Reviews of Wonders of the Sea

By Marc Shargel

Marc Shargel's Wonders of the Sea Volume Three: Hidden Treasures of California’s Far North Coast is an amazing book. It allows someone like me, who has never been diving in his life, to feel like I'm swimming just above the ocean floor. The underwater photography is superb, but so are the crisp, wonderfully composed shots of the coast and closeups of marine life. I was used to looking at your books online and was not quite prepared for the impact of seeing the new one in the flesh. The quality of the printing is extraordinary. I'm also pleased, as a local historian, to see a well-researched section on the last 160 years of the North Coast. Marc has done the ocean environment a great service by creating this. It's hats off—and goggles on!—to him.

—Jerry Rohde, M.A., Ethnogeographer and Historian, Cultural Resources Facility, Humboldt State University

"Marc Shargel is an inspired photographer who has the unique ability to capture the mystery, deep beauty, raw power, and fragile nature of the underwater world that is our California coast. Through his eyes and exceptional talent, each of us can explore and embrace our living, yet threatened, coast."

—Fred Keeley, former Speaker pro Tempore, California State Assembly. Author of the Marine Life Management Act

This third volume in the series continues the journey by the author to document the tragic near-decimation of the ocean’s living resources during the last 160 years. It features a fine foreword by Dr. John D. Martini, one of the foremost Humboldt State University professors of biology, who has participated in numerous studies and surveys of native plant and animal communities off the North Coast of California. All three volumes make a very strong case for the establishment of a series of Marine Protected Areas along the California coast and I believe that Marc’s efforts have contributed so far to the establishment of a series of MPA’s from Pt. Arena south to San Diego.

This third volume I am sure will be very influential in the decision to create more MPA’s off the North Coast. The high points for me are the descriptions of the declines in various species of invertebrates and fishes as witnessed by commercial and sport fishers, Native Americans, scuba divers and scientists. Marc has indeed done his homework well as exhibited by his literature and interview citations, listed at the bottom of each page. Finally, the excellent photo images help brgin this story to life.

I highly recommend all three volumes to anyone who is at all interested in recovering the marine life population off our coast, as well as to those skeptics who still believe everything is just fine."

—Daniel W. Gotshall, Retired California Department of Fish and Game Marine Biologist,
Author of dozens of scientific papers and a series of books on marine life.

Check out reader reviews of Wonders of the Sea Volume Two: Marine Jewels of Southern California's Coast and Islands posted on Amazon.com