The Edge of the Sea

Book Description

"The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place." A book to be read for pleasure as well as a practical identification guide, The Edge of the Sea introduces a world of teeming life where the sea meets the land. A new generation of readers is discovering why Rachel Carson's books have become cornerstones of the environmental and conservation movements. New introduction by Sue Hubbell. (A Mariner Reissue)

Customer Reviews:

Good on details.......2006-12-10

Carson takes a more detailed look at life on the edge of the sea. Having been near one of the areas she mentnioned helped make the subject matter more personal. However, she didn't drag me into this book like I was when I read some of her other works. I felt it to be a little dull in places, even though the the information was interesting throughout the book. Certainly worth reading if you're looking for an introduction to life on the edge of the ocean.

Simply Beautiful.......2004-05-07

Having never heard of Rachel Carson except in relation to "Silent Spring", I was pleasantly surprised on first reading her writing in this book by the masterly and near-poetic elegance of her prose. Written in the 1950s, before nature documentaries allowed most of us to see the wonders of marine life with our own eyes, Carson's ability to introduce those wonders to us through evocatively-written description alone (with occasional illustrations) remains truly amazing. The problem is that a generation raised on visual stimuli would probably find it quite difficult to sustain enough patience to go through the whole book, since it does make substantial demands on one's sense of imagination. I found myself struggling by the time I had finished two chapters - even though each chapter is generally about a different kind of seashore (rock, sand, or coral reef), trying to visualise one fascinating organism after another just got rather tedious and confusing. My recommendation to other readers would be to maximise your enjoyment of this book by reading it at the seaside, or in conjunction with a relevant documentary on the Discovery Channel.

Informative as a textbook, entertainment like a novel.......2002-03-09

I just finished this and I can't wait to read the rest of the author's work. Carson has a gift for describing the world around her and a command of the language that few seem to appreciate today. This is basically a natural history book written as if it where a novel. In "Edge of the Sea" she describes seashores, the environment and how it defines the animals and plants that a visitor will see. She concentrates on America's East Coast. The text left me with a longing to be there. Where modern writers would use pictures, Carson uses words. This book would be good (4 stars) for anyone who enjoys written imagery. If you already love the sea then it deserves 5.

A Book written By Rachel Carson.......2000-05-30

I thought this book was very mature and detailed. She is an excellent writer and I am doing a report on her! She was a wonderful person. And I enjoyed this very much.

At the Water's Edge : Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore but Then Went Back to Sea

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The Extinction of Species
A Whale of A Tale!
Enlightening.
Walk in, then take the plunge!
Truly excellent book on evolution

At the Water's Edge : Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore but Then Went Back to Sea
Carl Zimmer
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0684856239

Book Description

Everybody Out of the Pond

At the Water's Edge will change the way you think about your place in the world. The awesome journey of life's transformation from the first microbes 4 billion years ago to Homo sapiens today is an epic that we are only now beginning to grasp. Magnificent and bizarre, it is the story of how we got here, what we left behind, and what we brought with us.

We all know about evolution, but it still seems absurd that our ancestors were fish. Darwin's idea of natural selection was the key to solving generation-to-generation evolution -- microevolution -- but it could only point us toward a complete explanation, still to come, of the engines of macroevolution, the transformation of body shapes across millions of years. Now, drawing on the latest fossil discoveries and breakthrough scientific analysis, Carl Zimmer reveals how macroevolution works. Escorting us along the trail of discovery up to the current dramatic research in paleontology, ecology, genetics, and embryology, Zimmer shows how scientists today are unveiling the secrets of life that biologists struggled with two centuries ago.

In this book, you will find a dazzling, brash literary talent and a rigorous scientific sensibility gracefully brought together. Carl Zimmer provides a comprehensive, lucid, and authoritative answer to the mystery of how nature actually made itself.

Customer Reviews:

The Extinction of Species .......2007-01-07

"At the Waters Edge: Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs
By Carl Zimmer

THE EXTINCTION OF SPECIES

Nearly all the species of Life Forms that have ever existed are now extinct. Through the millennia, there have been five documented "mass extinctions," affecting everything from primordial life forms to Dinosaurs.
The lesson is either that the rest of the species were unprepared for evolution; or that Man for reasons unknown, was better equipped for survival.

"The Permian mass extinction occurred about 248 million years ago and was the greatest mass extinction ever recorded in earth history; even larger than the previously discussed Ordovician and Devonian crises and the better known End Cretaceous extinction that felled the dinosaurs. Ninety to ninety-five percent of marine species were eliminated as a result of this Permian event"*

In "Fish with Fingers; Whales with Legs" science writer Carl Zimmer examines the extinction of species that once used their digits for underwater propulsion, but later evolved into legs for walking on land.

