Working with the natural world has long been my life’s compass. I have been dedicated to conservation, education, and management of terrestrial and marine ecosystems for my entire career. I strongly believe we must approach the crisis that we now live in with humor, joy, and devotion, and we must be able to fall in love with this world over and over again, even if it breaks our hearts. This is why I write, and this is how I live. I love reading science books that allow this connection, that lead me
into the complexities of why we must never stop feeling wonder at this
magnificent world.
I loved this book because it inspired me to keep an adventurous and exploratory attitude. It really made me want to be Edith Widder.
I am completely fascinated by bioluminescence, a large topic in this book, and while I learned a ton, it only drove me to want to learn more and pursue my interests in this field further.
Learning about wondrous creatures and what we are trying to understand about them in the context of conservation allows us the lens to prioritize our work and resources and keep moving forward. I found myself underlining every other line of this book; there is so much to be amazed by.
A pioneering marine biologist takes us down into the deep ocean in this 'thrilling blend of hard science and high adventure' (New York Times)
LONGLISTED FOR THE SNHN NATURAL HISTORY BOOK PRIZE
Edith Widder grew up determined to become a marine biologist. But after complications from a surgery during college caused her to go temporarily blind, she became fascinated by light as well as the power of optimism.
Below the Edge of Darkness explores the depths of the planet's oceans as Widder seeks to understand bioluminescence, one of the most important and widely used forms of communication in nature. In…
I am an accidental emigrant now living in Auckland, New Zealand. I arrived with my then husband and our three sons in 1990 for a three-year spell. And here I am with two sons now settled in New Zealand and one in Sweden and me in a very awkward split position between the two. I am also an accidental author as my first career was in law and finance. I am presently working on my seventh novel. My novels are what my publishers call literary fiction and they often involve characters who, like me, have no fixed abode.
I met Patrik Svensson at a book event in 2019, just as his novel was released and came away with a signed copy when I left. I brought it home and put it aside for a later read. When I finally picked it up, I was fascinated. This is another autobiographical story, this one about a little boy growing up in the southern part of Sweden. The father and son only really come together when they go eel fishing. The father teaches the son the elaborate technique of setting the eel traps and through this they establish a silent bond. Interspersed throughout the narrative are chapters with facts about the mysterious life cycle of eels. It is an extraordinary novel, unlike any other I have read.
Part H Is for Hawk, part The Soul of an Octopus, The Book of Eels is both a meditation on the world’s most elusive fish—the eel—and a reflection on the human condition
Remarkably little is known about the European eel, Anguilla anguilla. So little, in fact, that scientists and philosophers have, for centuries, been obsessed with what has become known as the “eel question”: Where do eels come from? What are they? Are they fish or some other kind of creature altogether? Even today, in an age of advanced science, no one has ever seen eels mating or giving birth,…
For as long as I can remember, I have shared an affinity with monsters. Or at least, what we humans define as monsters. I suppose you could say I have a bit of a Frankenstein complex (if there is such a thing). I see myself in them sometimes. A little sad perhaps, but true, nonetheless. So, who better to compile a "top-5" creature feature list for you to enjoy?
Man makes monster; monster kills people; man destroys monster, that’s how these stories usually go, right? Well, not for Chesler in my experience. At least with Hotel Megalodon, that is. I say this because of the story’s unique resolution. As always, I won’t ruin it for you.
What I will say, is that this book manages to steer clear of the archetypal motif. Instead, it gave me something new and refreshing to enjoy. This is why I think it’s a standout in the creature feature subgenre. Enjoy!
An underwater luxury hotel on a gorgeous tropical island is set for an extravagant opening weekend with the world watching. The only thing standing in the way of a first-rate experience for the jet-setting VIPs is an unscrupulous businessman and sixty feet of prehistoric shark. As the underwater complex is besieged by a marauding behemoth, newly minted marine biologist Coco Keahi must face off against the ancient predator as it rises from the deep with a vengeance. Meanwhile, a human monster has decided he would be better off if Coco were one of the creature’s victims.
Working with the natural world has long been my life’s compass. I have been dedicated to conservation, education, and management of terrestrial and marine ecosystems for my entire career. I strongly believe we must approach the crisis that we now live in with humor, joy, and devotion, and we must be able to fall in love with this world over and over again, even if it breaks our hearts. This is why I write, and this is how I live. I love reading science books that allow this connection, that lead me
into the complexities of why we must never stop feeling wonder at this
magnificent world.
