As one who grew up on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, I am rather fond of the planets seas and all the wonders they contain. I’ve also spent a bit of time near the Atlantic Ocean, had some fleeting encounters with the Indian Ocean, and seen the Arctic Ocean from the windows of many a jet airplane. However when it comes to the Southern Ocean, I am absolutely without a star to steer by, and so are, according to the preview of Joy McCann’s forthcoming book Wild Sea; A History of the Southern Ocean, most others as well.
“Unlike the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic Oceans with their long maritime histories, little is known about the Southern Ocean.” Thus Dr. McCann has taken up the task of researching and through this new book conveying to her readers a portrait of the “distinctive physical and biological processes as well as the people, species, events, and ideas that have shaped our perceptions of” this least familiar of planet’s most mysterious oceans.
Wild Sea is expected to be published by University of Chicago Press in April 2019.