Why are the Frogs disappearing? Nearly 200 species of amphibians are either extinct or heading that way) Is it because Amphibians, with their Permeable skin and need for ample moisture to keep their Skin from wrinkling, are more susceptible to extinction than say, insects; or because we (Man, as the Custodian of the Ecology) have so impacted the Environment that certain species are destined for doom?
In Africa, the Hippopotamus is endangered. A certain Toad (the golden Toad) of Costa Rica hasn't been seen in thirty years. Many species of Frogs and other amphibians have disappeared or are listed as Threatened or Vulnerable by the International Conservation Union. The Polar Bear is losing its Habitat: the Arctic ice shelf is disappearing. Polar bears are smaller and weaker, and more vulnerable to disease and famine.

"Over the last few decades scientists and naturalists around the world have noticed a disturbing declining trend in many amphibian populations. The cause of such declines has so far been elusive and multiple factors working in tandem are likely to be responsible. Among the factors listed as contributing causes to such declines are: climate change, increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation, habitat destruction, increased exposure to pathogens, acid rain, human predation, and others. There is uncertainty as to whether these declines are caused by human activity or by natural cycles but most scientists believe that humans are at least partly responsible for many of these declines." (1)

But there are some positive signs. There are certain environmental niches, or enclaves where species have been protected and isolated from human and natural enemies. An example of that is the so-called "noah's ark" region in the tropical rainforests of Brazil and Coral Reefs in Indonesia where previously unknown species of fish are being discovered. According to research published in the National Geographic, there are 794 species of threatened or endangered animals, plants, and insects living in 595 sites around the world; little ecosystems where these species persevere. Another recent study shows that Earth's population is exceeding Earth's resources.
Man is the greatest enemy of the Environment. Man also has the capacity to arrest or reverse the tendency toward extinction and eradication of species.
Further Recommended Reading:
Ellis, Richard: No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species
Quammen, D: The Death of the Dodo
Dawkins, Richard: The Ancestor's Tale : A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution.
--END--

A Whale of A Tale!.......2006-08-26

This is one of my favourite books. Not just about whales, mind you, but about evolution of life in the oceans, then up onto land and, in some cases, back to sea again.

The author takes the reader through a complete yet understandable history of the evolution of whales. For my part, I knew that whales had once been terrestrial, but I didn't know even a tenth of the entire story. I learned that one of the first whales (or al least it's ancestor) was ambulocetus natans, a curious looking fellow who was something of a cross between a wolf and a whale. Then, on to Rodocetus and Basilosaurus and Dorudon, thogh not necessarily in that order.

I found out things I would never have expected in this book, such as the evolution of hand and how Hox genes work during development in the womb.

For anyone who is interested in whale evolution, human evolution, or life in the sea, this book is for you!

Enlightening........2006-04-25

I'm not one to pen lengthy reviews as the idea is, after all, what is the book about, did I or did I not like it and why - plain and simple. Well, I did like it, hence the 4 stars. However, I'm not quite sure why. Mr. Zimmer explains about evolution, some exploring, discovering, insight and mystery solving in a style that contributes to it all being easily understood (almost as if you were involved with it in some small way). It's inspiring, informative and educational. It isn't a cliff hanger, but it kept my attention and after having put it down I wanted to pick it up again. Not riveting but, I think, addictive. If you're interested in discovering the linear progression of how our understanding has arrived at where we now find ourselves (regarding evolution) then give it a try.

Walk in, then take the plunge!.......2005-09-21

At The Water's Edge is about about the evolution of large and important changes in species; Zimmer focuses on change in habitat, the move from sea to land, and then back to sea.

Zimmer begins by describing different fish lineages and concentrates on the branch that leads to our own chordate subphylum, the tetrapods. How and why did legs evolve? How did our left and right walking motion appear? Zimmer reveals a surprising answer. Tetrapods, legs, and walking did not evolve to help fish survive on land; they evolved to help fish swim in shallow swampy river deltas at the ocean's edge. These features allow fish to move more efficiently among the river plants and to sneak up on prey more easily. Once the left right motion was established, it was easy for fins to strengthen. At some point there came a need to move from puddle to puddle, or perhaps to escape predators, or to lie in wait out of the water. Strong alternating fins, which had evolved in a purely aquatic environment, were ideally suited to these new tasks.

To emphasize this original unplanned use of an existing feature, Zimmer uses Stephen Jay Gould's strange neologism "exaptation" rather than a more familiar term like pre-adaption. Zimmer prefers exaptation because pre-adaptation somehow implies that the final use of a thing was planned from the beginning. Zimmer emphasizes that it was not.

Once he's done with how tetrapods appeared and then came to land, Zimmer makes an about face and returns to the seafollowing whales and dolphins. Here too we find surprises. Early whale ancestors probably behaved like crocodiles and alligators. They would stay in the water with only their eyes and nose protruding, waiting for a land based prey to come close. Later, Zimmer describes echolocation, one of the most complex and useful features of cetaceans. Dolphins and many whales have a superb sonar system that works by echoing clicks out and back in through a fat-filled cavity in their forehead called the melon. The melon
acts as a sound lends letting dolphins "see" small objects hundreds of feet away. How can such a useful and complex organ evolve? The current hypothesis is that the melon's first function in early whales was simply to block the nasal passage during deep dives, to keep water out. Once it existed, it probably provided very rudimentary echolocation which gave natural selection something to work with. Another exaptation.

