BEGINNINGS. Eden in the depths -- First land, first sea -- TOUCHED BY THE SEA. Building the basin -- Breathing -- Circle of water -- Explosion of life -- A green sea -- Arrival of fishes -- Climate from the sea -- Mass extinction -- The Anthropocene -- TOUCHING THE SEA. The long migration -- Edge of continents -- Rhythms on a reef -- Far ends of the earth -- Where rivers meet the sea -- Our water, our world -- Timeline

The author of Great Waters: An Atlantic Passage identifies a living partnership between the earth and its life, explaining the comparatively new responsibility of human beings in protecting the sea in order to safeguard climate and environmental interests