Critics' Opinion:
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Published Jan 2011
416 pages
Genre: Science, Health and the Environment
Publication Information
Beginning in his kayak in his home waters of eastern Long Island, Carl Safina's The View from Lazy Point takes us through the four seasons to the four points of the compass, from the high Arctic south to Antarctica, across the warm belly of the tropics from the Caribbean to the west Pacific, then home again. We meet Eskimos whose way of life is melting away, explore a secret global seed vault hidden above the Arctic Circle, investigate dilemmas facing foraging bears and breeding penguins, and sail to formerly devastated reefs that are resurrecting as fish graze the corals algae-free.
"Each time science tightens a coil in the slack of our understanding," Safina writes, "it elaborates its fundamental discovery: connection."
He shows how problems of the environment drive very real matters of human justice, well-being, and our prospects for peace.
In Safina's hands, nature's continuous renewal points toward our future. His lively stories grant new insights into how our world is changing, and what our response ought to be.
"Starred Review. Literate wanderings in a tormented world full of wounds, led by accomplished traveler, writer and Blue Ocean Institute founder Safina. ... [He] combines solid science and excellent storytelling. A superb work of environmental reportage and reflection." - Kirkus
"The environment’s glass is half-full for lyrical conservationist Safina ... 'I'm continually struck by how much beauty and vitality the world still holds' - an optimism that suffuses this sensible and sensitive book." - Publishers Weekly
"Carl Safina's qualifications as a naturalist, marine biologist, and part-time resident make him the ideal interpreter of The View from Lazy Point, which includes broad prospects of Cartwright Shoals, Gardiner's Island, and Napeague Bay and also the great variety of wildlife in these coastal and marine habitats; another qualification, of course, is the high quality of his prose, which makes all this fascinating information such a great pleasure to read." - Peter Matthiessen, author of Shadow Country
This information about The View from Lazy Point was first featured
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Photo: Patricia Paladines
Carl Safina, author of Becoming Wild and Beyond Words, is the recipient of Pew, MacArthur, Guggenheim, and National Science Foundation fellowships, and has written for the New York Times, Time, the Guardian, and National Geographic. He lives on Long Island, New York.
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