I just recently read Voyage of the Turtle: In Pursuit of the Earth’s Last Dinosaur by Carl Safina. If you would like to learn about sea turtles and the challenges they’re facing around the world for survival, I can’t imagine a better book exists on the subject. It’s unbelievable how much we have destroyed the ocean just in the last half century (thank you, plastic) and Safina does a very thorough job of showing all the threats to marine animals (with particular emphasis on sea turtles of course).

The author’s style of writing is one of the best (if not THE best) I’ve ever read. I often sat in shear amazement as to how well he used words to relay his stories (in fact, I’ve never been so self-conscious of my own writing knowing there’s no way I can match his). There are so many passages I would love to quote for you here, but I’ll stick to just one, which conveniently is the opening two paragraphs of the book.

“There exists a presence in the ocean, seldom glimpsed in waking hours, best envisioned in your dreams. While you drift in sleep, turtles ride the curve of the deep, seeking their inspiration from the sky. From tranquil tropic bays or nightmare maelstroms hissing foam, they come unseen to share our air. Each sharp exhalation affirms, ‘Life yet endures.’ Each inhaled gasp vows, ‘Life will continue.’ With each breath they declare to the stars and wild silence. By night and by light, sea turtles glide always, their parallel universe strangely alien, yet intertwining with ours.

Riding the churning ocean’s turning tides and resisting no urge, they move, motivated neither by longing nor love nor reason, but tuned by a wisdom more ancient – so perhaps more trustworthy – than thought. Through jewel-hued sultry blue lagoons, through waters wild and green and cold, stroke these angles of the deep – ancient, ageless, great-grandparents of the world.”

Other books by Carl Safina:

Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World’s Coasts and Beneath the Seas

Eye of the Albatross: Visions of Hope and Survival