Book Review: Secret of the Seas – A Journey into the Heart of the Ocean

Published 10 years agoon September 22, 2016

The Authors

Alex Mustard and Callum Roberts

Review by Nick and Caroline Robertson-Brown

Secrets of the Seas is a visual feast with a strong conservation message as leading underwater photographer, Alex Mustard, teams up with Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation at the University of York, to create this celebration of life beneath the waves. It is a hardback coffee table book, packed full of information and images from regions around the world. As I first unwrapped it, I could not fight off my first instinct, which as to simply look through all the images in the book. They are breath-taking and show off the beauty and extraordinary diversity that awaits us beneath our seas and oceans.

So then, I turn back to the beginning of the book and start to read. Callum Roberts is a scientist with a wonderful turn of phrase. His eloquent, and often poetic, words transport you to the world below, without the need for images. Each chapter is a 1500 essay that, along with his captions for the images, transport you to destinations like the Coral triangle, the North Sea, or in the deep blue with a shark for company. I particularly loved the final chapter on seals and sea lions.

However, this is not just a pretty picture book with some information on and descriptions about our oceans. Much as this would have been fine, the book has a higher objective and that is to also make us aware of what we have lost already and what we stand to lose in the future if we continue along the same path. The chapters give the reader a feel for what the oceans were like before destructive human impact of recent years; the damage already done, and offers hope for the future. It offers great insight into the biology of the marine life featured, but also includes oceanography and maritime history.

This, in my opinion, is a proper coffee table book. It is a book that you want to have out all the time. One that you will be happy to re-visit and dip into over and over again. Both the images and the text will continue to draw you back in. It is a thing of beauty and quality and the passion for the marine world in both author and photographer is blatantly apparent.