Product Description

An astonishing journey through Earth's last paradise.

For centuries, humans have been fascinated by the mysteries of the oceans. While early exploration was fraught with danger and superstition, current technology allows us to see what the oceans hide at their deepest depths.

Oceanic Wilderness is an extraordinary illustrated voyage under the waves, revealing remarkable new and unusual life forms. Exploring destinations of the Caribbean, Japan, Australia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific and Indian Oceans, this large-format book reveals: - The stunning beauty and color of the deep reef - Tropical islands and lagoons - Microscopic organisms inhabiting a drop of saltwater - Marine life in the tide pool - Spectacular environments in cold water and warm - The ocean during the day and through the night.

With more than 500 vivid color photographs and accurate descriptive text, Oceanic Wilderness demystifies Earth's darkest frontier, showing us its surprising secrets and exquisite beauty. This is an ideal book for naturalists, travelers, divers -- and anyone else with a passion for marine conservation and photography.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #169659 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 340 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This new book from Steene, a master of underwater photography, provides a detailed tour of the marine environments of the Caribbean, the Western Pacific and the Austral-Indonesian archipelago he's been exploring for 40 years with marine scientists like Gerald Allen (with whom Steene collaborated on several field guides). The colors of these underwater habitats alone are mind boggling; add an enormous cast of corals, sponges, anemones, fish and many other creatures—including some so newly discovered they haven't been named or described—and the material could become truly disorienting. Fortunately, the brief introductory text provides specific insights into the habitats included, and photo captions indicate size, location and even lens and lighting info (though a glossary of terms would have been helpful). More than 300 pages of spectacular color photos, including a vast range of species and behaviors (like mating frogfish and cuttlefish), examples of camouflage and mimicry (like a Mimic Octopus impersonating 14 different sea species, from a seasnake to a jellyfish), and astonishing color variations (more than a dozen brightly patterned flatworms), make this book hard to put down. Like visions of another world, these photographs have a magical quality that should delight anyone with an interest in animals, the sea or photography in general. (Sept.)
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Review
A volume that embraces the majestic and [the] minute in like measure. (Bill Thompson The Post and Courier (Charleston SC) 20070825)

This book could just as easily have been entitled Pictures from Paradise. (Laszlo Buhasz Globe and Mail 20070902)

Perhaps one of the most remarkably beautiful books of the year. (Ottawa Citizen 20070802)

Colors are almost outrageously stunning... demystifies the planet's darkest frontier, revealing exquisite beauty. (SirReadaLot.org 200712)

The range of colour, hue, and design of each creature and plant is unbelievable.... Oceanic Wilderness will not disappoint you. (Elaine Rankin Canadian Camera 20070820)

Mind boggling ... spectacular color photos ... and astonishing color variations, make this book hard to put down. (Publishers Weekly 200709)

Magnificent color photographs reveal the breathtaking beauty of life beneath the oceans.... an excellent gift. (Wildlife Activist 20080301)

Truly breathtaking ... This is a book to place near a comfortable chair to be explored and savored over time. (Diana Mumford Wavelength 20071209)

Talk about scary underwater creatures. (The Province (Vancouver) )

Underwater scenes few of us have the resources, skill, or patience to behold, rendered with a startling sharpness and brilliance. (Laurence A. Marschall Natural History )

Review
A handsome, educational work of art that is a pleasure -- indeed an honor -- to own. (Stan Waterman, cinematographer and producer 20071209)

Customer Reviews

Beautiful wilderness awash with color and diversity
I ended up purchasing this book because my mother had borrowed it from the local library - both she and I decided we each had to have a copy because it was so fantastic.

The book is a photographic collection of spectacular glimspes of ocean life that is a treat for the eyes. I could spend hours (and think I already have) gazing at these photos of strange and wonderous creatures. The book has minimal text, mostly limited to a caption of a sentence or two for each photo, so it is really about the pictures. And they are gorgeous. Most pages are either single full-page photos or collages of pictures themed together. The color is just amazing. Contained within the pages are not just unusual fish, but dazzling shrimp, anemones, coral, nudebranches, pygmy seahorses and plenty of other colorful creatures. I love books like this and this one is one of the best I've seen.

The book is large (and heavy!) with pages made from heavy stock paper, so it is of good quality. Definitely a candidate for the coffee table so that is within reach of guests who want to "ooh" and "ahh" over some spectacular photography. Oh, and the inside cover has a photo of coral and if you run your fingers over the page, you will feel the texture of it. Very well done book! Highly recommended!

Truly Amazing
This is a truly amazing book and Amazon offers it at a bargain price. This is a huge collection of superb photos of a diversity of ocean life. Anyone who is interested in oceans will love this book.

Amazing Oceanic Wilderness
Roger Steene's "Oceanic Wilderness" is a fantastic book because the photos are of such high quality. There are amazing photos of many kinds of shrimps, crabs, worms and other invertebrates. I liked it because is was NOT full of endles photos taken while the diver was lying on the bottom looking up at the surface and the passing schools of fish. There are a limited number of such photos that one can look at without becoming bored.
If you've never bought a coral reef book for your library, then you must buy this one - forget the rest this is the best!