In many ways this is a fascinating book。 Nicolson fashions his own rock pools in Argyllshire in Scotland in order to study， minutely， the life that fetches up there， and his resulting studies of shrimps， crabs， sea anemones and their place in the scheme of things engaged and enthralled me， even though， as a non scientist I struggled a bit to understand every word。 Then he looks more widely at tides， at waves， at geology。 He looks at the philosophical ideas of Heraclitus。 He discusses the bitter In many ways this is a fascinating book。 Nicolson fashions his own rock pools in Argyllshire in Scotland in order to study， minutely， the life that fetches up there， and his resulting studies of shrimps， crabs， sea anemones and their place in the scheme of things engaged and enthralled me， even though， as a non scientist I struggled a bit to understand every word。 Then he looks more widely at tides， at waves， at geology。 He looks at the philosophical ideas of Heraclitus。 He discusses the bitter and harsh social history of Argyllshire。 All of this is interesting， and interestingly accounted for。In the end， I wasn't convinced this book hung together。 I was glad to have read it， but remained unconvinced I knew what was at its heart， beyond the captivating contents of the rockpools。 。。。more