Jonathan White's 'Tides' Explores 'The Science and Spirit of the Ocean'

Jonathan White has been thinking about the tide, and the mysterious process behind it, for most of his life. As a young surfer in Southern California, White found the tide often dictated the quality of the surf. In Alaska, White almost lost a boat when it ran aground in a spring tide, and in the Puget Sound, White spent several years hosting “floating seminars” from a 65-foot schooner. In his new book, “Tides: The Science and Spirit of the Ocean,” White travels across the Arctic, China, Europe, Latin America and Mavericks, the famed big-wave surf spot, to meet the people whose cultures are impacted by tides and sea level rise. White joins us to discuss the complexity of tides, including why great thinkers like Plato and Descartes were confounded by them.