This book is just truly stunning. I feel a sense of awe and honor to peer into the brilliant mind of this author.
The lines hurt my tender and receptive heart. I love all the creatures mentioned in this book, many of which I study or work for myself, but honestly, this writer could be talking about dentistry, recycling, or even taxes, and the particular and profound use of language and spirit that come through would still be enough for me stop everything and just take a breath and close my eyes in gratitude.
This is a beautiful composition of storytelling and science, of fact and soul. It’s my love language, and I’m an adoring fan.
A fascinating tour of creatures from the surface to the deepest ocean floor: this "miraculous, transcendental book" invites us to envision wilder, grander, and more abundant possibilities for the way we live (Ed Yong, author of An Immense World).
A queer, mixed race writer working in a largely white, male field, science and conservation journalist Sabrina Imbler has always been drawn to the mystery of life in the sea, and particularly to creatures living in hostile or remote environments. Each essay in their debut collection profiles one such creature, including:
·the mother octopus who starves herself while watching over her…
I’ve written across genres, including mysteries like The Last Policeman and big works of alternate history like Underground Airlines. But Bedbugs—now republished as The Bonus Room—was one of my first books, and very dear to my heart. I’ve always loved books that pit a single, relatively helpless protagonist against some inexplicable force that he or she cannot begin to fathom. A force that can’t be reasoned with or bargained with. You just have to beat it. Perhaps that’s why I love these books about man vs. beast—the natural world is our friend, and animal are subservient to us…until suddenly, terrifyingly, they’re not.
Jaws is one of those extremely rare cases where the movie is actually better. (Can’t think of another one? Try The Godfather.) It’s a perfectly fun suspense novel, but in the film version Spielberg conjures up by special effects magic (and the magic of Dreyfuss and Scheider’s performances) what Benchley in his novel comes close to but never quite lands: the absolutely terrifying feelings of knowing something is there—and getting closer—and closer—but you can’t actually see.
Peter Benchley's Jaws first appeared in 1974. As well as Steven Spielberg's film adaptation, the novel has sold over twenty million copies around the world, creating a legend that refuses to die.
It's never safe to go back in the water . . .
It was just another day in the life of a small Atlantic resort until the terror from the deep came to prey on unwary holiday makers. The first sign of trouble - a warning of what was to come - took the form of a young woman's body, or what was left of it, washed up…
My father introduced me to the world as we paged through his old pre-WWII atlas. We traced borders and rivers with our fingers and he spoke names that were magical incantations and invitations to a world more exciting and mysterious than our midwestern home. As a reader, I was drawn to books about travel and as a budding writer, I was inspired by the adventures of “Brenda Starr, Girl Reporter” featured in the Sunday comics of my youth. I packed my bags early and my passport is never out of date. I continue to read traveloirs, and I write in my journal every day. Oh! The places I will go.
While on a summer backpacking trip with her fiancé, twenty-eight-year-old Shannon Fowler’s life was suddenly and irreparably altered when her fiancé was stung and killed by a box jellyfish on the remote shore of an island in Thailand. In an effort to save her own life, to discover how to go on, she turned to traveling the world.
In rich detail, heart-breakingly honest prose, and deeply intimate story-telling, Shannon takes us along as she journeys to some of the most grief-stricken and tragic sites in the world. It’s through her travels, her interactions with strangers, her explorations that she begins to heal.
This story and Shannon’s unflinching telling gave me courage as I wrote my memoir—courage to open my heart not just to my own grief but to my personal connection to the ceaseless grief in our world.
'A cross between H is for Hawk and Wild' Stylist 'A courageous memoir of love and loss . . . compelling' Sunday Express 'Intimate and inspiring' Observer 'Rich and absorbing' Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of The Last Act of Love 'A brave and necessary record of love, as beautiful as it is heartbreaking' Ann Patchett, author of Commonwealth
On a warm evening on a beautiful beach in Thailand, Shannon Leone Fowler's life was shattered when a box jellyfish - the most venomous animal in the world - wrapped itself around her fiance Sean's legs, stinging and killing him in minutes.
