Review by Choice Review
This small book provides the layperson a synopsis of the physical origin, general biology, and rich exploration history of the Gulf Stream. Ulanski (geology and environmental science, James Madison Univ.) offers a concise, engaging blend of science and history for anyone interested in learning about the general flow dynamics, the intricate food webs, and the human use and exploitation of this vital western-boundary current of the North Atlantic Ocean. The general references and bibliography for each of the eight chapters are well selected and current. The work's major shortcoming is the inclusion of too few figures (highly generalized) and photographs, all of them in black and white. Overall, The Gulf Stream does a respectable job of describing "the amazing story of the powerful river in the Atlantic." Summing Up: Recommended. Collections serving general readers and lower-division undergraduates. P. R. Pinet Colgate University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Most of us think the Gulf Stream is a current in the Atlantic that is responsible for Europe's mild climate. Trouble is, that best-known Gulf Stream fact isn't a fact, that is. Ulanski begins to make us genuinely knowledgeable about the stream by first explaining grand oceanic movement, especially in the North Atlantic, in which the Gulf Stream is the western arm of a vast, four-segmented cycle of upper water, and then summarizing the stream's anatomy and the history of human discovery of oceanic circulation, in which Ben Franklin is a key figure. Proceeding to marine biology in the book's second section, Ulanski provides captivating chapters on plankton and larger floating organisms, the giant bluefin tuna, and the sport-fishable species in the stream. The third and last section rehearses how the stream enabled the Age of Discovery and the colonial cultures of North America and the Caribbean, including that of the latter's storied pirates. Ulanski's crystal-clear exposition keeps the science-and-history catch-up course he is teaching utterly fascinating throughout.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ulanski (The Science of Fly Fishing) takes readers on a dizzying trip within, afloat and around the Gulf Stream, the "mighty oceanic river, powerful enough to be readily seen from space," containing mysterious, scary and tasty creatures: the reclusive, 2,000-pound giant squid; swarms of tentacled, stinging Portuguese man-of-wars and a complex food chain, with tiny drifting phytoplankton ("the grasses of the sea") at the bottom and the "almost mythic" bluefin tuna at the top. The book also depicts human life along the Gulf Stream: Columbus following the trade winds and the North Atlantic gyre to reach the New World; buccaneers and pirates of the Caribbean; Benjamin Franklin, "intrigued by the idea of a `stream' flowing through... the Atlantic Ocean" and hoping to speed up mail delivery, measuring and "meticulously recording" water temperatures on trips back and forth to Europe. Although the potentially urgent issue of the Gulf Stream in relation to climate change is given short shrift, this multifaceted treatment of "the blue god" offers something for almost every kind of ocean lover. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Ulanski (The Science of Fly-Fishing) is both a recreational fisherman and an academic (geology & environmental science, James Madison Univ.). Fishing is also part of his new book, which traces the science and history of the sea current known as the Gulf Stream. Divided into three parts, the text covers physical descriptions of current flows (both the Gulf Stream and elsewhere); the ocean life dependent on the Gulf Stream, from microscopic fish to the largest commercial variety, the bluefin; and sailing, or travel, with a focus on the current's effect on early exploration and centuries of fishing. Historical examples add interest; however, this cannot replace for scope of coverage William MacLeish's Gulf Stream: Encounters with the Blue God or Henry Stommel's classic Gulf Stream: A Physical and Dynamical Description. Ulanski only mentions in passing recent research covered in Dallas Murphy's To Follow the Water. The sections on life and travel in the Gulf Stream are the most interesting and readable and will appeal to general readers. A supplemental choice for academic collections and recommended for larger public libraries. [French novelist Erik Orsenna moves between science and poetry in his Portrait of the Gulf Stream: In Praise of Currents, to be published this September by Haus Publishing.--Ed.]--Jean E. Crampon, Science & Engineering Lib., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
