Description: After settling into a large, sandy hole originally excavated by a turtle, shaded by the pale, furry leaves of an Australian argusia bush, Rosaleen Love waits and watches. Around her, white beaches glisten in contrast to the clear blue-green water that laps gently at the shore while nearby a black-masked gannet and its fluffy chick peer eagerly from their makeshift nest of coral rubble at the high-water line. She breathes deeply, the tang of the salt air sharp. The flat expanse of the island, home to thousands of nesting birds, has grown from the sea, polyp by coral polyp, to lie quietly in the lee of cascading breakers. Love has traveled beyond the Great Barrier Reef to the Islands of the Blessed, and she is happy.

Told in a reflectively poetic voice, Love writes not just of the ecological, biological, and geological significance of the unique habitat that is the Great Barrier Reef, but of the history of the area. This twofold approach gives a rich perspective on the Reef as an ecosystem as well as a resource -- telling a story of commodities and industries, from fishing to mining. By recounting both stories, Reefscape provides a window on the past while also foreshadowing the future.

Love's story of the Great Barrier Reef allows us to see the geography anew. Reefscape is more than travelogue, more than eco-history. It represents multiple views of the Reef through the eyes of mariners, pearl divers, naturalists, filmmakers, pirates, industrialists, and tourists alike. Her insights are taken from both history and science, borne of her own explorations in the field.

Reefscape will illuminate the meaning of the human encounter with nature. It will inspire delight in the imaginationand spirit of all who yearn for the transcendence of turquoise waters -- whether at water's edge in goggles and fins or from the comfort of the living room couch.

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