A Celebration of the World's Barrier Islands

by Orrin H. Pilkey and Mary Edna Fraser

Book Overview

From the Carolina Outer Banks to New York's Fire Island, from Iceland to the Netherlands and Colombia to Vietnam, barrier islands protect much of the world's coastlines from the ravages of the sea. Although these islands are vastly different in many ways, they also share many common features. Most dramatic among these is their dynamism--barrier islands are in almost constant motion, their advances and retreats powerful testimony to the force and...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231119704
• ISBN13: 9780231119702
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 3.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 8.8" x 10.4"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Learn about barrier islands while enjoying batiks

A Celebration of the World's Barrier Islands is a collaboration between two outstanding people. Dr. Pilkey is a highly respected professor of geology at Duke University and one of the world's foremost authorities on barrier islands. We had the privilege of spending some time with him at the Duke Marine Lab in Beaufort, N.C. a few years ago, and his observations as we hiked around Shackleford Banks and then rode around some of the other islands were extremely enlightening. Mary Edna Fraser is a renowned artist specializing in the production of large-scale batiks. We have seen some of her work at the Visitor Reception Center in Charleston, and that particular batik shows the coastline around Charleston in a way that you have probably not seen before. Barrier islands are fascinating places, and Dr. Pilkey can tell you as much as you want to know about them. This book covers the history of barrier islands, the geology, the changeability, the rule of Nature, and the impact of people and buildings. The book is sectioned into different types of islands, and it explores barrier islands all over the world. It is copiously illustrated with photos and shots of Ms Fraser's magnificent batiks. If you are at all interested in barrier islands, then this book is a must read.

A must have!!!

If you love beaches and barrier islands-this book is a must have!!! I have spent many days on the beaches of North Carolina and beaches around the world and this book was an absolute pleasure to read.

Beautiful!

I have been in love with the North Carolina barrier islands since I was a lad and this is a dream book. Beautiful images and a truly scientifically rigorous text by Orrin Pilkey, academic doyen of beach erosion and barrier islands, makes for a wonderful read about these hauntingly beautiful features. I found the accounts of barrier islands elsewhere in the world to be even more fascinating than the ones I am familiar with on the US East coast. Mary Edna Fraser's batiks really add to the book to make this into a wonderful mix of science and art.