Liverpool and Director of the Port Erin Marine Laboratory on the Isle of Man. He has authored over 150 scientific publications and books, and is an authority on the history of scientific diving. (20030402) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.