Plastic Ocean

As any good sea captain should, Moore (founder, Algalita Marine Research Fdn.) can tell a compelling story with the right balance of color and fact. His book details his struggle to document the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (a floating island of plastic garbage in the North Pacific) while raising public and government awareness of its dangers. The narrative style of the book is difficult to describe but remarkably effective as it drifts back and forth from his personal history as an environmental activist, to his discovery of and attempts to catalog the ocean debris, to his reflections on society's reliance on the nonbiodegradable chemistry of plastic. Moore warns that his story is not chronological but instead is an attempt to connect the dots of his life. He admits that even he, a highly engaged and educated environmentalist, did not immediately understand the insidious nature of the floating plastic that became more common over a decade of sea travel. Reading a little like a certain other sea captain's epic struggle with an indefatigable foe, this book will be worthwhile to anyone with an interest in protecting the environment. Recommended.—Marianne Stowell Bracke, Purdue Univ. Libs., West Lafayette, IN