Another topic Zimmer touches often is cladism, which is the sorting of species into a genealogical table by identifying key features. Features common to a group of species can imply a common ancestor even if we haven't found any trace of the ancestor itself. Two cladistic schools are at this moment fighting it out: the biological and morphological school one side, and the genetic school on the other. The schools often arrive at different conclusions. The strength of the biological school is that its discoveries are practical; key features mean something concrete like a backbone (chordates) or a melon (dolphins and many whales). However, key features are very difficult to identify. Genes on the other hand are easy to identify and to compare among different species. Also, there's a mechanical logic to genes that readily lends itself to cladistic sorting. However, genes often don't mean anything, i.e. have no effect on how the organism works, and they can mutate at random, appearing and disappearing for no reason. Each camp will probably have to find a way to learn from the other.

Charles Darwin famously called his Origin of Species "one long argument", by which he sought to establish Natural Selection as the main means of evolution. You might take Zimmer's book as one short argument to establish exaptations and cladism as the main engines of macroevolution.

Truly excellent book on evolution .......2005-04-28

_At the Water's Edge_ by Carl Zimmer is a fascinating and well-written account of macroevolution, evolution outside of the "generation-by-generation" pace of microevolution. In microevolution, biologists can follow the process of natural selection; as every generation of a species produces a line of variants, some of these variants do better than others and survive to possibly pass on those variant traits to their offspring. Biologists can for instance track the success (and failure) of individual genes or how a particular species of insect adapts to a new pesticide. Macroevolution on the other hand works on much larger, grander scales, a scale in which completely new types of bodies appear.

Zimmer sought to examine macroevolution in the development of tetrapods from fish (which occurred between 380 and 360 million years ago) and whales from land mammals (occurring about 50 million years ago), using these fascinating accounts to introduce to the reader two of the most common features of macroevolution - exaptations of existing features and the correlated progression of many different parts.

Exaptation is a term used to describe the notion of a structure crafted by evolution for one function and later becoming ideal for another, often completely different function. Early in the 20th century this concept was known as preadaptation, a term coined by Alfred Sherwood Romer, though Stephen Jay Gould and Elizabeth Vrba in 1982 offered the term exaptation instead as preadaptation seemed to imply some sort of conscious planning for the future that evolution can never have.

In tetrapod evolution, the production of urea in lobe-fins was an exaptation - originally evolved as a way for an organism to avoid ammonia poisoning, excess salt, and water loss at sea, an excellent system for when tetrapods came ashore. Lungs may have evolved originally not for life on land but to give predatory fish more stamina in chasing prey at sea, this ability helping keep the heart nourished and allowing the fish to swim longer and harder than fish without lungs. Early tetrapods evolved legs to move along shallow, coastal lagoon bottoms and through flooded forests, not to move onto land, an "exaptation of the most dramatic sort." Among whales, _Ambulocetus_, an ancestor with perhaps a crocodile-like lifestyle, may have evolved the ability to hold its breath while it drowned its prey in deep water, an exaptation for later life at sea. Similarly, the ability of _Ambulocetus_ to hear low-frequency sounds traveling through the ground - as it rested its head on the shore, waiting for prey, the sounds traveling up its bony jaw - may have been an exaptation for hearing underwater.

Correlated progression is a bit harder of a concept to explain. Essentially, it is a "choreography of changes" in an animal. The term, originated by Keith Thomson in the 1960s, describes how one change in a particular aspect of an organism cannot take place unless natural selection was also altering the other parts of the organism for other adaptations at the same time; changes in one part of the body can sometimes make other changes more beneficial to an animal. If anatomical features of an animal are tightly linked together, they will change in concert.

The evolution of the tetrapod ear is an excellent example of correlated progression. The stapes in the human ear is homologous with a large bone that supports fish jaws, known as the hyomandibular. The ancestral lobe-fin fish's skull was originally a loose collection of bones held together by ligaments, the hyomandibular serving to brace the upper and lower jawbones against the back of the braincase and also helping to flare open the gill flap to let stale water out of the animal's head. As shown by such fossils as _Acanthostega_, early tetrapods developed a braincase that was fused shut, the jaw being able now to make direct contact with the sturdier skull, the hyomandibular bone no longer needed to support the jaw (and also not needed for working the gills as they became less important for breathing). The hyomandibular shrank and became lodged tightly in the back of the skull, at first locked in so much that it couldn't vibrate freely. Later on other bones of the skull became sturdy enough that the proto-stapes could loosen and begin transmitting sounds to the brain. The stapes could only evolve as a new type of bite was evolving thanks to changes in the skull and in breathing. In turn, the shrinking hyomandibular had its own effects; as the muscles that once connected it to the gill arches now were attached to the jaw to open and shut it and support the head on its shoulders, the dwindling hyomandibular let other bones and muscles create the tetrapod neck. Also, when the shoulders were liberated from the head and from the heavy bone once covering the gills, there was enough room for a bigger, more complex shoulder joint better suited to walking on land.

