Writer and beachcomber Tracey Williams has always been intrigued by chance finds and the stories and folklore behind them, from shells and sea glass discovered on childhood holidays in Cornwall to flints and fossils unearthed in fields. In 1997, after finding thousands of pieces of sea-themed Lego washed up on beaches in South Devon, she became interested in the changing nature of beach combing and began to research the age and origin of many of the man made items she discovered. Her plastic finds have since been described as 'a colourful catalogue of our times'. She lives in Cornwall in an old house by the sea with her dog Jess, surrounded by piles of books and an ever-growing mound of beach finds.

I thoroughly recommend this book to maritime historians, archaeologists and scientists as a provocative and unusual reminder that the story of humans and the sea is not all about the things that were built for the sea, even if they were shaped into lifejackets and spearguns.