Guy: The Mysterious Receding Seas

From Scienticity

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Richard Guy, The Mysterious Receding Seas. Philadelphia, PA : Xlibris, 2005. 199 pages; illustrated with maps.

It was the premise of this non-fiction book that caught my attention: according to the author, the world’s seas are receding because the earth is actually expanding. Fascinating, no? I was very intrigued by this theory and hoped that I’d learn something from the book whether I eventually agreed with the theory or not.

I wish I could summarize the science behind this theory, but I can’t. I wish I could tell you all the facts that Guy based his theory on, but I can’t. I wish I could tell you that this book was well written, but I can’t.

In point of fact, it was the poor writing (or maybe poor editing?) that ultimately forced me to put down this book after struggling through 81 pages. The author is not a scientist. He makes that clear, over and over and over and over. And over. Despite this fact, he’s convinced that he has some very important information to convey. And he could very well have some excellent points to make, all of which may be completely scientific, but if had to read the phrase "what I’m trying to tell you is ..." one more time, I’d have thrown the book across the room.

Let me make myself clear; I’m not knocking Guy’s research or his theory. In fact, I find the theory fascinating and I'd love to understand the reasoning behind it. Having not read the book completely, I can’t judge whether his theory about an expanding earth is plausible or not. I can’t say if his evidence is over- or underwhelming. He might very well be the most brilliant mind of the century ... who can tell?!

All I can say is that in spite of the fact that I really wanted to understand Guy’s theory, I just could not continue reading this book. Extensive and thorough editing is only way to make this readable.

-- Notes by HJ3