Includes bibliographical references and index.

Author's note -- Introduction -- To view the lazy tide (Thirteen hours ; First ebbing ; The mud awakes ; A capricious power) -- Beyond the micromareal (Philosopher's end ; Mediterranean tides ; Scylla and Charybdis ; An experimental emperor ; Alexander and Pytheas ; A wider dominion) -- Shore of ignorance (An experimental king ; A tidal vocabulary ; Brihtnoth's last stand ; The battle before ; Bede's sense of time ; Knowable mystery) -- No path through water (Another place ; Coast lines ; Cockle sands ; Cruel and unusual punishment ; Medieval monks ; The Queen's Guide) -- Terra infirma (Galileo's trouble ; Acqua alta ; Flood on flood ; The Venice barrier) -- Thames mud (Dickens's river ; Newton's quaestiones ; The cosmic leash ; The hunt for lunar data ; Mudlarking) -- Tides of commerce (Ports of convenience ; The pilgrims' delayed departure ; The price of tea I ; Sur le reflux de la mer ; The French Newton ; Voyages of discovery ; The price of tea II ; Picturing the tide) -- A place of resonance (A bit of a bore ; The highest tide in the world ; Art and engineering ; A Victorian omniscientist) -- In great waters (The moral tide ; Love and loss ; The great wave ; Secret landings) -- Nature's free ride (Knots landing ; The grunion run ; The rhythm method ; Tide-sense ; Pooling our knowledge) -- In the maelstrom (A place in fiction ; Prince Breackan's cauldron ; North ; Bridge over troubled water ; The navel of the ocean ; Myth and mathematics) -- Signal and noise (Seeking sea level ; On stranger tides ; Isolated variable ; Small change ; The sea level commitment) -- Diluvion (On Shingle Street ; Sheer lunacy ; The return of the sea ; A final ebbing).

From Cnut to D-Day, the history and science of the unceasing tide is explored for the first time. Half of the world's population lives in coastal regions lapped by tidal waters. Yet how little most of us know about the tide - a key force on our planet that has altered the course of history and will transform our future. Our ability to predict and understand the tide depends on centuries of science, from the observations of Aristotle and the theories of Newton to today's supercomputer calculations. This story is punctuated here by notable tidal episodes in history, from Caesar's thwarted invasion of Britain to the catastrophic flooding of Venice and interwoven with a rich folklore that continues to inspire art and literature today.