Nancy KnowltonCitizens of the Sea: Wondrous Creatures From the Census of Marine Life

This book had been bought for my daughter. But as I discovered over past few days, it’s for all ages and everybody. It’s about the creatures who live in those parts of the world that has made ours a blue planet.The Sea!And what a beautiful, mysterious, dangerous and fascinating world it is.The photographs are awesome. Brief information provided alongside are thoughtful, succinct, and lucid.The dimensions of the book also give it the feel of an album, making it friendlier.Highly recommended.

My wife and I recently spent a week in the Cayman Islands. Most of our time was spent checking out the amazing creatures of this famous coral reef through the lens of a snorkel mask. Fortunately we also packed National Geographic's new book, Citizens of the Sea. Although the author, Nancy Knowlton, is a renown marine biologist, the book is written for any adult or young person with an interest in learning more about the creatures of the sea. The photos are stunning but it's really the text that captivated me. Each page highlights a different animal or theme and describes it in a clear but fascinating manner. I hadn't realized that the variety and weirdness of underwater life could surpass that of life on land. It's the kind of book you can pick up for ten minutes and learn something extraordinary. Reading this lovely book each evening made us more anxious to dive into the water the next day to see what new creatures we would discover. Not too large, but densely packed with information, it's the perfect book to bring along on a diving or snorkeling vacation.

I love this book! Bought for my grandson's birthday, but I've spent every morning reading it with my coffee because I enjoy it so much. My grandson is only 8, but is an advanced reader and wants to be a marine biologist, so he likes it But I wouldn't say this is geared toward 8 year olds, in general. We have lots of books on the topic and this is my favorite. Well beyond the ones we have geared toward kids, but more readable than the ones I have that are more of a scientific reference book. This has the right amount of information with beautiful pictures. I've learned something from it each day.

As another reviewer mentioned, the mesmerizing photos of majestic and stranger-than-fiction creatures are the bait that draws you in, but it's the little gems of prose on each topic that really stuck with me -- even as a professional marine biologist I learned all kinds of fascinating stuff for the first time or saw it in a new light. More importantly, the book rekindles that sense of awe and inspiration from nature that makes every kid want to be a marine biologist at some point in life. In fact it reminds me so much of those that turned me on to ocean life when I was young that I ordered ten copies and gave them to all of my students and staff for Christmas (which is not hard to do at $17 each!). Personally I think the size is perfect -- this is not something you want to leave sitting on your coffee table.

Purchased this for an 11 year old who wants to be a marine biologist. Each pair of pages has a high quality photo with a good description of the sea creature. Not something she'll read cover to cover, but I'm sure she'll enjoy it.

My Granddaughter is going to college to be a marine Biologist. She love this book by National Geographic. The pictures are Gorgeous.

Beautiful and well illustrated little book Beautiful pictures and good description of our friends from the deep sea.

I bought this book for a grandchild. He seems to really like it.I didn't read it.