Les coquillages : le guide des joyaux de la mer
Category: Livres,Sciences, Techniques et Mdecine,Sciences de la vie - Biologie - Gntique
Les coquillages : le guide des joyaux de la mer Details
Utilisés comme monnaie d'échange, admirés et convoités comme des pierres précieuses, ou vénérés comme des porte-bonheur, les coquillages sont de véritables prodiges de la nature et des habitants des mers bien mystérieux. La splendeur de leurs formes et de leurs couleurs, leur infinie variété, leurs propriétés souvent étonnantes attisent la curiosité des plongeurs et la passion des collectionneurs.Comment ces mollusques ont-ils la faculté de fabriquer des spirales géométriquement parfaites, des boucliers en porcelaine polie, des nacres et des perles ? Ce n'est que depuis la seconde moitié du XXe siècle, avec l'exploration des abysses et les connaissances acquises en biologie, que nous disposons d'informations inédites sur l'élaboration de ces chefs-d'oeuvre.De magnifiques photos sous-marines, des centaines de dessins en couleurs, de schémas et de graphiques, illustrent cet ouvrage qui rassemble toutes les connaissances actuelles sur ces authentiques joyaux du monde marin (habitat, évolution, physiologie) et permet l'identification des coquillages du monde entier.
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Reviews
The modern scuba diver has evolved into a contemporary creature who is aware of the underwater environment and the negative impact he is able to assert unless he is careful down there. On behalf of all serious scuba divers everywhere I wish to assert; We are not frogmen, we are not spear-fishermen, we do not wear flippers, we do not breathe Oxygen and WE DO NOT collect sea shells. This book would have you believe otherwise.Shell collecting was practised in the 19th Century - long before the advent of underwater films and photography which allowed people to see the difference between a living creature in its shell on the seabed and a dead case in someone's collection.Yet again, we have a low-quality product from a publishing firm who refuse to afford another so-called author any form of biography or explanation. Consequently, we simply do not know whether or not Giorgio Gabbi is a schoolboy, student, experienced scuba diver or holder of a Phd in Marine Biology. Without that knowledge, the book has no credibility whatsoever. Furthermore, there are no meaningful references and no bibliography whatsoever. My conclusion, therefore, is that little of the content may be trusted.As mentioned in my reviews about other books from these publishers; The translations from parent Italian to English is often derisible. More alarming, however, are the sentiments on the book's back cover - where comments are placed in order to attract the browser into making that all-important purchase. Those comments also give the non-diver a false impression of what it is we are about. Worded in the present tense as though it were still happening, it reads; "Traded like coins, collected like precious stones, revered like amulets, shells are the mysterious ladies of the Ocean: Coloured and luminous, chiselled or smooth, they elicit curiosity in divers and enthuse collectors."Like I said, out of date!In short, this is yet another mass-produced item from White Star Publishing of Italy, who have a reputation for specialising in quantity over quality and the reader should not be fooled by some excellent photography.NM
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