To tell the truth, I didn't expect much when this tide first started. A liberal arts student has always read natural science materials by hand. One is that he is not interested, and the other is that he doesn't understand. After lunch, I'm going to watch Tidal Hypnosis for a while. Just read a few pages, I can't help but turn back to the author's profile and read it carefully. "Jonathan White, American writer, navigator, surfer and marine environmentalist", yes, this is indeed a popular science book, which is terrible. Then why am I fascinated by a natural science book?
The book began with a grounding in the author's voyage and experienced the danger of sinking. "The wind roared fiercely from the mountain at a speed of more than 40 nautical miles per hour, foaming the bay. It tore up a boat on the deck of the cross and threw it into the bay like a toothpick. " The opening begins with a tense rescue operation, and the reader's heart is pulled away by the fate of the crew. Every minute is like an arrow leaving the string.
After turning this tense chapter, the next place appeared on the endless coast, strolling on the beach with Lucas, the author's good friend, an Inuit elder. The beach is calm and there is no sign of high tide or low tide. As you walked and talked, Lucas reached for the seashore to pick up shells, and told off and on about his experience of living by the seashore. For example, the fog around the island, like velvet in the sunset, can tell the islanders when to get off the boat and which channel to take, whether to bypass Cape Fontina to hunt seals or go to Cape Neptune to catch salmon.
You listen with your eyes wide open. It's amazing and incredible. Then you met Peter Hickling and watched birds in the Bay of Fundy. Hickling is 60 years old, well-proportioned, wearing jeans, a collared shirt and a neat white beard. He spent most of his life studying Fendi Bay-hiking on mudflats, collecting mud shrimp samples and measuring bird rings. You don't know when he came, but through the introduction of the author, you know that this is a strict and reliable guide. He told you a terrible experience of being almost swallowed up by the tide because he forgot the time of high tide, and invited you to step into the sticky purple mud in the intertidal zone. You're a little scared, because mud keeps coming out between your toes like butter, first your ankles, then your calves and knees quickly sink in. In this adventure far from the coast, you feel a vague but familiar sense of powerlessness. "These tidal mud bays are the soul of the Bay of Fundy." Hickling said that being trapped in the huge and muddy intertidal zone of the Bay of Fundy is like being in another world. The world below is the world, and the world overflowing from the toes belongs to the tide.
In the next 300 pages of the journey, you will meet many people from different occupations, different ages and different countries: Dr. Chen, who is over 80 years old this year, is full of energy. On the occasion of the full moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival, you are saying by candlelight that "the tide came from Qiantang River, and today you know that I am me"; Go to Mount St. Michel, which is listed as a world heritage by UNESCO, review the Exodus in the Bible in the meditation of monks, and boldly speculate whether Moses made perfect use of the low tide to plan the great escape; Watch the speed and passion of Greg Lane, the world's top surfer, at the surf resort in the south of San Francisco, and listen to him talk about the moment of life and death in the competition and his own research on wave models. Even those great names that are familiar in textbooks, such as Newton, Descartes and Galileo, come out of the portraits in the museum, travel through time and space, sit in front of you, and tell their stories equally and proudly ... Time and space are skillfully mixed together in the book, as if the time machine and any door are used again and again in front of your eyes, which is fascinating, enjoyable and has a sci-fi experience.
I have to admit, the author's writing is too powerful. After writing, he followed the Inuit into the hand-dug ice cave-a strange cave left after the low tide, which was covered with ice, and under the ice was a paradise for mussels. My heart was mentioned in my throat by his description, for fear that they would make too much noise accidentally, which would lead to the collapse of the ice and be dangerous. Wonderful descriptions abound, and thrilling travel notes are drowned again and again. At the same time, I am afraid and fully enjoy the pure pleasure of reading, but I don't know where I am.
But the author's greatest strength lies not only in his writing style, but also in his psychological control over readers.
Imagine what you would do if you met a thorny problem you wanted to know. There are many ways to get information, but I believe most people prefer to consult some experts, and it is best that these experts are their trusted friends. The biggest and most attractive feature of Tide is that it is permeated with fleshy characters, and slowly unfolds the tide, a natural phenomenon that has remained unchanged on the earth for thousands of years but has puzzled, pained and amazed generations after generations, and shares it with you bit by bit. This will make you feel that you are not reading alone, but more like watching a BBC documentary, full of competitive scenery, pleasant conversations at the breakfast table, the secret garden that you accidentally broke into late at night, and the drunken monologue that you overheard from the old wooden friend.
Therefore, although the narrative is the main line, all the characters in the book are flesh and blood and have real names to test. Best of all, these contemporaries are familiar friends of the author. They have known each other for a long time, but this time the author introduced his friend to you through this book. This constitutes a stable triangle: the author, the reader and the author's friends in the book. Although the scene of your first meeting with them is different, because of this three-dimensional triangle, your collision and sparks are naturally harmonious. A friend of a friend is a friend, who travels across Qian Shan and meets through the waves of thinking. At such a carnival party, with the author's ingenious ideas, you can ask questions about the energy of tides, sea and water without worrying about being laughed at, because you trust the author and you know very well that your friends will help you.
For example, do you want to know if it is dangerous to watch the Qiantang River tide in the future? Or do you want to know if there are similarities between legends and myths about tides of different nationalities? Or to what extent has the utilization of clean energy and tidal energy developed? You can find the answer by communicating with them. "Tides teach us how to coexist with mystery and complexity. It exists in mud shrimp, indicating when it should swim and when it should dig a hole. It exists in half-webbed snipes, crabs and moths. It exists in the surging soul and in the prayers of monks. Tides are tremors, music and time. "
Finally, I once again lament the beauty of Jonathan White's writing style, which includes gripping novels, philosophical thinking and poetry of prose and poetry. It is really a rare thing to write a rigorous and meticulous popular science work.
Who says science books are boring? Who says you can't have your cake and eat it? As Peter Mathewson, a naturalist who won the National Book Award for three times, commented in the preface of recommendation, "Jonathan White has contributed such exquisite and wonderful works to us." Big waves wash sand, but also wash away the pearl in the sea. Selfishly speaking, this Haizhu never wanted it to become a Haizhu. Just because beauty is too rare and precious, please come on if it is beautiful, and beauty will be seen by everyone.