A Sea of Glass: Searching for the Blaschkas’ Fragile Legacy in an Ocean at Risk. Organisms and Environments, Volume 13. By Drew Harvell; Foreword by Harry W. Greene. Oakland (California): University of California Press. $29.95. xii + 215 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-0-520-28568-2 (hc); 978-0-520-96111-1 (eb). 2016.

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Previous articleNext article FreeEcologyA Sea of Glass: Searching for the Blaschkas’ Fragile Legacy in an Ocean at Risk. Organisms and Environments, Volume 13. By Drew Harvell; Foreword by Harry W. Greene. Oakland (California): University of California Press. $29.95. xii + 215 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-0-520-28568-2 (hc); 978-0-520-96111-1 (eb). 2016.Jeffrey LevintonJeffrey LevintonEcology & Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York Search for more articles by this author Ecology & Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New YorkPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreThis delightful volume is meant to be a physical paper book. You simply have to start by thumbing through its pages, marveling at the color plates. And will you notice that most of them are photographs of delicate glass representations of marine animals instead of real live creatures? It will take a while, for the Blaschkas (father and son) were great and accurate artists, even if they were scrupulous collectors and observers. Okay, now you have finished thumbing … now read the volume from front to back. It is filled with everything from the wonderful story of the creators of these glass wonders (also fabricators of the amazing glass flowers on display at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard) to the story of Harvell’s first encounter with Cornell University’s stellar collection to her many adventures, natural history and diving anecdotes, and a sense of wonder of an ocean that is more and more at risk. As you read, you will learn how observational skill can merge with great art. These exquisite worms, starfish, sea slugs, and so much more were meant to educate. Many of them (once restored) are lovely and colorful visual pieces, but often as not they have enough anatomical detail to use in a college laboratory for invertebrate zoology. Harvell’s story of the glass is balanced in a lovely way with excursions on the history of the collection, ecology of many fascinating and consequential marine creatures (you must linger on the sea slugs), and the dangerous slide that our world ocean is taking. You will want this book and then you will want to give it to one and all for a delightful and stimulating introduction to our wonderful ocean creatures. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Quarterly Review of Biology Volume 92, Number 1March 2017 Published in association with Stony Brook University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/690858 For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.