With 1,200 miles of coastline, the state of Florida certainly knows beaches.

We’ve found a beach read that will give you some cool knowledge about the state’s living, breathing sandy shores.

Florida’s Living Beaches: A Guide for the Curious Beachcomber by Blair Witherington offers a unique insight into each dynamic beach environment found in the Sunshine State. Beautifully written and now in its second printing, the book is brimming with photographs, detailed descriptions and even maps.

Witherington covers a wide variety of topics including plant life, marine and other animal life found on Florida’s beaches.

The book offers a great introduction to the natural history of Florida’s beaches. An easy read, it’s both informative and conversational and has garnered rave reviews from readers.

For both out-of-state travelers and residents, the book is teeming with useful beachy facts.

Objects found while beachcombing are organized into four easy sections: beach animals, beach plants, beach minerals, and man-made objects. Do you know the difference between a cusp and a scarp? A wrack line and a breaker zone? Florida’s Living Beaches explains all of these wacky beach terms and so much more. It also details why the colors of Florida’s beaches are so different. As most people can attest, the difference between a gulf beach and one on the Atlantic coast is enormous.

If you’re spending a day on the beach, bring this book along. Then you can discover more about sponges, anemones, corals, various types of shells, crabs, fishes and even coastal birds while you’re out among them, toes in the sand, drink in hand.

Maps inside the book tell readers where (and when) they can find each particular object.

A Terrific Tell-All for Florida Beach Lovers

Florida’s Living Beaches covers it all from the Gulf Coast to the Keys and all the way up the Atlantic shores. It’s truly a handy guide for any day at the beach, and it makes a great gift, too!

Discover more about beaches, beach living and the beach lifestyle that 30A.com features every day. Facebook and Instagram are great places to start.

KETKI SHARANGPANI is a Houston-based writer, photographer, and co-founder of Dotted Globe. Dotted Globe is a cultural exploration, ecotourism, and culinary travel website encouraging perceptive and responsible travel.