The Sound of the Sea

Seashells and the Fate of the Oceans

By: Cynthia Barnett

Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley

Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

A compelling 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.

©2021 Cynthia Barnett (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Great book, well read

Intelligent and fascinating investigation of how shells have helped form the human societies we life in. And an window into how beautiful creatures in the sea can help us deal with the challenges of the future (or the the sad price we will pay if not).

Narrator was very good.

A Deep and Fascinating Dive

Cynthia Barnett is a colleague at the University of Florida, and I know her work to be of the highest quality. Still, that did not prepare me to enjoy this audiobook so much that I raced to finish it. It showed me animals and places about which I knew far less than I had thought. It introduced me to scientists, and especially women, whose contributions have benefitted humanity. It relied on data while always translating it into human terms. It mixed history and science in a way I’ve rarely encountered. Best of all, the storytelling made me care more about the sea and how we treat nature -- and as a result, re-evaluate my role in it. The narration is excellent as well. Highly recommended.

Good, educational listen

Good listen for those interested in natural history, anthropology, world history, ecology, marine biology, conservation and woman’s role in the sciences.

The author covers a lot in this book, and I feel like she strays off topic here and there, especially when diving into the personal backgrounds of scientists or other specific persons discussed. Those parts of the book did not hold my interest, but she manages to get back on topic easily, and draw me back in.

Overall, I found this book interesting, and the reader was better than most. She has kind of a sing-songy way of speaking, but you do get used to it. Better than monotone or overly dramatic…

This is the third book in the Atlas Obscura book club, and the first choice that I’ve actually enjoyed.

Tremendously interesting and relevant in unexpected ways

This is in part the history of the world through shells from all sorts of directions - their role in our world, their science, and the impact of our current environment upon them. I was happily surprised by how something I’d never thought much about suddenly felt so relevant and riveting.

An indoctrination to the religion of evolution

Cynthia Barnett starts by telling a fantasy account of a Neanderthal girl collecting shells along a beach and then moves on from there trying hard to disprove creation by comparing it to a theory. She says that there are two competing theories; spontaneous generation and creation are how the shells formed. She spends at least two paragraphs citing evidence that disproves creation and does not mention the theory of spontaneous generation, which was disproved by Francisco Redi in the 1600’s.
Her use of sprinkled in facts seems plausible to the uninformed, but it is like a tapestry where the facts, like hers shells, sparkle and overshadow the underlying falsehoods.
I found her story hard to digest and therefore I returned it to get my credit back. I will spend it on fiction that is less deceitful.