The Beach Book is about beaches—but also much more. An alternative title could be “The East Coast of the USA.” In addition to beaches, the book covers dunes, barriers, tidal inlets and jetties, marshes, sea level, and human occupation of a stretch of barrier island coast experiencing ongoing sea level rise, shoreline erosion, and the occasional hurricane or nor’easter and their accompanying waves and surges. If you want to know how the US East and Gulf Coasts work, then this book is for you, as most of the examples, photographs, and illustrations are drawn from this region.

Short, A.D. 2012. Review of The Beach Book: Science of the Shore by C.H. Hobbs. Oceanography 25(4):81–82, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2012.113.

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