March 30, 2017 Author to Discuss Phenomena that Keep the Oceans in Motion

Jonathan White, a surfer, sailor and the author of “Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean” (Trinity Press, 2017), takes readers across the world’s oceans to discover the science and lore of ocean tides.

He will discuss and sign his book on Thursday, April 20, at noon in the Library of Congress Mary Pickford Theater, third floor, Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C.  This Books & Beyond event is co-sponsored by the Library’s Center for the Book and its Science, Technology and Business Division. It is free and open to the public; no tickets are required. 

White takes his readers under arctic ice with an Inuit elder to hunt for mussels in the dark cavities left behind at low tide; in China, he writes of a race with the “Silver Dragon,” a 25-foot tidal bore that surges up the Qiantang River some 80 miles; in France, he interviews the monks living in the tide-wreathed monastery on Mont Saint-Michel. White explores energy generation using the power in tides in Chile and Scotland and shines a light on threats from rising sea levels in the ancient and more recent cultures of Venice and Panama, respectively.

 White grew in the coastal areas of Southern California. He has built and sailed many boats, logged more than 100,000 miles on the Pacific and Atlantic and surfed all over the world. He has served on several conservation panels, including the San Juan Preservation Trust, the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee and the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative.

The Library’s Center for the Book, established by Congress in 1977 to stimulate public interest in books and reading, is a national force for reading and literacy promotion. A public-private partnership, it sponsors educational programs that reach readers of all ages through its affiliated state centers, collaborations with nonprofit reading promotion partners and through its Young Readers Center and its Poetry and Literature Center. For more information, visit read.gov.

 The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States—and extensive materials from around the world—both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov, and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.