This is a very deep dive (ha!) into the phenomenon of tides, spanning literature, history, geology, geography, physics, astronomy—you name it. Some of the scientific explanations were a bit over my head, to be honest, but the overall account of what tides are and how they work in different places around the globe was intriguing. I saw a review of this book that mentioned Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn, and some of the author’s meanderings combined with the black-and-white images reproduced throughout the book kind of bear that up (The Rings of Saturn is called out by name towards the end of the book, so clearly the author had that vibe in mind). If you’re interested particularly in the science of tides, this book is a good exploration of it.

Further reading…