The Ocean of Life

The Fate of Man and the Sea

By: Callum Roberts

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

A Silent Spring for oceans, written by "the Rachel Carson of the fish world" (New York Times)

Who can forget the sense of wonder with which they discovered the creatures of the deep? In this vibrant hymn to the sea, Callum Roberts - one of the world’s foremost conservation biologists - leads listeners on a fascinating tour of mankind’s relationship to the sea, from the earliest traces of water on Earth to the oceans as we know them today. In the process, Roberts looks at how the taming of the oceans has shaped human civilization and affected marine life.

We have always been fish eaters, from the dawn of civilization, but in the last 20 years we have transformed the oceans beyond recognition. Putting our exploitation of the seas into historical context, Roberts offers a devastating account of the impact of modern fishing techniques, pollution, and climate change, and reveals what it would take to steer the right course while there is still time. Like Four Fish and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, The Ocean of Life takes a long view to tell a story in which each one of us has a role to play.

©2012 Callum Roberts (P)2012 Gildan Media LLC

Critic reviews

"An engrossing survey of the relationship between man and the sea for listeners living through the greatest environmental changes in 65 million years.... Roberts’ meditation will have listeners gasping aloud with wonder, even as the sobering truth of humans’ profound interdependence with the sea provokes concern." ( Publishers Weekly)

Superb book, and tremendously educational

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I recommend this book regularly. It covers the major issues pertaining to the oceans, and does so in an authoritative and accessible way.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Ocean of Life?

The stories about the impacts of overfishing and sound pollution.

What does Sean Pratt bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He's a fabulous narrator. I have listened to another book by him, and he does an outstanding job. Very listenable and very clear.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No.

Immediate fan of Mr Roberts

Hair-raising, but necessary read if you care about oceans and seas, even if that care is primarily of aesthetic or culinary kind.
Highly recommend this book if you want to understand the real state of the marine environment and make a meaningful contribution to reducing pressure on it. Choose fish and seafood low in food web - anchovies, sardines, farmed mussels and clams (not dredged by trawlers).
There’s a reason that onshore we eat chickens and cows, not bears and lions. Leave the bears and lions of the sea - Chilean sea bass, salmon, and the like - to recover from our appetites. Even ones raised in aquaculture must eat fish caught in the sea - which is mildly insane.

Mr Roberts other books are also fantastic - I am currently listening The Unnatural History of the Sea - and it’s very good (if significantly more depressing).

Must listen for nature and marine lover's

While the message of this audio book is sad, because of all the lost of marine life that is talked about in this book, it has a great message that everyone who lives nature and/or the ocean needs to have.

must read!

this is a book that will change a lot of your perceptions of the ocean as well as the world and will inspire change in even the most apathetic of harts. it can be sad and depressing at times and I had the lissen at 3 times the speed because of the slow speech but it is an important message

MUST READ!

Essential for anyone who eats seafood or lives by a coast. Which is almost all of us, really. Listen and learn!