Similarly, the evolution of whale echolocation was a good example of correlated progression, each incremental change in the head of the whale encouraging other changes. Some whales may have accidentally made noises in their nose that, thanks to their echoes, made it easier to hunt prey. Sound may have inadvertently been focused by nose plugs, with whales with oversized nose plugs being favored (the nose plugs evolving into melons). The nose moved up towards the top of the head for easier breathing, but the jaws expanded back to carry it there, which made the whale's skull more stable as it moved back and creating a reflecting dish on the upper jaw for sounds waves coming from the nose as a well as a platform on which the melon to rest.

In addition to being a book on the concepts of exaptation and correlated progression, the book can simply be read as an excellent illustrated report of the evolution of tetrapods and whales, with the history of research, accounts of the personalities involved, and speculations on the lifestyles and habitats of early tetrapods and whales.

The Art of the Scythians: The Interpenetration of Cultures at the Edge of the Hellenic World (Handbook of Oriental Studies, Vol 2)

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The Art of the Scythians: The Interpenetration of Cultures at the Edge of the Hellenic World (Handbook of Oriental Studies, Vol 2)
Esther Jacobson
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 9004098569

Book Description

This volume considers the art of the Scythians of the northern littoral of the Black Sea, as that art was expressed in gold, silver, bronze, and bone. Appearing by the seventh century B.C. at the edge of an expanding Hellenic world, the history and art of the Scythians must be considered within a context that recognizes the sources of Scythian culture in the Eurasian Steppe as well as the historical contingency of West Asia and the Greek colonies. By approaching the understanding of artistic traditions in terms of an evolving process, rooted in an archaic steppe culture but ultimately shaped by the confrontation of Near Eastern, Hellenic and Hellenistic tastes, this discussion goes beyond the traditional location of Scythian art as a subset of Greek goldwork. Particular consideration is given to the gradual transformation of object types and styles, from their reflection of archaic zoomorphic representations in carved bone, wood and bronze, to traditions expressive of Hellenized tastes and sensibilities, in gold and silver. By examining in detail individual objects, as well as classes of objects, this volume articulates a specifically Scythian stylistic and iconographic tradition, and a specifically Scythian contribution to the working of precious metals, related to but ultimately distinguishable from the goldworking traditions of Achaemenid Iran, late Classical Greece, and the larger Hellenistic world. This volume offers substantial bibliography relating to the extensive research on Scythian art, archaeology, and history, published in the Russian and Ukrainian languages over the last 150 years.

At Sea in the City: New York from the Water's Edge

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An interesting description of the, um, New York City archipelego
Thoroughly enjoyable
A good read, but....
Charming and pleasant, but a bit slight
Great tour of the New York archipelago

At Sea in the City: New York from the Water's Edge
William Kornblum
Manufacturer: Algonquin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1565122658

Book Description

New York is a city of few boundaries, a city of well-known streets and blocks that ramble on and on, into our literature, dreams, and nightmares. We know the city by the byways that split it, streets like Broadway and Madison and Flatbush and Delancey. From those streets, peering down the blocks and up at the top floors, the city seems immense and endless.

And though the land itself may end at the water, the city does not. Long before Broadway was a muddy cart track, the water was the city's most distinguishing feature, the rivers the only byways of importance. Some people, like William Kornblum, still see the city as an urban archipelago, shaped by the water and the people who have sailed it for goods, money, pirate's loot, and freedom. For them, the City will always be an island.

William Kornblum--New York City native, longtime sailor, urban sociologist, and first-time author--has spent decades plying the waterways of the city in his ancient catboat, Tradition. In At Sea in the City, he takes the reader along as he sails through his hometown, lovingly retelling the history of the city's waterfront and maritime culture and the stories of the men and women who made the water their own. In At Sea in the City and in Kornblum's own humility, humor, and sense of wonder, one detects echoes of E. B. White, John McPhee, and Joseph Mitchell.

Customer Reviews:

An interesting description of the, um, New York City archipelego.......2007-08-14

I recommend this book, especially to those who know a little about New York City and about sailing. I like the writing style and the descriptions of New York as seen from the water.

Thoroughly enjoyable.......2002-07-18

This is a delightful view of some of the Big Apple's waterfront. William Kornblum writes well, and I am pleased to meet the family, friends, and acquaintances of his journey. Having explored much of our city, and having studied many of the coasts from opposite shorelines, I nevertheless learned much from Kornblum's views from his catboat. I also enjoyed his flash-backs, particularly his days as a youth working at the Transit Mix dock. As another reader noted, the book has a few errors that should have been caught. The A train travels neither through The Bronx nor over Williamsburg Bridge (p. 91). In Red Hook, the parish school is within the Brooklyn diocese, not archdiocese (p. 122). When I find errors on topics I know well, I begin to worry that the publishing industry has a problem with fact-checking in non-fiction. Yet, I must say that this book is a thoroughly enjoyable meeting of humans, views, and story. I recommend this book as a gift.

