A Portrait of the Gulf Stream by Erik Orsenna
Spanning thousands of years of history,Portrait of the Gulf Streamweaves between poetry and science to trace the influence of this current on Europes culture and climate.
'The French author Erik Orsenna 'collects currents' in the way that other people collect butterflies or stampsHe has been in love with them since his childhood in Brehat, an island off the Brittany coast. His book is a personal and somewhat idiosyncratic investigation into the science and myths of currents, in particular the one that gives the United Kingdom and northern Europe a far warmer climate than usual for this latitude - the Gulf Stream. As well as talking to scientists and discussing past attempts to explain these hidden oceanic pathways, he travels to Norway, searching in vain for the mythical whirlpool the Maelstroem. At one point, Orsenna admits 'I am not a scientist, I am a wanderer', and it is clear that the true subject of this book, and the source of his fascination, goes well beyond the merely nautical. At the end he mentions feng shui and Australia's songlines as examples of land-based currents, but one senses that he could have said much more about the way currents resonate throughout literature and our wider culture.' -- PD Smith The Guardian 20100925
Erik Orsenna is a Goncourt Prize winning novelist, sailor, economist, jurist, presidential advisor (to Mitterrand), member of the council d'Etat and one of the 40 "immortals" of the Academie Francaise where he holds the seat formerly held by Commander Jacques-Yves Cousteau.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781906598747 |
| ISBN 10 | 1906598746 |
| Title | A Portrait of the Gulf Stream |
| Author | Erik Orsenna |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | The Armchair Traveller at the Bookhaus |
| Year published | 2010-10-12 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |