Oceana

Our Planet's Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do to Save Them

By: Ted Danson, Michael D'Orso

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Most people know Ted Danson as the affable bartender Sam Malone in the long-running television series Cheers. But fewer realize that over the course of the past two and a half decades, Danson has tirelessly devoted himself to the cause of heading off a looming global catastrophe---the massive destruction of our planet's oceanic biosystems and the complete collapse of the world's major commercial fisheries.

In Oceana, Danson details his journey from joining a modest local protest in the mid-1980s to oppose offshore drilling near his Southern California neighborhood to his current status as one of the world's most influential oceanic environmental activists, testifying before congressional committees in Washington, D.C., addressing the World Trade Organization in Zurich, Switzerland, and helping to found Oceana, the largest organization in the world focused solely on ocean conservation. In his incisive, conversational tone, Danson describes what has happened to our oceans in just the past half-century, ranging from the ravages of overfishing and habitat destruction to the devastating effects of ocean acidification and the wasteful horrors of fish farms. Danson also shares the stage of Oceana with some of the world's most respected authorities in the fields of marine science, commercial fishing, and environmental law, as well as with other influential activists. In vivid, personal prose, Oceana powerfully illustrates the impending crises and offers solutions that may allow us to avert them, showing you the specific courses of action you can take to become active, responsible stewards of our planet's most precious resource---its oceans.

©2011 Ted Danson and Michael D'Orso (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Matching outrage with humor and hope, Danson provides inspiration and realistic guidelines for ending oceanic pillaging and poisoning in this engaging, alluringly illustrated volume." ( Booklist)

Just boring; info is fine.

Very bland book. Which is fine. The information is fine. Though it’s not presented in any way that some who doesn’t already agree will assent and feel any desire to change. It’s more like a summary of ocean problems for those that already care.

A subject that must be read about

What did you love best about Oceana?

The information was great

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I like Kramer in "The Zen of Motorcycle Maintenance" but his voice in this book did not add to the excitement that this subject needed. Biggest distraction.