Reflections On A Summer Sea

Sep 21, 2024 8:25 PM

Author:Trevor Norton

This is the funny and touching story of a menagerie of eccentric and talented ecologists who, mainly as a hobby, spent forty summers at Lough Ine, a stunning marine lough in a corner of Ireland, where myths seep from the ground like will o' the wisps and, in one of the most unlikely projects in the history of science, were responsible for the reinvention of marine biology. Among the stars of the book are the marine creatures that occupy the lake: sea urchins that won't dine unless they wear a hat, otters that steal experiments, and worms that will only mate by order of the moon. The creatures' eccentric behaviour is matched only by that of the ecologists themselves, whose antics and interactions with their Irish neighbours are all lovingly described with Norton's keen eye for both the wonderful and the absurd. But for all its humour, the book is also a moving account of two ecologists who collaborated for forty years until their friendship came to a tragic end. The book brings together all the rich flavours of Ireland, the wonders of natural history and the magic of being a marine biologist just for the fun of it.

Reviews

Truly magical

—— David Puttnam

A lovely book-Norton writes beautifully

—— Sunday Express

Reflections on a Summer Sea stands apart, a thoughtful, funny look at life as it was

—— Home & Country

Norton captures wonderfully the wit of the local Irish neighbours-making me smile, laugh and scowl

—— Dive Magazine

An entertaining canter through global history...energy and muscular prose are much in evidence

—— The Times Higher Educational Supplement

Extraordinary... a brilliant, counter-intuitive argument in favour of individualism and market forces

—— Mail on Sunday

Kealey writes with enthusiasm and panache... exhilarating and exciting

—— Lancet

Thrillingly original memoir ... extraordinary

—— Lynn Barber , The Sunday Times

To write a book about a year's bird-watching as keenly observed as this, you have to be dedicated to the point of obsession; to write one as transcendent, you must be a poet

—— Christopher Somerville , The Times, Christmas Books

As unexpected as it is brilliant... A moving, powerful meditation on the natural world that envelops us, even in the heart of our cities

—— Helen Dunmore , Guardian Summer Reading

Haunting and passionate.... in graceful, poetic prose, compels us to look again and marvel at the 'storm of life over our heads

—— Huon Mallalieu , Country Life, Christmas round up

The year's most unusual travel book

—— Tom Chesshyre , The Times

[An] eye-opening and hugely enjoyable book

—— Daily Telegraph

Written in a delectable prose that scatters flashes of poetry over a sardonic undertow of social comment, Edgelands is a lyrical triumph. On Britain’s grotty margins, the duo trace “desire paths” to find beauty and mystery in the rough darkness on the edge of town

—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent

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