Evolution of Physical Oceanography: Scientific Surveys in Honor of Henry Stommel

Abstract

In a career that is now getting longer than I like to contemplate, I have contributed to, read, and reviewed a very large number of volumes of the type the Germans call festschrift . However, nothing I have yet seen can match this volume. It is impressive in its size, in its physical quality, in the choice of authors, and in its intellectual content. In size, it is almost exactly the same in every dimension as the Greater Vancouver telephone book (yellow pages excluded). It is well bound, and the print at two columns per page is clean and legible. Almost all of the diagrams have been taken from other publications, and some of them have obviously had their sizes changed so significantly that some have become rather ugly by being larger than intended and some have been reduced so much that numbers and letters almost need magnification to be read. Nevertheless, the quality of the paper and reproduction is such that everything is ultimately legible. The book gives every impression of solidity and high quality. Yet it must be admitted that it is rather heavy for its binding and much carrying around in airplanes has led to my copy already beginning to break away from its back. However, at $37.50 it must be one of the bargains of the decade, and no physical oceanographer should be without it.