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The Reef: A Passionate History: The Great Barrier Reef from Captain Cook to Climate Change, by Iain McCalman

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From Booklist

Flat-out astonished when he first set eyes on the Great Barrier Reef in 2001, British historian McCalman (Darwin’s Armada, 2009) quickly became concerned about all that imperils the ongoing vitality of this gigantic maze of coral structures and magnificent marine world, especially global warming. Now his mission is to illuminate the reef’s glorious complexity by recounting the stirring, wild, and surprising stories of fraught encounters between islanders and outsiders. He begins with vivid accounts of Captain James Cook’s nearly disastrous reef collision in 1770, followed by the 1802 expedition of Matthew Flinders, “the true European father of the Reef.” Here, too, are beachcombers, artists, a tropical Thoreau, and shipwrecked Barbara Thompson, a nineteenth-century Scotswoman who lived for five years among the Kaurareg people. McCalman also profiles intrepid scientists who advanced our knowledge of reef-building corals and their role in this precious ecosystem, a World Heritage site, from naturalist Joseph Beete Jukes to scandal-evading William Saville-Kent, a pioneer in marine science photography, to today’s ardent reef advocate, Charlie Veron. McCalman’s “passionate history” is a call to save this “fragile global wonder.” --Donna Seaman

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Review

“[Iain] McCalman has written an innovative history . . .His approach is at once episodic and kaleidoscopic . . . McCalman's own passion for the Reef informs the book throughout, whether in his engaging account of sailing through it in a replica of Cook's HMS Endeavour, or in his concluding laments for its environmental degradation . . . For a work about such a vast topic--big in scale, big in its implications for how we hold a planet in trust--The Reef is a compellingly intimate account of human interaction with this slice of nature.” ―David Armitage, Los Angeles Review of Books“By the end of McCalman's transformative book, we feel the full force of this slow-motion emergency. In story after story of fascination and trepidation, in revelations and in requiems, this passionate history brings to life the Great Barrier Reef's magnificent mutability.” ―Rob Nixon, The New York Times Book Review“Reefs, like their terrestrial counterparts, tropical rainforests, are increasingly threatened by human activity; some already exhibit a marked decline. Like rainforests, too, they show exceptional biodiversity, a characteristic which is increasingly valued as an index of the wellbeing of our planet. It is this decline that makes Iain McCalman's The Reef, on the discovery, history and future prospects of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, so timely. It is fascinating because of the wealth of information it contains on both familiar and unfamiliar topics.” ―Andrew Campbell, Times Literary Supplement“A masterly biography of the Great Barrier Reef . . . Mr McCalman's sweeping and absorbing history is well timed.” ―The Economist“Australia's Great Barrier Reef stretches for around 1,430 miles along the continent's northeast coast, encompassing an area roughly half the size of Texas. Those who have dived into its pristine reaches know firsthand that it is one of Earth's natural wonders--a coral world of exceptional beauty and diversity. Yet as Iain McCalman's "passionate history" of the reef makes clear, it is also a stage on which dreams, ambitions, and great human tragedies have been played out. He tells his story by chronicling lives that, either inadvertently or intentionally, have shaped our perception of the coralline labyrinth.” ―Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books“[An] ambitious, elegant narrative of the Great Barrier Reef and its remarkably drawn-out discovery.” ―Jennie Erin Smith, The Wall Street Journal“Iain McCalman's The Reef, like its subject, builds slowly into beauty, offering an account of the Great Barrier Reef as it exists in culture, language and dream, as well as in marine biology.” ―Robert Macfarlane, The Observer (UK)“McCalman's tone shifts from the boy's own adventure, scientific excitement and scamming of early encounters, to dizzying disaster-epic suspense. But never for a moment does his literary skill falter. His detailed explanation of marine science is a model of translation for the layman. And his respect for Indigenous people is a model of intercultural translation . . . He describes the Indigenous view of events without exoticising the individuals he talks to. Nostalgia permeates the book, for ancestral lands lost and for what we all might be losing now.” ―Miriam Cosic, The Guardian (UK)“Splendid . . . [A] wonderful paean to the Great Barrier Reef.” ―David B. Williams, The Seattle Times“An intimate exploration of the Great Barrier Reef . . . The Reef uncovers personal stories that weave together the biological evolution and human discovery of the Great Barrier Reef culminating in its current state--a World Heritage site in desperate need of protection.” ―The Inquirer and Mirror (Nantucket, MA)“The Great Barrier Reef is both easily understood and awe-inspiring in this history of its discovery, exploitation and beauty.” ―Julia Jenkins, Shelf Awareness“[Iain McCalman's] mission is to illuminate the reef's glorious complexity by recounting the stirring, wild, and surprising stories of fraught encounters between islanders and outsiders . . . [His] ‘passionate history' is a call to save this ‘fragile global wonder.'” ―Donna Seaman, Booklist“McCalman loves the reef and fears for its future . . . [He] selects his subjects judiciously and writes with flair, creating a multifaceted portrait of one of the world's great wonders.” ―Kirkus Reviews“Combining engaging accounts of early explorers with discussion of current scientific findings and their implications . . . McCalman's book will be enjoyed by the general reader, students at the undergraduate level, those interested in the history of science, and travelers to this magnificent region.” ―Judith B. Barnett, Library Journal“Brilliant, beautiful, a hymn to the past, present and increasingly uncertain future of one of the world's greatest treasures. The Reef is necessary reading for anyone who cares about the future of the ocean.” ―James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers“The Great Wall of China is dwarfed to nothingness, along with everything else proud humans have built, by the minuscule polyps that fashioned the Great Barrier Reef. That living reef, the world's largest, is in desperate trouble, the victim of climate change and a melancholy legacy of carelessness, indifference, and greed. The Reef is more than a lament; it is a brilliant history of our long interaction with this precious feature of our world, weaving together coexistence, terror, exploration, exploitation, scientific curiosity, and love. Iain McCalman has a rare gift for conjuring up both famous and forgotten lives and for awakening our wonder.” ―Stephen Greenblatt, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern“Usually a subject of natural history, the Great Barrier Reef finally finds a place in a contradiction fundamental to the history of modernity: the desire to preserve nature while exploiting it for profit. With this book, Iain McCalman cements his reputation as one of the finest historians of our time.” ―Dipesh Chakrabarty, Professor of History, University of Chicago“History doesn't get any more lively than this. A stylish, racing read, The Reef surprises with every turn of the page, investing one of the world's greatest natural structures with human drama. In almost cinematic episodes that veer from scientific epiphany to physical brutality, from the eighteenth century to our own conflicted age, Iain McCalman introduces an amazing cast of characters. In the process--and it's a very entertaining one--he creates an entirely new account of a natural marvel, couched in gripping historical narrative, both witty and rigorously scholarly, sweepingly grand and vividly detailed.” ―Philip Hoare, author of The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea“The magnitude of the awesome Great Barrier Reef is matched here by Iain McCalman's deep exploration of its compelling history and colorful ecology. An important biography of a fragile place.” ―Katherine Harmon Courage, author of Octopus! The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea“In The Reef, Iain McCalman artfully weaves scientific inquiry and historical rigor into the life stories of twenty individuals. As we experience this extraordinary place through their eyes, we come away informed and inspired.” ―Jim Toomey, creator of Sherman's Lagoon and executive director of Mission Blue“No other historian I know brings together exploration, science, the environment, and strange experience with the erudition and the eloquence of Iain McCalman. The Reef is utterly absorbing as well as richly informative.” ―Nicholas Thomas, director and curator of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge

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Product details

Hardcover: 352 pages

Publisher: Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st US edition (May 20, 2014)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0374248192

ISBN-13: 978-0374248192

Product Dimensions:

6.3 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

3.7 out of 5 stars

31 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#588,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

The Great Barrier Reef is something many know exists but few know much about. In Iain McCalman’s book “The Reef a Passionate History” I felt intrigued when I looked at the cover and read the synopsis. Upon opening the book and reading the first few pages I what I was expecting and what I was reading were very different things. The book borders the lines of being a romantic novel from the prospective of a man enamored with tales from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. I was expecting to gain some insight into the biology and possibly geology of the “three thousand individual reefs, more than nine hundred islands, and thousands of marine species”, as noted in the synopsis. Instead the book dove off into the love life and hardships of the people who tried to study and inhabit the numerous shoals, beaches, and banks of the reef. From the excursions of Captain James Cook, to the studies and preservation efforts of numerous different aristocratic misfits. The book became a rinse and repeat of the same struggle to inhabit the environment and develop an understanding of it with some aspect of romance and the occasional tumultuous skirmish ending in the death of a token character. I was less than enthusiastic to continue reading beyond the first few chapters once the common theme had been recycled. There are few books that grasp their audience and leave them wanting more and there are many that lose their audience after the first few chapters, unfortunately for Iain McCalman, “A Passionate History” was the later of the two.

