1. What’s it about?
Érik Orsenna calls himself a collector of streams. In this book he is trying to collect the Gulf Stream: to find where this powerful ocean current begins and where it ends. He travels, sails, meets scientists, explores maps and reads a lot of books to find out.
2. What kind of sea is inside?
The sea as movement.
3. What I loved?
The way this book is written: genre-bending bite-size chapters filled with surprising scientific facts, cool stories, poetic confessions and very good humour.
4. What surprised me?
The Gulf Stream starts in the Sun.
5. What have I put into my pocket?
A broader way to think about the sea. “Unless we know the sky, we shall always remain in ignorance about the sea.”
6. Cool fact about the author?
Érik Orsenna, 76 years old now, is French novelist, sailor, economist, jurist and former presidential adviser to François Mitterandt. He is one of the 40 “immortals” of the Académie Française, where he holds the seat formerly held by Jacques-Yves Cousteau.
7. How did it arrive at the Sea Library?
I bought it when browsing books about the Gulf Stream. I love discovering books by exploring a subject matter, not just the latest releases.
Érik Orsenna “Portrait of the Gulf Stream: In praise of currents”. Originally published in 2005. Translated from the French by Moishe Black. Published in English by Haus Publishing in 2008.
Photo by Anna Iltnere / Sea Library
Sea Library 
My mother showed me the Gulf Stream when we were having a last hot dog by the Florida shoreline – – it was a revelation!! I saw it – way out there.. going along in its own way — to the right (was that east west north or south ???). She died within the year – movement. Thank you for showing this wonderful book about the phenomenon.
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Jo ann xx Thank you for this story. It must have been beautiful. As a child in Brehat, and island of the coast of Brittany, Erik Orsenna was taught by his grandmother to give thanks for the Gulf Stream.
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I know how he feels and that is everything ⛵️
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