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Coral Reefs - Cities Under The Sea by Richard C Murphy
Coral Reefs - Cities Under The Sea by Richard C Murphy
I get to see a lot of coffee-table-style books. They are invariably beautifully reproduced collections of stunning photographs, but they leave me cold. I don't feel the need to put any of them on my bookshelf for future reference, and why is that? Well, they just don't have enough information in them.
Richard C Murphy is a marine biologist and an accomplished underwater photographer. He is also vice-president with responsibility for science and education of Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society. His book Coral Reefs - Cities Under the Sea is full of beautifully reproduced photographs but these are used to support an informative text.
I would go as far as to say that this is a textbook in the guise of a coffee-table volume, and why shouldn't textbooks be both digestible and entertaining? Why shouldn't they be fun?
Even the chapter-headings are dressed up to be appealing. 'Power Plants and Farms' is about the relationships between corals, algae, and sunlight. 'Construction and Public Housing' is about the reef structure and the animals that live within it. 'Public Health' is about reef-living cleaner fish and sponges - the reef's pharmacy. And so on.
It's fascinating stuff. This very readable volume could be used as a primer for everything you need to know about coral reefs.
The opening words of one chapter uses a portentous analogy. It tells us that some coral reef structures are the biggest living things on earth and that some are bigger than the World Trade Centre. And in as much danger, from global-warming, if I may say so.
Don't buy this book for its lavish production, its pretty pictures, or for that heady smell usually reserved for the results of vanity publishing. Enjoy the text, be entertained by the beautifully crafted photographs, and get educated about coral reefs.
As Dr Robert Ginsberg, a respected coral-reef scientist at the University of Miami, says, a book should 'dazzle, inspire and inform'. This one does it for me.
John Bantin
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| Coral Reefs - Cities Under The Sea by Richard C Murphy (Darwin Press, ISBN 087850138X). Hardback, 177pp, $45 |
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