The Bookshelf: March 8, 2017

Trib+Water is joining with respected books authority Kirkus Reviews to bring you select reviews of books of note in the field of water studies. For more book reviews and recommendations, visit Kirkus.com. 

THE OUTER BEACH: A Thousand-Mile Walk on Cape Cod’s Atlantic Shore

by Robert Finch

“In 40 years of walking along Cape Cod’s Outer Beach, Finch estimates that he has covered 1,000 miles, rambles that have informed nine previous books. In his latest collection, he chronicles his beach walking from south to north along the Cape’s 40-mile stretch of glacial bluffs, barrier beach, and islands… One night, walking through fog, he could barely see the surf but suddenly smelled the ocean, “rich, salt spiced, redolent of fecundity and decay.” Like the surfers he enjoys watching, Finch has learned to read waves, “each with its own distinct shape, height, alignment, speed, curl.” Nature, Finch knows, is more powerful than human intervention, and it is this power than enthralls him."

For the full review, visit kirkus.com.