Tides

"This is not really a book 'about' tides, though tides are a main character. It’s about life's literal ups and downs. About mysterious pulls and invisible forces. About rhythms and pulses and seasons and the flowings of vast living migrations along coasts and through deep oceans. Along the way, you learn a lot of things about actual tides. Astounding things that you never knew you didn’t know. A wondrous book, full of heart."
— Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue Ocean and Beyond Words

"Jonathan White has the ocean in his veins, and with Tides he has written a gorgeous elegy to its monumental presence, its ageless mystery. A sailor, a surfer, a scientific mind, and a seeker, White goes deep beneath the surface with the grace of a poet. Be prepared for some serious magic when you read these pages." — Susan Casey, author of The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean

"Jonathan White's tidal explorations drew me in with just the right mix of science, history, and storytelling, propelled throughout by the author's infectious curiosity and sense of wonder. Beautifully written, impeccably researched, and filled with unexpected connections and discoveries, Tides is a splendid book—highly recommended." — Thor Hanson, author of Feathers and The Triumph of Seeds

"I loved this book. Jonathan White weaves the science throughout his travel stories so that the reader is not inundated with mathematical and scientific theories. I recommend it to both scientists and nonscientists." — Sally Warner, PhD in physical oceanography, Oregon State University

"One of the most fascinating, engaging, relevant, and impeccably brilliant books I have ever read. It has profoundly changed my sense of the earth, the oceans, the sky, and how they are deeply interwoven with the course of human thought and history." — Richard Nelson, author of The Island Within

"Newton’s death mask, bore tide waves on a Chinese river, a grounded sailboat in Alaska, a French monastery, the slowing of the earth’s rotation, world-class surfing, alternative energy, and more come together in Jonathan White's wonderful Tides, a book for every lover of the sea and for those who think—mistakenly—that tables and charts contain everything worth knowing about the perpetual rise and fall of the sea." — Bill Streever, author of And Soon I Heard a Roaring Wind: A Natural History of Moving Air

"Tides is easy to read, easy to follow, erudite. White beautifully integrates his personal experience into the science, keeping me grounded in the present as a reader and making the tides not just personal but passionately alive. I expect to read it again and again. Pass it on, recommend it, give it as a gift!" — Pam Loew, Turtleback Books

"Jonathan White provides us in this fine, fascinating book with a clear understanding of the infinitely complex and wild nature of our plane's tidal forces in all their mystery and beauty." — Peter Matthiessen, from the Foreword