At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans by Tessa Hill & Eric Simons

Book Review

Title: At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans by Tessa Hill & Eric Simons

Genre: Non-Fiction, Science, Nature

Rating: DNF

At Every Depth is a non-fiction book I have seen around looking at various parts of the ocean which is something that has both fascinated and terrified me. The first part we look at is tide pools which are a small pockets dense with life. However in recent years it has been noted that the species list has changed as cold water species have moved on since the water temperatures have been rising. This is a natural part of the earth’s cycle although the book blames global warming but I don’t buy into it. Tide pools are unique because of the diversity of life found there and how it is changing more frequently than the rest of the ocean but often goes unseen except to the trained eye.

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The second area we look at is reefs. Reefs are brilliant tourist attractions in places like Australia’s Great Barrier Reef but larger coral reefs have been dying of in recent years but thriving in others, pointing once again to the natural cycle of the earth changing ever so slightly resulting in some huge changes. The reef chapter is all about coral reefs which were exciting to learn about. Coral actually lives in a symbiotic relationship with algae which is what gives the coral its colour and coral bleaching doesn’t equal coral death. When bleaching was first observed scientists didn’t have an idea what was causing it but it soon became clear there might be correlation between water temperatures rising and the bleaching event. As mentioned bleaching does mean death, it is just the coral expelling the algae thus losing its coral rendering it white. However, this phenomena reached across the globe even to the most remote coral reefs on the planet making scientists question the reason behind the bleaching. In areas with excessive pollution and overfishing these did contribute to coral death but not in other areas. This is still an area of science that isn’t well known and needs more investigation. As I don’t buy into the climate change theory I think it’s due to the natural progress of warming in the planets cycle.

Next up is the forests which might seem strange in a book about the oceans but there are numerous forests underwater just slightly different to the ones we know on land. There are also forest like mangrove forests that connection the ocean and the land. Hill makes the point that things like kelp forests are just as important to grow and sustain the underwater cycle as regular trees are on land but many overlook because of where they are. It is the old saying of out of sight, out of mind and this has meant the massive decline of several species of kelp has gone completely unseen except by scientists and people need to be more aware of small changes happening throughout the work. Learning about the relationships between the kelp forests and hordes of other life forms was fascinating and peaked my interest for what was to come.

The next chapter focuses on gardens, and this chapter was unfortunately the one that made me give up on this book. There was a major sign I was bored by this book and that was I fell asleep every time I tried to pick it up. While there were some interesting moments it definitely felt extremely repetitive and I ended up DNFing it as 40%.

Buy it here:

Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk                                    amazon.com

Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk                                             amazon.com