Ocean

Earth's Last Wilderness - THE LANDMARK NEW BOOK BY DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

By: David Attenborough, Colin Butfield

Narrated by: Colin Butfield, David Attenborough

** THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER **

'Gripping... the wildlife is so fantastical that the images on the page feel like works of the imagination.' Evening Standard

'THIS IS THE STORY OF OUR OCEAN AND WE MUST WRITE ITS NEXT CHAPTER TOGETHER. FOR IF WE SAVE THE SEA, WE SAVE OUR WORLD. AFTER A LIFETIME OF FILMING OUR PLANET, I'M SURE THAT NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT.'

From the icy seas of our poles to remote coral islands, David Attenborough has filmed in every ocean habitat on planet earth. Now, with long-term collaborator Colin Butfield, he shares the story of our last great wilderness - the one which shapes the land we live on, regulates our climate and creates the air we breathe.

Dive into eight unique saltwater habitats, swim through kelp forests, mangroves and coral reefs and down almost 11,000 feet to the deepest corners of the most unexplored ecosystem on our planet.

Experience a journey of wonder and discovery, populated by green turtles and blue whales; clownfish and bioluminescent jellyfish; the vampire squid and the 'head-less chicken monster' - a strange form of sea cucumber that lives at the very bottom of the ocean.

With the warmth, intelligence and awe that characterises all of David Attenborough's landmark series, Ocean shows us a world which is both desperately fragile yet astonishingly resilient, with an extraordinary capacity to repair itself. It's not too late to restore our most vital habitat. If we treat it with respect, our marine world will be even richer and more spectacular than we can imagine.

A book almost a century in the making, but one that has never been more urgently needed.©2025 David Attenborough Productions Limited & Colin Butfield

Critic reviews

Determinedly positive . . . There seem to be real grounds for hope. You can just hear [Attenborough's] voice. The lilt and rasp of it . . . Passionate. The great naturalist's latest book, written with Colin Butfield, explores the Earth's last wilderness, from octopus gardens to booming fur seal numbers.

[Sir David Attenborough] is a one-off . . . a genius.

Educating and inspiring the next generation on the importance of the oceans is a key message. It reveals that the ocean is the part of our world that can, and in some cases has, recovered the fastest, and in our lifetimes we could see a fully restored marine world, even richer and more spectacular than we could possibly hope, if we act now to protect it.

Gripping... the wildlife is so fantastical that the images on the page feel like works of the imagination.

The great naturalist's latest book explores Earth's last wilderness, from octopus gardens to booming fur seal numbers. [It] is determinedly positive. There seem to be real grounds for hope. Given a chance, the authors insist, sea life is astonishingly resilient.

Sustainability of sourced fine dining

Scallops? Halibut? Most scallops are dredged (trashing the seafloor), and Atlantic halibut is overfished +slow to recover. Ask for dive-caught or Pacific. Nothing says fine dining like scallops raked off the ocean floor or halibut older than your parents.
🛎️