The Ocean Shelf: Books That Make a Splash

Updated January 22, 2026
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Isola : a novel
Goodman, Allegra
Paper Book
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK * NATIONAL BESTSELLER * "A shocking story, made all the more stunning by the fact that it has its roots in true history."--Jodi Picoult, author of By Any Other Name "A new generation of survival story . . . an extraordinary book that reads like a...
The riddle of the compass : the invention that changed the world
Aczel, Amir D.
Paper Book
Sometimes it pays to be in the right place at the right time. Certainly the mariners in Amalfi in the twelfth century were. Here the compass was first invented and used in navigation, eventually helping to make Italians the world's greatest sailors. But the story of the compass is...
The world is blue : how our fate and the ocean's are one
Earle, Sylvia A.
Paper Book
This book tie-in to National Geographic's ambitious 5-year ocean initiative—focusing on overfishing—is written in National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle's accessible yet hard-hitting voice. Through compelling personal stories she puts the current and future peril of the...
The restless sea : exploring the world beneath the waves
Kunzig, Robert.
Paper Book
A vivid, up-to-date tour of the Earth's last frontier, a remote and mysterious realm that nonetheless lies close to the heart of even the most land-locked reader. The sea covers seven-tenths of the Earth, but we have mapped only a small percentage of it. The sea contains millions of species of...
The wave : in pursuit of the rogues, freaks, and giants of the ocean
Casey, Susan
Paper Book
From Susan Casey, bestselling author of The Devil's Teeth, an astonishing book about colossal,  ship-swallowing rogue waves and the surfers who seek them out. For centuries, mariners have spun tales of gargantuan waves, 100-feet high or taller. Until recently...
Water 4.0 : the past, present, and future of the world's most vital resource
Sedlak, David L.
Ebook
The history behind our growing water crisis: "A gem . . . An erudite romp through two millennia of water and sanitation practice and technology." -- Nature Turn on the faucet, and water pours out. Pull out the drain plug, and the dirty water disappears. Most...

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