"First published in Great Britain under the title 'Tide: the science and lore of the greatest force on Earth'"--Title-page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 347-356) and index.

To view the lazy tide -- Beyond the micromareal -- Shores of ignorance -- No path through water -- Terra infirma -- Thames mud -- Tides of commerce -- A place of resonance -- In great waters -- Nature's free ride -- Into the maelstrom -- Signal and noise -- Diluvion.

In The Tide, celebrated science writer Hugh Aldersey-Williams weaves together centuries of scientific thinking with the literature and folklore the tide has inspired to explain the power and workings of this most remarkable force. Here is the epic story of the long search to understand the tide: from Aristotle, who is said to have drowned himself in his efforts to figure out the Greek tides, to the pioneering investigations into the role of the moon by Galileo and Newton, to the quest to understand and even control the tide in our own time. Throughout, Aldersey-Williams whisks the reader along on his travels in search of the most remarkable tidal phenomena. He visits the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, where the tides are the strongest in the world; arctic Norway, home of the raging tidal whirlpool known as the maelstrom; and Venice, to investigate efforts to defend the city against flooding caused by the famed Acqua Alta.