A good read, but...........2002-06-12

This is the account of a sailboat cruise, but rather than crossing an ocean the author travels maybe 40 miles from home, into the maelstrom that is NY harbor. It's an interesting book, sort of, but I expected more history of the harbor, more about what the place is, and less of the author's personal experience.

I expected the former thanks to a review in the NY Times, I think -- some newspaper, anyway -- that suggested it was less an ecological than an historical journey. Without this preconception, I probably would have liked the book more. If you're from NYC, it's worth a read, but there are many better sailing accounts if you want hairy-chested adventure, or to learn something about sailing in general. There are also better books about ecology of the shoreline.

But the style is pleasant and the author seems like a man who would be an enjoyable sailing companion. That's worth three stars.

Charming and pleasant, but a bit slight.......2002-06-01

The author, a sociology professor at City University of New York, was raised in the Big Apple and has lived most of his life in the area. In 1979 he bought a 24-foot New England catboat, built on Cape Cod in 1910, and proceeded to fix it and sail it around the New York area.

With this book he presents a portrait -- and sketchy history -- of the city from an angle few people know it. Structuring the story as a fairly continuous though interrupted sail from his home in Long Beach, around the southern tip of Rockaway and into Jamaica Bay, then into Upper New York Bay and the East River, and ultimately to Long Island Sound, Kornblum offers both close-up looks at the water and shoreline, and their past history.

The approach is light and pleasant: Few stories -- whether of the freezing disaster of the privateer "Castel Del Rey" in New York harbor in 1704, knowledgeable black sailors impressed by the British Navy in the War of 1812 and jailed in England for refusing to serve against the US, various ferry disasters, or the vagaries of Robert Moses -- last more than a page or three. The only sections where Kornblum lingers are in Jamaica Bay (its environmental degradation and return), and the dockside concrete industry that built New York's towers and for which the author worked as a kid. Manhattan itself is quickly bypassed though given a loving nod, and there is no venturing into the Hudson side.

In the typo sweepstakes, the book does all right, although it says "mechanical break" on p. 156 when "brake" was meant, and I believe I saw an unintended sentence fragment on p. 143. Most egregious, the great A.J. Liebling is identified on p. 103 as "Libeling" (though the name is correct in the bibliography)! A pity there apparently are youthful editors (I don't suppose there is such a thing as a proofreader in publishing anymore) who do not know this great journalist's work backward and forward.

Another ominous development -- to this reader, anyway -- is that the lovely cover photograph is an unreal composite. Different photographers are credited for different portions of it. I find this vaguely disturbing.

The writing is definitely four-star quality or better. Here's my favorite passage: "Up another shadowy bend stood two snowy egrets, with their outrageous yellow boots and platinum punk haircuts. How chic, these mudbank sushi bars. The egrets were spearing for sand bugs, moving along the edge of the marsh with the herky giant steps of students at a party stepping over empty beer cans."

I give the book only three stars because it is slight. Probably an excellent gift for the average non-reader who happens to love sailing or New York City, or the casual reader who knows little about either, but I would have liked to know more.

Great tour of the New York archipelago.......2002-05-31

City University of New York Professor Kornblum pays homage to what he describes as the New York archipelago. The full city consists mostly of three large islands, a bunch of small islands, and a peninsular. Professor Kornblum takes readers on a tour of the various waterways that tie the city together. Readers visit City Island off the Bronx Peninsular, Ellis and Liberty islands off lower Manhattan Island, and the Rikers Island Prison as well as several much smaller and less known rocks within the waterways. The author provides historical references and a crystal ball look into the future where nature in the present is fighting to regain a foothold from the vast urbanization. AT SEA IN THE CITY is an engaging look at the Big Apple from a different lens as the highways cross waters connecting the city such as the "byway" from Fulton St. in lower Manhattan to Fulton St. Brooklyn. Not just for natives, this is a wonderfully different perspective on New York that makes for a leisurely yet educational and enjoyable reading.

Book Description

"I, Jeronimus, am a man of phials, a measurer of powders on bronze scales, a potion brewer, an opium and arsenic merchant. The primped and perfumed Amsterdam burghers came to me in droves requiring cures for fevers, love balms, the miscarriage of a bastard child, and, of course, poisons. Ah, poisons."

So speaks Jeronimus Cornelisz, a thirty-year-old apothecary who transforms before our eyes into a murderous madman.

The Company is a novel based on the 1629 voyage of the Dutch East India Company flagship Batavia, bound for the colonies with a cargo of untold riches. Among the passengers is Cornelisz, a man ousted from polite society by sordid rumors of necromancy. Corrupt to the very marrow of his soul, Cornelisz considers himself God's equal, the rightful heir to gold, silver -- even another man's wife. So twisted is he by lust and greed that he incites a mutiny, running the ship aground on a reef.

