Bookshelf: Conservation books

It’s our duty to educate ourselves on the threats facing the world’s oceans and ocean inhabitants. This reading list contains classics, coffee table books, and more modern works on climate change, overfishing, and more.

Concerning overfishing and climate change:

• The End of the Line
• The Perfect Protein
• The Unnatural History of the Sea
• Four Fish
• Ocean of Life
• The Most Important Fish in the Sea

The magnificent Sylvia Earle, and her imitators:

• The World is Blue
• The Oceans
• Sea Change
• Blue Hope

The inimitable Carl Safina:

• Song for the Blue Ocean
• Eye of the Albatross
• Voyage of the Turtle
• A Sea in Flames
• The View from Lazy Point

The inspirational Rachel Carson:

• Under the Sea-Wind
• The Sea Around Us
• The Edge of the Sea
• The Sense of Wonder

Classic nature writing:

• The Outermost House – Henry Beston
• Cape Cod
• A Sand County Almanac

High-level overviews:

• Atlas of Oceans
• Ocean
• The World Without Us
• The Control of Nature
• Pristine Seas

Region specific:

• Wild Seas, Secret Shores of Africa
• Lost World – the Seychelles
• Currents of Contrast – South Africa
• Polar Obsession – at the ends of the earth
• Shoreline – South Africa’s coastline
• South African Coasts

Being a good citizen:

• Coastal Gardening in South Africa
• 50 Ways to Save the Ocean