A startling book, his most personal to date, from Philip Hoare, co-curator of the Moby-Dick Big Read & winner of the 2009 Samuel Johnson Prize for ` Leviathan`. The sea surrounds us. It gives us life, provides us with the air we breathe & the food we eat. It is ceaseless change & constant presence. It covers two-thirds of our planet. Yet caught up in our everyday lives, we barely notice it. In ` The Sea Inside`, Philip Hoare sets out to rediscover the sea, its islands, birds & beasts. He begins on the south coast where he grew up, a place of almost monastic escape. From there he travels to the other side of the world
- the Azores, Sri Lanka, New Zealand
- in search of encounters with animals & people. Navigating between human & natural history, he asks what these stories mean for us now. Along the way we meet an amazing cast; from scientists to tattooed warriors; from ravens to whales & bizarre creatures that may, or may not, be extinct. Part memoir, part fantastical travelogue, ` The Sea Inside` takes us on an astounding journey of discovery.