Synopses & Reviews
“This is a delightful work with the urgency of a good detective story.” —Thomas McGuane
“I loved it! A beautiful adventure story of one of the most wide-spread and least-known but ecologically important fish.” —Bernd Heinrich, author of Summer World
Famous for his deeply informed, compulsively readable books on trout, writer-painter James Prosek (whom the New York Times has called “the Audubon of the fishing world”) takes on natures quirkiest and most enigmatic fish: the eel. Fans of Mark Kurlanskys Cod and The Big Oyster or Trevor Corsons The Secret Life of Lobsters will love Proseks probing exploration of the hidden deep-water dwellers. With characteristically captivating prose and lavish illustrations, Prosek demystifies the eels unique biology and bizarre mating routines, and illuminates the animals varied roles in the folklore, cuisine, and commerce of a variety of cultures.
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“The tale of Ray Turner, a man who still fishes for eels the traditional way with a hand-built weir, is at the heart of the book, tying the mythology, the mystery, and the commerce of eels together into his story.” Booklist
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“Enthralling. . . . The eels story is remarkable, and so are Proseks tales of eel people.” New Scientist
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“Prosek has a talent for observation. . . . He finds the beauty in things, the hook, the reason why they get to us, why they lodge in our subconscious. . . . Yes, its a book about eels but its the stuff of dreams, and its all true.” < i=""> Los Angeles Times <>
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“Eels [is] more than a fish book. It is an impassioned defense of nature itself... In Eels, he passes on the truth that the often disdained eel, like all migratory fish, is vital and mysterious and worthy of our full effort to bring it back.” < i=""> New York Times Book Review <>
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“This is a delightful work with the urgency of a good detective story.” Thomas McGuane
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“[Prosek is] a diligent natural historian, keen to the greater landscape. . . . A warm, enrapturing paean to the totemic potency of eels.” Kirkus Reviews
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“An engagingly written account... Readers interested in anthropology and folklore, fishing, and natural history will also enjoy this volume, which is enhanced by the authors etchings.” Library Journal
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“A wonderful account of far-flung travels in pursuit of the secrets of the earths most mysterious fish. . . . Fascinating and beautifully rendered.” Peter Matthiessen
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“Entertaining. . . . Proseks writing is fluid and relaxed” < i=""> Washington Post <>
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“[A] riveting synthesis of cultural, geographical, and botanical sleuthing.” Publishers Weekly
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“I loved it! A beautiful adventure story of one of the most wide-spread and least-known but ecologically important fish.” Bernd Heinrich, author of Summer World
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“A comprehensive and appreciative study of one of the worlds most mysterious creatures. . . . [Prosek] has collected anguilline myths, lore and recipes from all over the world” The Economist
Synopsis
This is a delightful work with the urgency of a good detective story. Thomas McGuane
I loved it A beautiful adventure story of one of the most wide-spread and least-known but ecologically important fish. Bernd Heinrich, author of Summer World
Famous for his deeply informed, compulsively readable books on trout, writer-painter James Prosek (whom the New York Times has called the Audubon of the fishing world ) takes on nature s quirkiest and most enigmatic fish: the eel. Fans of Mark Kurlansky s Cod and The Big Oyster or Trevor Corson s The Secret Life of Lobsters will love Prosek s probing exploration of the hidden deep-water dwellers. With characteristically captivating prose and lavish illustrations, Prosek demystifies the eel s unique biology and bizarre mating routines, and illuminates the animal s varied roles in the folklore, cuisine, and commerce of a variety of cultures.
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Synopsis
James Prosek offers a fascinating tour through the life history and cultural associations of the freshwater eel, exploring its biology in streams and epic migrations in the ocean, its myth and lore, its mystery and beauty. Prosek travels the globe to tell the story of the eel-from New York to New Zealand; from Europe to Japan and the small island of Pohnpei in Micronesia, where freshwater eels are worshipped by members of the eel clan. Along the way he introduces individuals whose lives are most connected with the eels' story-including fishermen, conservationists, and scientists seeking to uncover the eels' elusive home in the Sargasso Sea and their spawning places in other oceans of the world. Though freshwater eels have been here for hundreds of millions of years, populations are rapidly declining, due largely to dams, overfishing, pollution, and perhaps even global climate change.
Illustrated with original etchings by the author, Eels is a mesmerizing biography and history of this intriguing and mysterious creature. It is also a telling look at humanity, the will to persist, and the ever-changing relationship between man and the natural world.
"Eels is] more than a fish book. It is an impassioned defense of nature itself... In Eels, he passes on the truth that the often disdained eel, like all migratory fish, is vital and mysterious and worthy of our full effort to bring it back."-New York Times Book Review
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Washington PostSynopsis
They spawn in the middle of the ocean but spend their adult lives in freshwater. They can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and even cross over land. They are revered as guardians and monster-seducers by New Zealands Maori, yet are often viewed with disgust in the West. They are a multibillion-dollar business in the Asian food market. They are often mistaken for snakes. They are eels—one of the worlds most amazing and least understood fish. (
Yes, fish.)
James Prosek offers a fascinating tour through the life history and cultural associations of the freshwater eel, exploring its biology, its myth and lore, its mystery and beauty. Eels is a mesmerizing biography of an intriguing and mysterious creature, as well as a telling look at humanity, the will to persist, and the ever-changing relationship between man and the natural world.
About the Author
James Prosek is a writer and artist whose books include Trout: An Illustrated History; Joe and Me: An Education in Fishing and Friendship; The Complete Angler: A Connecticut Yankee Follows in the Footsteps of Walton; and Fly-Fishing the 41st. He lives in Easton, Connecticut.