“The Reef: A Passionate History”, by historian Iain McCalman, would have benefited from a different title. The book is less a passionate history of reefs, and more a history of people engaged in pursuits that they found passionate. The book is filled with dramatic tales, from Captain Cook’s entrapment within the reefs that would later become known as the Great Barrier Reef, to the story of murderous siblings William and Constance Kent’s flight to Australia. While these narratives are ferociously entertaining, they only remotely focus on the science behind reefs. Several scientific accomplishments are described, including the first coral dive, and the origination of underwater photography. However, the majority of the book focuses on theatrical interactions with the native people (either bloodthirsty savages or welcoming familial individuals, depending on various character perceptions) and descriptions of island life as experienced by explorers, colonists, artists, and castaways. A person seeking to learn legitimate coral reef science would not be satisfied with McCalman’s work. Some of this can be excused as many of the characters in this book lived and died centuries before the discovery of much of what modern coral science tells us (the symbiotic relationship between corals and zooxanthellae, for example). However, it seems curious that many of these people would be mentioned at all. For example, the descriptions of Mary Fraser’s alleged abuse at the hands of the natives contributes little to any type of legitimate reef history. In contrast, her dubious account appears to be used only as fodder for a British hatred and fear of the indigenous people found around the reefs. While it can be said that the arrival of these British revenge-seekers may have contributed to the “history” of the reef, it would be on a bare bones scale. Consider it comparable to someone penning “A Book of China”, and mainly focusing on people that arrive in China, with only a minor focus on the history, demographics, geology, etc., of the Asian nation. Also, it seems unnecessary for McCalman to spend so many words on some of these characters. In the case of Mrs. Fraser, a brief introduction would have been sufficient. Only in later chapters does it become clear what the author’s seeming motive is; to seduce readers with imaginative, colorful descriptions of life around the reefs, and arouse in them a sense of wonder and responsibility. The latter parts of the book describe the fragile state of the reefs, despite the earlier apparent hardiness that Captain Cook encountered. Climate change is addressed in “Extinction”, the book’s final chapter, and there one can see the dilemma McCalman faced. Much like reef scientist Charlie Veron, McCalman worried about raising awareness of the reefs, without imparting a fatalistic attitude. The author seems to want people to care about the reefs, and communicate the delicate condition of their survival. He appears to want to reveal the direness of the situation without making readers believe there is no hope. In total, “The Reef: A Passionate History”, is a very captivating read, if one is into on dits and the interactions of scandalous individuals. Iain McCalman is a historian, and boasts of no scientific background. If a reader can take this work as mainly an amusement, with a minor stressor upon global environmental responsibility, they will not be disappointed. However, if a reader is looking for hard-hitting scientific material involving reefs and their interactions, perhaps they should look elsewhere for their literary nourishment.

Iain McCalman’s “The Reef: A Passionate History” is indeed a passionate history. He divides the novel into three parts: Terror, Nurture, and Wonder. Each part focuses on a specific group of people: the Western explorers, the Indigenous people, and the romantic artists, respectively. You are put into the shoes of real life people who had a connection to the Great Barrier Reef, whether they were born to it or called to it. You read about true events that took place, their emotions to said events, and their reactions. If you want to read a book about the science behind the Great Barrier Reef, the species that live within it, and their part in the oceanic environment, I strongly suggest you choose another book. I shall state again: IF YOU WANT SCIENCE (i.e. IF YOU ARE JUDGING THIS BOOK BY IT’S COVER) DO NOT BUY THIS ONE! If you want history, politics, and read about the mind-boggling number of possibilities one can die from a spear (at least one in most chapters), then read this book. The first part, Terror, focuses on the Western explorers. You read of the first Europeans who tried to navigate and map out the Great Barrier Reef and their experiences with the locals, or aborigines. As always, making friends is hard at first (especially when they spear you to death for being ghosts), but with the help of trade and exchange of knowledge, a friendship does occur. Some return to England to say that the aborigines are a monstrous primitive people, like Eliza Fraser. The second part, Nurture, focus on the Indigenous people. You read of the local tribes and how they don’t get along with one another. A Scottish woman by the name Barbara Thompson was shipwrecked alongside one of the islands, was adopted by the head of a tribe (for believing she was the ghost of his late daughter), has a child with one of the tribesmen who rescued her named Boroto (who most likely died from a spear after a “brutal white reprisal conducted in error” against his people. She returns to Europe to return to her life with no intent to discredit the aborigines, but the reporter telling her story decides to make a name for himself and lie about her “abuse”. Also, during a cyclone you read that a man was “killed while trying to rescue his daughter, who was actually already dead, a spear of broken timber driven through her heart.” Just when you thought the author couldn’t write a new way for a man to die from a spear… you are proven wrong. The third part, Wonder, focuses on the romantic artists. You read of men and women who tried to bring an artistic light to the Great Barrier Reef for Europe. This chapter tells the story of men who tried to disprove Darwin and failed; men who tried to preserve the reef by publishing about the reef and creating tourism, which destroys the reef, so they failed; and men and women who tried to bring the science and the arts of the reef together and failed. There is so much politics and failure in this segment you will wind up wanting to spear yourself, which would be the cherry on top for Iain McCalman. In conclusion, if you want to read about the science behind the reef, read another book. If you want to read the personal soap-operas of various people, like the man who fled to Australia to run from the fact he was being charged with the murder of his half-brother, then read this book. If you would also like to learn about the one thousand ways to die from a spear only to read about nine-hundred and ninety-nine just to realize that you are the thousandth, then read this book. Excuse me while I go fashion a spear.

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