The sea is not made of water.

 Sub-titled Life Between the Tides this book by Adam Nicolson is in turns frustrating and enlightening. I do recommend it but best to dip in occasionally I find. There are sections that are absorbing and revealing but there is a bit of a tendency to labour the point at times. This seems to me, and I haven't followed the references up, very well researched and understood. Elements of the book are so interesting, Chapter 1, Sandhopper for instance. But I got a bit lost in Prawn. Winkle on the other hand is a bit of a mixture, I was fascinated by the theory of fractual, that measuring things like coastline in more and more detail takes you further from an answer rather than closer. I was also very interested in the relationships between shore crabs, winkles and green algae. However, extending the idea of fractual more broadly and arguing Socratic theory left me a bit cold, I felt this was taking an interesting piece of information and stretching the argument a wee bit far. You might enjoy that, I didn't especially. It will take me time to read this book and no doubt I will revisit my favoured parts of it.

I enjoyed On the Marsh by Simon Barnes to start with. However, I'm a bit suspicious of someone who calls themselves a birder and then fails to record Common Gull on their patch for a considerable period of time. At least he was honest about the omission but I don't think you're a birder Simon, not in the sense I understand the term anyway (perhaps I'm being a tad elitist here?). The relationship Simon has with his son is beautifully and sympathetically told. However, let's get real, this is a very priviledged life, despite the repeated references to a lack of cash and a down on his luck kind of tone. In the end this irritated me and at the moment this is a book put down.

To be fair to both these authors I'm not a great book reader, more of a reference seeker. I use books rather than read them for enjoyment these days. Adam Nicolson's book is a work I will return to because it explores ideas and ecology deeply, there's no superficiality. It's not an easy read but it challenges the mind and contains real knowledge based on research, and whilst I was not always in tune with the way he explores ideas I can understand and respect the intelligence of the enterprise.