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The Scientist reviews Serendipity, Complexity, The Human Superorgasism, and Love and Ruin

Written byBob Grant

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James A. Estes
University of California Press, May 2016

Part memoir and part ecology primer, Serendipity—the latest book from celebrated marine ecologist James Estes—is an insightful reminder that when observing nature, there is always much more than meets the eye. Estes relates his epiphany that apex predators play key roles in kelp forest ecosystems, an insight he gleaned in 1971 while studying sea otters in Alaskan waters. “In the absence of sea otter predation, sea urchins had increased in size and number, and the larger and more abundant urchins had eaten the kelp,” he writes. “This was my ‘aha moment,’ a profound realization that would set a path for the remainder of my life.”

Estes took that revelation and ran with it, building a conceptual framework and a career that would see him apply his understanding of ecology to numerous marine ecosystems around the world. His message in Serendipity is ...

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Meet the Author

Bob Grant
From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.
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