All is lost -- the ship is wrecked, its passengers dying, the treasure trashed at the bottom of the sea. "The apothecary will heal us," the survivors pray, believing themselves lucky to be alive. In the name of benevolence, Cornelisz seizes command of their island refuge. The brave castaways stir with hope -- until the killing begins. For forty frenzied days, Cornelisz decides who shall live and who shall die, leaving his victims with just one wish -- that they had gone down with the ship.

Soaked with the blood of the innocent and the wicked, The Company plunges, with the weight of history, deep into the heart of darkness.

Download Description

Like The Lord of the Flies, to which it will inevitably be compared, this fiction debut about the 1629 wreck of the Batavia off the coast of Australia suggests that Robinson Crusoe was lucky to be marooned alone. In the mid-1600s, the Dutch East India Company sponsored a fleet of merchant ships sailing for the Dutch colonies (today's Indonesia). The fleet's flagship, the Batavia, was carrying "precious artifacts to trade with plump sultans of Mogul courts" when it struck a reef. The narrator of this fictionalized version of the well-known story is Jeronimus Cornelisz, a 30-year-old apothecary forced to flee Amsterdam after discovery of his participation in "secret pagan rites." After the passengers are offloaded to a barren island, the Commandeur (the company's chief representative) and the skipper sail off in the one usable lifeboat to seek rescue. In their absence, Cornelisz, who believes himself fated to "receive fortunes and be elected an emperor among men," and whose hysterical inability to leave the foundering ship until several days have elapsed is mistaken for chivalry, becomes leader. Before long, he exploits the survivors' trust and establishes a reign of terror. The present-tense, first-person narrative places the reader squarely inside Cornelisz's twisted mind; obtuse and self-absorbed, he is increasingly unreliable and deranged. Suspense lies in guessing at how long Cornelisz will last and how far he will go with bloodshed and debauchery.

Customer Reviews:

The Company: An impressive read.......2002-05-16

This is not really a 'likeable' book, but it is certainly an impressive one. Set in the 17th century, it seeks to chronicle the true events of the final fateful voyage of the merchant ship, the Batavia. The level of research and the imaginative translation of a huge amount of period detail into a vibrant, credible and textured landscape is extraordinary. Tonally and atmospherically it feels like a cross between the moribund amoral worlds of 'Perfume' and 'Lord of The Flies'. It doesn't quite work as an explanation of why the main character did what he did. The psychological analysis is the least persuasive aspect of the novel, not because it is unbelievable, but because it is slightly too knowing in its exposition. The language, however, is a delight. It has a seductive rhythmic quality, often using alliterative lists of unfamiliar things as a sort of literary underbelly to its world. It also balances the old and the modern to create just the right feeling of unease without being over-stilted. Definitely worth reading, but more for its craft than any great illumination of the human condition.

A Gruesome Tale Well Told.......2001-08-28

Arabella Edge's The Company (The Story of a Murderer) is a fictionalized account of the wreck of the Batavia in 1629 off the coast of Western Australia told from the point of view of the leader of the mutineers, Jeronimus Cornelisz. It is a well written book that becomes very difficult to read as it progresses and the endless horrors and atrocities continue unabated. As it is narrated by such a powerful character who is presented from the first as evil (mixed with cowardice, a dealy combination) and without any moral compass, the novel does not develop the horrors slowly but simply presents them one after another after another leaving the reader numb. The author is skilled at this piling on of horrors and creates moments of surprise throughout although finding a meaning to all of this terror seems rather futile. This book never reaches the level of Lord of the Flies but is nastily effective, in its own right, at relentlessly showing man's baser nature.

Disappointing.......2001-07-15

To compare this book to any of these: OLIVER TWIST, LORD OF THE FLIES, THE CHANT OF JIMMIE BLACKSMITH, A FRINGE OF LEAVES, as the publisher's review (below) does, is purely ridiculous. All of these books have thoughtful and interesting characterization, while The Company, by Arabella Edge, does not. They are all studies of the individual within society, and of the way society operates, but The Company is not.

The Company is a fictional recreation of a gruesome historical event. It merely dresses up the event with setting and description, never seeking to explore Cornelisz's psychopathology, and growing very tedious after the first few gruesome murders. Edge seems content to merely tell us Cornelisz is insane - not to explain that insanity or plumb its depths. Cornelisz is insane and he kills people. This is the sum total of the book.

If you want to read something interesting and gripping, something which shows the true depths to which humans can sink, read one of the books so thoughtfully mentioned by Simon and Schuster in their review. Don't waste your money on this one.

