Seven Tenths Book

This is a very good read. At first I was a bit put off by the author's literary style. He tended to over do some of his similes, analogies and image portrayals. The first chapter is a largely technical treatise (aboard a British vessel doing sea floor mapping for USGS), so I guess he wanted to keep the interest of his technophobic readers but it just seemed too flowery at times. I am always glad when I stay with a book that might otherwise send me away and it turns out to be worth the stay. The author eventually settles in to his theme and every chapter provided to me a new way to consider various topics on the oceans theme.
p. 33 "It could be argued that the Old Testament story of Genesis was less a matter of creation than of naming, ... [god] uttered some solid nouns ..."

His chapter on "Islands and Boundaries" is particularly insightful and interesting. I have been a student of island phenomena for many years, but he manages to make me think about some aspects of islands in ways I hadn't considered.

p. 89 "...coral reefs are true borderlands, abounding in all sorts of ambiguity."

The chapter on Fishing authoritative. He clearly understands the trajectories of the commercial industry. It's even more interesting to me what these trajectories imply about humans as force for good or ill on the planet. It's not pretty either.

p. 207 "In this single century we've slaughtered a thousand times more people than all the Genghis Khans of history put together. Into the bargain we've laid waste to our planet. Not bad going for a mere hundred years."

I never really understood what his "overlay" tale, of a swimmer separated from his boat in the middle of the ocean, is about. It seemed unconnected except for the obvious. It didn't work for me.