This title includes a brilliant mix of vivid reportage, history and science. Historical diving bells, Greek sponge divers, world war two frogmen and record-setting breath hold divers compete for space with misunderstood sharks, weeping turtles, smiling dolphins and erotically shaped sea slugs. From [...]

The natural and social history of this fascinating and much-sought-after plant is traced here, from its discovery among the Maya Indians through its introduction to and cultivation in numerous other countries and its current state as an endangered plant species in the wild. Reprint.[...]