The first social, cultural and environmental history of this World Heritage-listed site, The Reef is an effortlessly readable work by a born storyteller.

There has never been a more critical time for the Great Barrier Reef. Our greatest natural landmark is now in danger of being lost forever.

In The Reef, Iain McCalman delivers the first social, cultural and environmental history of this fragile global treasure. Describing twelve key encounters between people, places, ideas and biosystems, McCalman argues that the Reef was created by human minds as well as coral polyps, by imaginations as well as natural processes.

Brilliantly readable and constantly surprising, The Reef enshrines the stories behind the formation of this unique phenomenon and chronicles our shifting perceptions of it.