Years of teaching Verbal First Aid™, hypnotic language for healing, only whet my curiosity for Non-Verbal First Aid. I love mysticism and magic, and I love science and evidence. When the two work together to illuminate profound understandings, I am such a fan. Just imagine this if you can: Dolphins’ visual and aural nerves connect so that when they send out sound beams of echolocation, it comes back as an ultra-sound-looking picture, which they can send to other dolphins! Magic and science are used by them for healing, as well. How could one NOT investigate further and be passionate about this subject?
It is a fiction based on facts about whales and about what Four Arrows believes they are trying to tell us regarding the pollution of the Oceans that threatens us all. A whale captures a marine biologist and his encounter, feeling almost biblical but very current, reveals their important message to humanity. In this very dramatic story, you’ll also find an ecological treatise, and a call to action so needed at this time.
A humpback whale mysteriously takes a mixed-blood American Indian professor to sea. While struggling to survive, the man begins to reclaim his indigenous roots, and in the process discovers thousands of whales on a suicide mission in the North Pacific. When he theorizes the dire effects the whale's action could have for all of life on earth, he and a sympathetic woman marine biologist, influenced by a Hawaiian shaman's dream, against all odds, try to warn the world in time.
I’ll tell you a secret. I’m obsessed with money—not fast cars, designer labels, and McMansions, but the accumulation of capital: who has it, how they got it, and what lengths they’re willing to go to to keep it. So I’ve always loved novels about work. They cut right to the heart of a character’s true motivations, revealing what they’ll fight for and who they’ll love. Don’t show me what a person looks like, show me how they earn (or don’t earn) their living, and I’ll remember them forever.
Do you have to be captivated by aquariums and otherworldly travel to enjoy this book? No, but if, like me, you’ve always wondered what it would be like to have an octopus for a work wife or a boyfriend who’s moving to Mars, you’ll love Sea Change.
Come for the reality-bending critique of life on Earth; stay for the achingly true-to-life portrait of a daughter of Korean immigrants who’s just trying to make her way in the world.
A NEW YORK TIMES MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK • An enchanting novel about Ro, a woman tossed overboard by heartbreak and loss, who has to find her way back to stable shores with the help of a giant Pacific octopus at the mall aquarium where she works.
“Immersively beautiful.... A kaleidoscope of originality." —Weike Wang, acclaimed author of Joan is Okay
Ro is stuck. She's just entered her thirties, she's estranged from her mother, and her boyfriend has just left her to join a mission to Mars. Her days are spent dragging herself to her menial job at the aquarium, and…
I totally enjoyed this story because not only do I love a good mystery but I also love the strong family (as that’s important to me). Also, the story takes place in Connecticut, where I’ve lived all my life. Not many authors use Connecticut for their settings, so that made me happy to read a book set in my state.
It starts with Dana Underhill returning home to Hubbard Point when her sister and brother-in-law are killed in a boating accident. She becomes the guardian of her two nieces and meets up with her childhood friend, Sam Trevor, who is now a marine biologist. He helps her and her nieces solve the mystery of what happened to her sister and brother-in-law.
Dana Underhill's artistic gift has led her all over the world. Her breathtaking underwater canvases evoke all the beauty and romance of the seas she and her beloved sister, Lily, have sailed since childhood. But when a shattering event takes Lily from her forever, Dana must leave her nomadic artist's life for the salt marshes and tidal creeks of her childhood home at Hubbard's Point, Connecticut, to become a mother to her two nieces, ten-year-old Allie and twelve-year-old Quinn. Already an expert sailor herself, Quinn harbours dark suspicions about what happened to her parents, and is convinced their deaths at…
When I was fourteen, dismayed by high school (longing
to drop out), I managed to get Mononucleosis, or the kissing disease, it’s
sometimes called (for some reason). It gave me the chance to withdraw into my
bedroom and read and make notes. Didn’t venture out of my small room too much.
Two books sparked a dream of writing for a
lifetime. Thomas Mann’s The MagicMountain, and Rachel Carson’s The
Sea Around Us. One, a novel about breathing the brisk air of an Alpine rest-sanitorium,
experiencing life and ideas (I thought I was Hans Castorp); the other, a
book-length essay—immersing my spirit in waves, watery mysteries, the fecund
life of seas and currents, tides and sea-creatures. Looking back, I see one book
about aspiring and learning: the other, about contemplating the mothering seas
and their changeling depths.
This new edition of Carson’s trilogy unites
her non-fiction studies of…
