‘Tides’ author to give talk March 1 at Darling Marine Center
Jonathan White will sign copies of “Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean” at his noon talk Wednesday, March 1 at the University of Maine Darling Marine Center in Walpole.
White, a mariner and marine conservationist, ran educational programs aboard his 65-foot wooden schooner, Crusader, in the 1980s. The Crusader was nearly destroyed in 1990 when it ran aground during a high tide in Alaska’s Kalinin Bay. That dramatic personal experience was the impetus for his book.
To better understand the power of tides, White traveled to the Silver Dragon, a 25-foot tidal bore on China’s Qiantang River. In the Arctic, he and an Inuit elder shimmied through a hole in the ice to find blue mussels. And in Venice, White witnessed the city’s extraordinary preparations for sea-level rise.
“I’ve learned a lot from White’s book about tides in just the first 50 pages,” says Heather Leslie, DMC director. “Communities all over the world are shaped by the tides and reading of their experiences has given me even greater appreciation for our own tidelands in the midcoast.”
Leslie, also a professor in the UMaine School of Marine Sciences, is an intertidal ecologist.
“It’s a great book, and I’m looking forward to hearing from the author about the science and spirit of tides,” she says.
Attendees are invited to bring a brown bag lunch to the talk in Brooke Hall. The DMC will provide beverages and cookies. The book, which retails for $28 hardcover, will be available for purchase at the talk. And, as of Feb. 21, it will be available at Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop in Damariscotta.