Rating: 9
The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier
Ian Urbina | 2019
If, like me, you have a somewhat strange fascination with frontier myths and stories, then you’re probably inclined to read about space and oceans, which I would argue are the last two remaining physical frontiers. While I’ve yet to read a truly great book about space (mostly for lack of searching, not lack of supply), Ian Urbina’s The Outlaw Ocean satisfied my curiosity about human activity in this aqueous realm. Urbina is informative, succinct, honest, brave, and thoughtful in his reporting. This book essentially reads as fifteen articles about different oceanic topics, with some common themes tying them together (illegal behavior in the ocean, inability to govern or enforce said behavior, grey areas in law and morality, etc.). It’s an action-packed, fascinating narrative filled with interesting stories and insightful observations about how we interact with each other and other lifeforms in the ocean.
“These snapshots seemed to demonstrate that the outlaw ocean and the ships that traverse it are defined not just by the people who work those waters but also by intangible forces like silence, boredom, and vastness. I’d go a step further: the ocean is outlaw not because it is inherently good or bad but because it is a void, like silence is to sound or boredom is to activity. While we have for centuries embraced and touted the life that springs from these waters, we have tended to ignore its role as a refuge for depravity. But the outlaw ocean is real, as it has been for centuries, and until we reckon with that fact, we can forget about ever taming or protecting this frontier.”