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Smithsonian Ocean: Our Water, Our WorldNobel Prize winner Al Gore wrote of Deborah Cramer's previous book Great Waters, "I urge everyone to read this book, to act on its message, and to pass on its teachings."
Now Cramer offers a groundbreaking book for an even more urgent time.
Our lives depend on the sea. As gifted science writer Deborah Cramer makes clear in this extraordinary volume, the ocean has been earth's lifeline for more than three and a half billion years. Life began in the scalding inferno of deep-sea hot springs. The first cell, the first plant, and the first animal were all born in the sea. Climate changes wrought by the sea created evolutionary pathways for mammals and gave rise to our human ancestors some 200,000 years ago. The one, interconnected sea still sustains us. Invisible plants in the ocean's sunlit surface give us air to breathe. Rushing currents supply water to the atmosphere's protective greenhouse and rain to dry land.
But as Cramer reveals in this sweeping look at earth's biography, the vital partnership between earth and the life it nourishes has recently been disrupted. Today, a single terrestrial species, man, has begun to alter the health of the sea itself. The mark of humans on the seas is now everywhere—from the fertile waters of continental shelves to the icy reaches of the poles, from the dazzling diversity of coral reefs to the porous edge of estuaries. Even the open ocean bears clear traces of our harmful ways.
Scientists believe human impact may have already sparked a catastrophic event that could change the sea and the earth irrevocably: the sixth mass planetary extinction on a scale unseen since the demise of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. But unlike the forces that caused previous extinctions, humankind can make a choice. We can choose the mark we wish to make and the legacy we leave behind.
Written in the passionate tradition of Rachel Carson, Smithsonian Ocean is at once a book for our time and for the ages. Carson wrote: "One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself: What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?" Cramer's powerful and inspiring message is equally a wake-up call: "We hold earth's life-giving waters—and our future—in our hands." Our lives depend on the sea.
The Ocean and its WondersThis book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
The Sunset Cookbook: Over 1,000 Fresh, Flavorful Recipes for the Way You Cook TodayThe Sunset Cookbook is the first masterwork collection of recipes selected from the extensive archives of Sunset magazine. With over 1,000 recipes from the more than 110 years of the magazine's history, this book represents the best of American cooking, both its traditional cookery and its culinary inventiveness. Fueled by local ingredients, the creativity of its cooks, and diverse ethnic influences, from Native American to Mexican to Polynesian to Asian, American cooking has come into its own, and Sunset has been there from the beginning. The Sunset Cookbook covers everything from appetizers to preserves and pickles as well as Sunset's unique approach to fresh eating, which can be found in dishes like vegetarian main courses-such as stews, salads, pastas, stir-fries, and casseroles. Included are more than 100 recipes for the grill, like Grilled Oysters with Chipotle Glaze, Hoppin' Wine-Smoked Turkey, and classic Santa Maria Barbecue, made with beef tri-tip; recipes based on fresh local ingredients such as Pan-fried Trout with Smoked Salmon, Baby Artichoke Antipasto, Soy Mustard-Glazed Buffalo; and favorite dishes that found their start in the West such as Cedar-Planked Salmon, Baja Fish Tacos, and Baked Chiles Rellenos, just to name a few. Long-awaited by Sunset readers and packed with signature recipes, The Sunset Cookbook is sure to take its place among the classics and appeal to the new generation of home cooks across the country who have grown up on fresh flavors that are the hallmark of new American cooking.