KIRKUS REVIEWS.......2001-06-20

"An engrossing debut novel from an English writer now living in Australia, cited as Best First Book in a recent Commonwealth Writers Prize competition. The story's based on a historical incident: the wrecking of a Dutch East Indies flagship, the BATAVIA, on a coral reef off the western coast of Austrialia in 1629--and also on the real-life figure of Jeronimus Cornelisz, a Dutch apothecary who led a murderous mutiny of shipwreck survivors against others of their fellow passengers and the BATAVIA's crew. Edge tells this from the viewpoint of Cornelisz, a serial prisoner who had faked his way on board the ship in order to escape prosecution for his crimes--which are revealed in meditative flashbacks juxtaposed with a spine-tingling episodic account of the survivors' 40-day ordeal on the nearby Abrolhos Islands. Cornelisz is thus gradually revealed to us as the product of a stunted family environment (his father is a brutal sexual predator, his mother a passive religious zealot); the willing student of his Dostoevskyan mentor Torrentius, a wealthy epicurean artist who might have been a crony of Aleister Crowley's; and a deranged visionary who imagines he has committed evil acts in previous lives (having, for example, delivered Joan of Arc up to her martyrdom). Cornelisz is both a memorable Faustian monster and--in an impressive feat of symbolic suggestion--a nightmarish incarnation of the ruthlessness and avarice at the heart of Dutch mercantile culture ("Trade--what will a man not give in exchange for his soul?"). The scenes in which he manipulates "a drunken group of corporate boys" (the overindulged sons of rich merchants) to do his lethal bidding are rendered even more compelling by the psychotic intricacy of Cornelisz's crafty self-justifications. A stimulating mix of OLIVER TWIST, LORD OF THE FLIES, and two great Australian novels: Thomas Keneally's THE CHANT OF JIMMIE BLACKSMITH and Patrick White's A FRINGE OF LEAVES. And, both because of and despite these echoes, a stunningly original triumph for a brilliant newcomer." KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)

A different kind of suspense thriller.......2001-06-15

In 1628, apothecary Jeronimus Cornelisz flees Amsterdam because some of his views on sorcery are considered heresy. In spite of his assisting the city's burghers with various vials including poisons, Jeronimus knows his exile must start immediately. His need to leave town forces the pompous Jeronimus to travel by sea, a mode of transportation he loathes. Still Jeronimus becomes a passenger on the Dutch East India ship Batavia heading to Indonesia.

While sailing on the endless oceans, Jeronimus realizes the ship carries a fortune that he believes should be his by divine right. He also lusts after another passenger, who spurns his efforts at courting. Still, Jeronimus manages to use his charismatic personality to incite a mutiny. Soon, the Batavia runs aground with many dying at sea. Those who survive soon turn to "the seducer of men" to keep them safe until a rescue ship can arrive. Instead of a leader of a temporary haven, Jeronimus begins forty days of torture, mayhem, and murder.

THE COMPANY is a powerful historical fiction told in the first person by the beguiling villain. The story line is frightening because it is based on a true incident and person. Arabella's Edge's research into Jeronimus allows the reader to see behind his charm into the head of this psychopathic megalomaniac. Yet his fellow mutineers and survivors fell right into his devilish allure. Genre fans will have a field day with this novel, especially comparing this diabolical individual with some of history's charismatic, but deadly tyrants.

Amazon.com

Gunnar Hansen takes readers on a trip that no one seems to have thought of before: a 2,700-mile journey along America's sandy barrier islands from the Mexican border to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. These islands separate ocean from lagoon, saltwater from freshwater, sea bird from shore bird, and--until many were developed for tourism--sea-goer from landlubber. The barrier islands are young, Hansen tell us, formed in the last ice age only a few thousand years ago. They are also extremely vulnerable to damage, as Hurricane Emily demonstrated in 1993 when it tore away a good portion of many Atlantic islands. In his lively book, Hansen points out that the frequency and intensity of such storms seems to be on the rise, so see the islands while you can.

Book Description

Islands at the Edge of Time is the story of one man's captivating journey along America's barrier islands from Boca Chica, Texas, to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Weaving in and out along the coastlines of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, and North Carolina, poet and naturalist Gunnar Hansen perceives barrier islands not as sand but as expressions in time of the processes that make them. Along the way he treats the reader to absorbing accounts of those who call these islands home - their lives often lived in isolation and at the extreme edges of existence - and examines how the culture and history of these people are shaped by the physical character of their surroundings.

Customer Reviews:

Leatherface Goes Island Hopping.......1997-08-07

Gunnar Hansen should have titled his book "Leatherface IV: A Grisly Journey to the Barrier Islands of America." Hansen played the saliva-spouting, prozac-needing backwoods butcher in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and continues to bring his less-than-subtle beastly charms to B-grade horror flicks. Still, while such a cheap marketing ploy might have helped sell some more books, it wouldn't have made the writing more graceful or the observations more keen. In this account of the strange world of barrier islands, from the deserted Boca Chica in Texas to the resort islands of North Carolina, Gunnar casts his eye upon weary island dwellers, vacant-eyed tourists, and a host of natural phenomena. Unlike his maniacal alter-ego, Gunnar manages to convey a sense of desperation, as seen in the natural destruction and financial exploitation of the islands, without leaving a messy trail of blood and entrails. His account of life on the edge of America, in the great tradition of other bushy-bearded hermits like Farley Mowat and Edward Abbey, combines a sharp sense of moral direction with the softspoken wisdom of a teacher. What's really scary is that more people aren't writing books such as this

Surfcaster's Quest: Seeking Stripers, Blues, and Solitude at the Edge of the Surging Sea

Average customer rating:

Dullsville
Hooked the Heart of Surf Fishing
Hooked!
The Lure of Surfcasting
Emotional tribute to a wonderful religion

Surfcaster's Quest: Seeking Stripers, Blues, and Solitude at the Edge of the Surging Sea
Roy Rowan
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Sports | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1592286658

Book Description

The author's evocations of fishing the turbulent seas surrounding Block Island.

