"Oceans, Revised Edition provides a comprehensive overview of the significant issues confronting this unique environment. This updated and expanded edition takes an interdisciplinary approach to the largest biome on Earth - the saltwater environment that covers some 70 percent of the planet's surface - and considers the geography, geology, chemistry, and physics of the oceans; the ocean-atmosphere as a system; and the ocean's inhabitants. These subjects provide a scientific context for the human and biological interactions that are explored throughout the book." "Oceans, Revised Edition contains more than 100 four-color line illustrations and full-color photographs, as well as a glossary, a detailed list of print and Internet resources, and a helpful index; and is essential for high school students, teachers, and general readers who seek comprehensive information about how the world's ecosystems function and the effect humans have on the species of animals and plants that compose them."--BOOK JACKET. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Gr 9 Up-Informative, up-to-date and wide-ranging, these detailed overviews cover all aspects of their terrains, with chapters focusing on geography (providing overviews of individual hot and cold deserts, and oceans), atmosphere, geology, biology, history, exploration, and economic resources. These revisions (Deserts, 2000; Oceans, 1999) add recent ecological discoveries and coverage of phenomena such as the December 2004 tsunami (even, to a lesser extent, in Deserts) and global warming. Though inclusion of these topics is now standard, these books warrant purchasing as they go further. For example, Oceans explores little-known aspects of the tsunami such as its underwater effects, and, after providing an unusually specific and frightening list of the threats from climate change, outlines an equally pointed to-do list to combat the problem. Generally, the books' plain language neatly explains both complex phenomena (the Coriolis effect) and easier concepts (the Atlantic Ocean is expanding at the same rate as fingernail growth), but some of the scientific explanations in Deserts are challenging. Both books' color maps and diagrams are helpful and plentiful, but the few color photographs (though there are more in Oceans than in the previous edition) are of average quality at best. Pair Oceans with the Smithsonian Institution and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Hidden Depths (Collins, 2007), which has stunning photographs and more on coastal habitats; Deserts will complement basic earth science textbooks, which will have alternative explanations of the related scientific concepts, but lack the detail on deserts found here. Henrietta Thornton-Verma, School Library Journal Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Oceans, a revision of an earlier edition (CH, Jul'99, 36-6296), examines the complexities of the oceans from the perspectives of biology, chemistry, physics, geology, climatology, ecology, conservation, geography, economics, and history. Given this comprehensive, up-to-date coverage, the chapters are necessarily general and well written in a conversational style for "high school students, teachers, and general readers." In essence, Day (fellow, Univ. of Bath, UK), a former marine biologist, offers a basic rather than a scientifically rigorous description of the ocean's properties and processes. Oceans is one of a six-volume "Ecosystem" set dedicated to an interdisciplinary overview of selected ecosystems. The other books in the series are Wetlands, Tundra, Tropical Forests, Temperate Forests, and Deserts. The book provides more than 100 excellent full-color photographs and line illustrations, a useful glossary, and an appropriate reading list and relevant Web sites. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and lower-division undergraduates. General Readers; Lower-division Undergraduates. Reviewed by P. R. Pinet. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Trevor Day is currently a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund at the University of Bath, where he tutors science and engineering students and staff. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.