Seashells have been the most coveted and collected of nature's creations since the dawn of humanity. They were money before coins, jewellry before gems, art before canvas. In The Sound of the Sea, acclaimed environmental author Cynthia Barnett blends cultural history and science to trace our long love affair with seashells and the hidden lives of the mollusks that make them. Spiralling out from the great cities of shell that once rose in North America to the warming waters of the Maldives and the slave castles of Ghana, Barnett has created an unforgettable account of the world's most iconic seashells.

She begins with their childhood wonder, unwinds surprising histories like the origin of Shell Oil as a family business importing exotic shells, and charts what shells and the soft animals that build them are telling scientists about our warming, acidifying seas. From the eerie calls of early shell trumpets to the evolutionary miracle of spines and spires and the modern science of carbon capture inspired by shell, Barnett circles to her central point of listening to nature's wisdom-and acting on what seashells have to say about taking care of each other and our world.

About the Author
Cynthia Barnett is the author of three previous books, including Rain, which was longlisted for the National Book Award and named a finalist for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Award for Literary Science Writing. She lives with her family in Gainesville, Florida, where she is also Environmental Journalist in Residence at the University of Florida.

Reviews
"Will have you marveling at nature... Barnett's account remarkably spirals out, appropriately, to become a much larger story about the sea, about global history and about environmental crises and preservation." -- 24 Books to Read this Summer - The New York Times Book Review
"Cynthia Barnett presents us with a glittering Wunderkammer for our age, a staggeringly varied history - scientific, cultural, philosophical and economic - of one of the most beloved and enduring natural objects on Earth: the seashell... "The Sound of the Sea" is a glorious history of shells and of those who have loved shells. It is a history of fascination and of shame." -- Katherine Norbury - The Washington Post
""Seashells were money before coin, jewellery before gems, art before canvas," says science writer Cynthia Barnett in her arresting meditation on shells and ocean history." -- Andrew Robinson reviews five of the week's best science picks - Nature


Awards
Commended for Rachel Carson Environment Book Award 2022.



Book Information
ISBN 9781324022077
Author Cynthia Barnett
Format Paperback
Page Count 448
Imprint WW Norton & Co
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 343g
Dimensions(mm) 211mm * 140mm * 28mm