Seaweed Chronicles: A World at the Water’s Edge

“You might not expect unfettered passion on the topic of seaweed, but Shetterly is such a great storyteller that you find yourself following along eagerly.” —Mark Kurlansky

“Seaweed is ancient and basic, a testament to the tenacious beginnings of life on earth,” writes Susan Hand Shetterly in this elegant, fascinating book. “Why wouldn’t seaweeds be a protean life source for the lives that have evolved since?” On a planet facing environmental change and diminishing natural resources, seaweed is increasingly important as a source of food and as a fundamental part of our global ecosystem.

In Seaweed Chronicles, Shetterly takes readers deep into the world of this essential organism by providing an immersive, often poetic look at life on the rugged shores of her beloved Gulf of Maine, where the growth and harvesting of seaweed is becoming a major industry. While examining the life cycle of seaweed and its place in the environment, she tells the stories of the men and women who farm and harvest it—and who are fighting to protect this critical species against forces both natural and man-made. Ideal for readers of such books as The Hidden Life of Trees and How to Read Water, Seaweed Chronicles is a deeply informative look at a little understood and too often unappreciated part of our habitat.

• Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter
• The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life
• The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization
• A Naturalist at Large: The Best Essays of Bernd Heinrich
• The Last Lobster: Boom or Bust for Maine's Greatest Fishery?
• Spying on Whales: The Past, Present, and Future of Earth's Most Awesome Creatures
• Poso Wells
• Underbug: An Obsessive Tale of Termites and Technology
• Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island
• Settled in the Wild: Notes from the Edge of Town