My own guiding purpose was to portray the subject of my sea profile with fidelity and understanding…  If there is wonder and beauty and majesty in them, science will discover these qualities. If they are not there, science cannot create them. If there is poetry in my book about the sea, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry.

In 1951, Oxford University Press published Carson’s work The Sea Around Us. It won the 1952 National Book Award for Nonfiction and the John Burroughs Medal, and also resulted in her reception of 2 honorary doctorates. The book sold more than 250,000 copies in 1951, in addition to the condensation and excerpts published elsewhere. The Sea Around Us’ success led to the republication of Under The Sea Wind, which also became a bestseller.

The Sea Around Us is a poetic narrative about the life history of oceans. Like its prequel, the language used in this book is simple and clear, and its style makes it accessible to both children and adults. Carson’s poetry brings forth vivid and compelling imagery about the beauty and majesty of sea life and that of the sea itself.

In her book, Carson also raises awareness about the dangers of upsetting the ecological balance of oceanic life.

It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose, should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea, though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist; the threat is rather to life itself.

Carson points out that mankind’s activities have been having detrimental effects on oceanic life. As opposed to the common thought during that period, Carson posits that technological advancement is not always a good thing. With her book, Carson contributed to shaping attitudes towards the natural environment. Though in theory, it is likely insufficient to increase pro-environmental behavior towards ocean and marine life due to lack of knowledge of strategies to express these attitudes and lack of perceived control (impact of one’s actions), the work remains one of the best works about nature and ecology which essence remains relevant today.