Ocean ─ A Photicular Book

In its extraordinary debut, Safari, introduced the world to Photicular technology. The cheetah bounded, the African elephant flapped its ears—and readers could not believe their eyes. Now the creators of Safari take their work a step further. Ocean offers not only a refinement of inventor Dan Kainen’s Photicular technology, but a subject—undulating creatures of the deep—perfectly suited to the immersive visual pleasure of the process.

Ocean is like being on a dive. Open the book, and the reader is swept into the magic of an underwater world, face-to-face with a floating Yellow-Banded Sweetlips; with a glow-in-the-dark Deep-Sea Anglerfish; with a Sea Horse swaying in balletic motion; with a Sand Tiger Shark gliding along the ocean floor, its gaze haunting, its hook-toothed mouth gulping open and closed.

The text by Carol Kaufmann enchants with its descriptions of coral reefs; a journey on Alvin, the 17-ton submersible; and a meditation on our oceans. Then, for each creature, she writes a lively and informative essay, along with vital statistics—size, habitat, range, diet, and more.

The Photicular process uses an innovative lenticular technology, sliding lenses, and original four-color video imagery. The result is like a movie in your hands—the dance of life in a book.