Customer Reviews:

Dullsville.......2001-10-10

Dull ruminations on fishing off Block Island by a privileged yet simple man gone poetic.

Hooked the Heart of Surf Fishing.......2000-07-20

Roy put into words what most Surf Fisherman feel. I have already recommended this book to two friends who now will try surf fishing. I even enlisted my wife to accompany me on a trip to Block Island. Thanks Roy for this wonderful look into a place that is free for the taking.

Hooked!.......2000-06-07

I'm a sailor, not a fisherman, but by the end of the first chapter I was hooked by this book. Small in size, but huge in meaning, the book connected me to the blackness of night, the beauty of dawn at sea and the kind of foothold I have in this vast natural world. Rowan does this with the reporter's voice. It's matter-of-fact, down to earth and not difficult to grasp. He tells the hows and whys of fishing. He shows us Block Island up close--offering us both its natural beauty and the range of islander stories. He knows his history. Even Ben Franklin plays a minor (but significant) role.

Good stuff. Great book! Thanks, Mr. Rowan, for sharing your passion and wisdom with us.

The Lure of Surfcasting.......2000-05-26

Roy Rowan's a Surfcaster's Quest is a poetic portrait of a sport (or is it a religion? asks Rowan) that fascinates and informs while running a gamut of emotions from awe of that fierce and gallant adversary, the striped bass, to the joys of this solitary pursuit that creates so much peace of mind for its practitioners. You feel the salt spray in your face and your powerlessness as you wade along with the author into a surging sea and, in my case, you can't put down this delightful book until you've reeled in the last page.

Emotional tribute to a wonderful religion.......2000-01-08

Roy Rowan's Surfcaster's Quest lives up to the effusive praise it's lacquered with. Though it's contents didn't quite stun me, after staying up all night to finish it, I was left with a smile on my face and sweet dreams ahead. Dreams of tackling the surf; battling the fierce fish with whom I compete.

While Rowan's early experiences occupy some of the indelible pages of this masterpiece, he also makes sure to touch upon human feelings, history, and literary reportage--the last of which looms large because so many other good writers enjoyed angling and successfully expatiated on it. However, he goes further than crummy writers like the envious, yet egotistic, William DOC Muller who concentrates mostly on his own bible of Surf Fishing while casting all others out as bogus nonsense. Rowan, rather, embraces the notion that Surf Fishing is something special to each individual who wades into the ocean hoping to catch the prize fish. He accepts and champions the fact that the beauty each man/woman sees in the religion may be unique, seperate.

All the while his thoughts jump from fishing itself to larger matters--philosophical meditation on nature or personal reflections. Throughout, he manages the difficult trick of simultaneously celebrating both fish and fisher, nature and humanity. Best of all is his lyrical prose, supported by dry wit and simple eloquence.

This book is a must read for all Surfcasting enthusiasts. In fact, I recommend this book to any and everyone who enjoys the sound of waves lapping against the shore.

Average customer rating:

Lovely, informative, easy to read book

This book takes you there!

This book takes you there!

Sea Edge
W. Phillip Keller
Manufacturer: W Pub Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Meditations | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Devotionals | Worship & Devotion | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0849904579

Customer Reviews:

Lovely, informative, easy to read book.......2005-08-09

I learned things about the coast I never knew and I didn't even buy the book for that reason. I like Mr. Keller's writing, this is somewhat different from his newer books, but a good book.

This book takes you there!.......2000-04-01

If you like the ocean and watching the waves continually roll, you'll like this book. This book took me there. The author's many descriptive words filled my mind with visions of some coastal shore. I saw sights and sounds as I explored and experienced the beach through Keller's written words. This is the first book I've read by him, but I assure you it won't be the last. Even though this is an out-of-print book, I shall search of a copy of my own.

This book takes you there!.......2000-04-01

Edge of the World: Ross Island, Antarctica A Personal and Historical Narrative of Exploration, Adventure, Tragedy, and Survival

Average customer rating:

Edge of the World: Ross Island, Antarctica A Personal and Historical Narrative of Exploration, Adventure, Tragedy, and Survival
Charles Neider
Manufacturer: Cooper Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Polar Regions | Winter Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books

Essays & Travelogues | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

Antarctica | Polar Regions | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Recounts the history of Antarctic exploration and the author's own odyssey.

Where the Waves Break: Life at the Edge of the Sea (Nature Watch (Carolrhoda Paperback))

Average customer rating:

Where the Waves Break: Life at the Edge of the Sea (Nature Watch (Carolrhoda Paperback))
Anita Malnig , Jeff Rotman , and Alex Kerstitch
Manufacturer: Carolrhoda Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0876144776

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