Coral Reefs: A Natural History

This book provides the complete history of corals, and includes many diagrams and high quality photographs. The book arrived in excellent condition, and I am very pleased with the seller! My order was wrapped in a sealed bag before being placed in the packaging from Amazon, so it was extra protected. I am very pleased and look forward to purchasing from this seller in the future! Well done, and thank you!

As an avid scuba diver couped up in a far away land, dreaming of coral reefs and the splendor of colour that accompanies the structure and pattern of this incredible world, the closest I can get currently, is diving into books. “Coral Reefs – A Natural History” by Charles Sheppard is one such publication I cannot stop backflipping into…. As a novice photographer, I am drawn to the patterns and textures of the coral structures, the repetitive, geometrical and perfectly duplicated forms. The pages of this book allow me to float back into the ocean and seek out these cityscapes and marvel at the beauty. Charles narration is not only incredibly descriptive and informative, but its is also calming and passionate. His life’s work is poured over the pages and entraps the reader to crave more of this world, so few are privileged to explore. I am left breathless and excited to once again get into the blue armed with more understanding and appreciation and amazing knowledge, gleamed from the pages of this must have book.

Starfish, kelp, octopi, squid, jellyfish -- everything in the ocean is edible. You just gotta cook it right. This book has exquisite photographs of all my favorite parts of the sea -- coral reefs, sharks, the roiling surface during a storm. It's all here. The ocean is full of stuff that can eat us (we're all edible too). Throw the grandparents in. If you love art, check out my favorite books on the subject: - Airshow by Philip Castle - Icon by Frank Frazetta - Great Fighter Jets of the Galaxy 1 by Tim Gibson

Beautiful book but it is very difficult to read, not easy to understand even I have biology background. The figures doesn’t help in explaining the text, they are merely pretty photos.

I enjoyed the concise way the many facets of marine biology were presented along with descriptive photos

Bought as a birthday gift and the recipient was delighted with it.

Professor Sheppard has created a cogent, articulate and excellent up-to-date global account of the world’s coral reefs. The author has succinctly managed to capture and synthesise the key issues of this vast and fascinating subject. The book appropriately focusses on the tropical regions, although it also includes a section on deep and cold water corals. It commences by describing the biology of the coral animal itself, moving on in the following chapters to discuss the different kinds of reef and how a coral reef works. Appropriately, a whole chapter is devoted to the challenges of climate change and the book concludes with a comprehensive overview of man’s relationship with coral reefs. This 240 page volume is beautifully illustrated and a pleasure to read, making it accessible to a wide audience.

I found this book provides a very good collection of essays of many facets of coral reefs, without the need for excessive verbiage, and is very much what I was looking for to satisfy my need for more information on a subject matter I love. I am an experienced snorkeler, and interested in all aspects of reef life. My only irritation is the excessive use (I believe to be the case) of photo enhancement techniques generating intensive colours, the like of which I have never seen in real life! Hence the 4 stars, not 5 stars.