Free Book Talk with Cynthia Barnett
July 15, 2021
Envision Resilience Nantucket invites you to a FREE book talk with Cynthia Barnett at 6:00 PM on Thursday, July 15, 2021, at First Congregational Church in Nantucket. Cynthia will discuss her new book “The Sound of the Sea: Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans”.
About the Book
A captivating history of seashells and the animals that make them, revealing what they have to tell us about nature, our changing oceans, and ourselves. Seashells have been the most coveted and collected of nature’s creations since the dawn of humanity. They were money before coins, jewelry before gems, art before canvas.
In The Sound of the Sea, acclaimed environmental author Cynthia Barnett blends cultural history and science to trace our long love affair with seashells and the hidden lives of the mollusks that make them. Spiraling out from the great cities of shell that once rose in North America to the warming waters of the Maldives and the slave castles of Ghana, Barnett has created an unforgettable account of the world’s most iconic seashells. She begins with their childhood wonder, unwinds surprising histories like the origin of Shell Oil as a family business importing exotic shells, and charts what shells and the soft animals that build them are telling scientists about our warming, acidifying seas. From the eerie calls of early shell trumpets to the evolutionary miracle of spines and spires and the modern science of carbon capture inspired by shell, Barnett circles to her central point of listening to nature’s wisdom—and acting on what seashells have to say about taking care of each other and our world.
About the Author
Cynthia Barnett is the author of three previous books, including Rain: A Natural and Cultural History, longlisted for the National Book Award; a finalist for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Award for Literary Science Writing; and named the best book of 2015 by NPR’s Science Friday, Kirkus Reviews, the Boston Globe, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Miami Herald. She lives with her family in Gainesville, Florida, where she is also an Environmental Journalist in Residence at the University of Florida.