Ocean World

Being one of those who found the BBC's recent 'Blue Planet' entirely absorbing, I find it easy to welcome this souvenir by-product of the series. And it maintains those virtues of its parent that I found to be cardinal - clarity of explanation and brilliantly illustrative image-making. To the reader with previous viewing experience this is a brilliant reinforcement of the Attenborough achievement; to those less lucky it is a self-sufficient introduction to the natural history of the oceans. Coastal, open ocean, coral, arctic, fish, flesh and fowl are all introduced in an end-to-end read that is a model for language and layout and in which words and pictures mesh magnificently. Easily accessible to eight-ups, this is also a grand book for sharing with younger ones and there can be few persons of any age whom it will not engage and improve.