Cover Image: Life Between the Tides

Life Between the Tides

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Member Reviews

This was a brilliant read. I just loved every second of it. Anything coastal and nature really excites me and I just love learning from books like this one it was so fascinating and became a real page turner for me.

It was wrote with a fantastic mix of shoreline nature, science/ecology mixed with some wonderful literary fiction snippets which definitely made for a wonderful read.

You could really tell that the author held great passion for the subjects he was writing about.

I just loved how he concentrated on one animal at a time that he had managed to find in the tidal pools he created. His explanations of these were fabulous even including fascinating case studies. I have to say the most fascinating for me was my most hated creature mentioned the sand hopper or sand flea or little jumping ... enter your own word here lol.

This book took place in Scotland on the part of coastline very close to his home.

I just loved all the pictures that were in this book . I just wished they were in colour. I definitely recommend this book to all those nature lovers and for those like me who just love reading about the nature that surrounds us. I will be looking out for more fascinating nature books from this brilliant author. 

So much praise goes out to the author and publishers for creating this extremely fascinating book that I loved so much.
The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/life-between-the-tides-by-adam-nicolson-farrer-straus-giroux-5-stars either under my name or ladyreading365

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This is a beautifully illustrated book about a science experiment. Adam constructs a rock pool and studies the ecosystem that it creates. Surprisingly there is as much drama as all eight seasons of Game of Thrones.

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Life Between the Tides is an in-depth exploration into the life and death in tidal pools in the beautiful Oban/Mull area in Scotland as water ebbs and flows. The author includes natural science information about many sea creatures themselves, refers to related myths and legends with cultural perspectives, gives philosophical viewpoints on humans and our relationships with nature, discusses Darwin's natural selection, knock-on effect and fractal lines, to name a few.

Examining tidal pools is like observing another world entirely. I often do this when at the sea and am always amazed at what I see and experience. As the author says, we enjoy the peace and calm of the sea. But for the tiny creatures living in tidal pools it is anything but! Tiny creatures jump and scatter to avoid capture. Heat can melt others. Sandhoppers are capable of shredding plastic, inadvertently adding to pollution. That limpets can detect danger two feet away while stuck onto a rock is amazing to me. Conches can jump! And I had no idea that is how crabs copulate. For ages I have wondered whether these animals have emotions or sense pain...yet another topic in this book.

My favourite aspects of this book are the location (I know that area of Scotland) and the information on the habits of hermit crabs, winkles, whelks, anemones, coralline, various wracks, dabs, sandpipers, shrimps and kelp and others. The writing is beautifully descriptive, as I had hoped.

My sincere thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the privilege of reading this absorbing book. I learned a lot!

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Adam Nicolson brings his poet's eye and keen mind to any subject that intrigues him--whether it be a garden, an ancient farm or--in the case of LIFE BETWEEN THE TIDES--the teeming wonders at the water's edge. A captivating and intensely observed book--I look forward to owning the volume and studying the photographs. Highly recommended.

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A cute little collection of stories and art about life on the coast, This would make a gorgeous gift book.

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I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. It was a little too sciencey for me especially since I was drawn to it based on the cover.

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This is a fascinating look inside the vast and complex ecosystem of tidepools. Readers will learn about animals one would expect to see in a tidepool, like snails, shrimp and crabs, and also the delicate, but essential organisms too small to be seen by the naked eye. A lovely look inside our increasingly fragile oceans

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