Synopses & Reviews
“One of the most delightful natural history studies in decades.”
The Boston GlobeEye of the Albatross takes us soaring to locales where whales, sea turtles, penguins, and shearwaters flourish in their own quotidian rhythms. Carl Safinas guide and inspiration is an albatross he calls Amelia, whose life and far-flung flights he describes in fascinating detail. Interwoven with recollections of whalers and famous explorers, Eye of the Albatross probes the unmistakable environmental impact of the encounters between man and marine life. Safinas perceptive and authoritative portrait results in a transforming ride to the ends of the Earth for the reader, as well as an eye-opening look at the health of our oceans.
Carl Safina, a MacArthur Fellow, Pew Fellow, and winner of a Lannan Literary award for literature, is the president of the Blue Ocean Institute. The New York Times Book Review called his Song for the Blue Ocean "a landmark book," and it was selected as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Selection, and a Library Journal Best Science Book Selection. In 2003, Safina was awarded a National Academies Communication Award "for his clear and vivid exposition of the scientific process and the many and varied relationships between living organisms and their ocean ecosystem."
Winner of the John Burroughs Medal
A Boston Globe Best Book
At the lonely center of the largest ocean lies a group of islands brimming with wildlife. And there, like a feathered nation, half a million goose-size albatross chicks await foraging parents who may be gone for weeks in search of food. Our narrator in this extraordinary place is Carl Safina; his guide and inspiration is Amelia, a hardworking parent albatross wearing a state-of-the-art satellite tracking transmitter.
While scouring the ocean for just one meal for her patiently waiting famished chick, Amelia is carried by her giant wings as many as seven thousand miles from her nest. As we travel with her, Amelia becomes both host and vehicle, sweeping us along on her journeys, sharing the world as an albatross sees it.
Weaving the albatross's metaphorical and real-life powers, Safina blends literature, history, adventure, science, and in-the-moment action. Amelia's travels through space and time connect us with the explorers and hunters, including Charles Darwin, Herman Melville, and James Cook, who first penetrated the remote and forbidding albatross realms. Traveling the trackless ocean, Amelia likewise introduces us to the rhythms of whales and sea turtles, sharks and seals, fishes and seabirds.
Watching a green turtle emerge from the surf wash to breed, we marvel at a creature that makes her first hesitant transition from the float of water to the stranding alienation of land as her ancestors have done for 150 million years. Safina shows us that the drive to survive has carried these creatures through historic ravages of hunters and plunderers, and that despite a slew of new challenges, albatrosses and their ocean neighbors will likely survive long into the future. Amelia's lifethe life we all shareis an epic of struggle and hope, of the power of sheer persistence and life's resilience.
Winner of the John Burroughs Medal
A Boston Globe Best Book
"Safina again opens our eyes . . . The travels are epic, the animals awe-inspiring, and the realized message of the unity of life is important and uplifting."Gus Speth, Dean of the Yale School for Environmental Studies
"Truly magnificentSafina has done as much as anyone save Cousteau to change our relationship with the aquatic world."Bill McKibben, The Boston Globe
"[Safina] delivers a message full of wonder at the natural world and concern about the fragility of his subject . . . He cannot contain his delight in birds, fish and the profusion of life on the islands he visits."James Gorman, The New York Times Book Review
"A beautiful, awe-inspiring tableau of our world as you've never seen it."Colin Woodard, The Christian Science Monitor
"Safina again opens our eyes . . . The travels are epic, the animals awe-inspiring, and the realized message of the unity of life is important and uplifting."Gus Speth, Dean of the Yale School for Environmental Studies
"In this beautifully written work, Safina blends historyand science to offer, in a seamlessly telescoped style, first an ecosystem, then a species, and finally one bird, the last as compellingly drawn as the protagonist of a novel. The general reader cannot fail to be pulled deeply into natural history by reading it."Edward O. Wilson, author The Future of Life
"In Eye of the Albatross, Carl Safina takes us on a wonderous journey through the vast reaches of the Pacific with a most unusual traveling companion, an albatross named Amelia . . . His account brings us to a world few have visited, let alone understand."Roger Rufe, The Ocean Conservancy
"So much more than a nature bookit is a life lesson. Carl Safina writes this book as gracefully and courageously as his heroine Amelia masters the world's oceans."Vikki Spruill, executive director, SeaWeb
"Few scientists have Safina's feel for these magnificent denizens of the marine world, for the oceans themselves . . . Read it to get a splendid view of this world."Paul R. Ehrlich, author of
dn0 Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect
"Carl Safina eloquently uses birds as the prism through which we can view and explore this vast wilderness . . . A must read."John Flicker, president, National Audubon Society
Review
“Safina delivers a message full of wonder at the natural world and concern about the fragility of his subject . . . He cannot contain his delight in birds, fish, and the profusion of life on the islands he visits.” —
The New York Times Book Review“A beautiful, awe-inspiring tableau of our world as youve never seen it . . . a moving depiction of how interconnected life on this planet truly is.” —The Christian Science Monitor
“Thought-provoking, witty and beautifully written . . . This is an honest first-person account of field biology in action.” —American Scientist
Review
and#8220;Whenever a new title in this entertaining and#8216;Animaland#8217; series lands on my desk, it feels like a real treat, and this one does not disappoint. . . .
Albatross brings together a wonderful mix of fact, fiction, legend, art, and science about one creature. In short, it covers a lot of ground. It looks at the role the albatross has played in the different lives and cultures of humans, the wonder of its awesomely long journeys, and the knowledge gained from studying it, followed by consequent conservation measures and the way we see this iconic bird in the modern world. It is a great little book to read through, or to dip into.and#8221;and#160;
Review
andldquo;I am partial to books well made, quality effort in assembly and choice of materials as well as content.
Albatross qualifies in every way.andnbsp;There are sixty-five volumes in this animal series, subjects ranging from chickens to cats, from lobsters to lions. If this book is an indication of quality, I would like to have them all.andrdquo;
Synopsis
“One of the most delightful natural history studies in decades.” —
The Boston GlobeEye of the Albatross takes us soaring to locales where whales, sea turtles, penguins, and shearwaters flourish in their own quotidian rhythms. Carl Safinas guide and inspiration is an albatross he calls Amelia, whose life and far-flung flights he describes in fascinating detail. Interwoven with recollections of whalers and famous explorers, Eye of the Albatross probes the unmistakable environmental impact of the encounters between man and marine life. Safinas perceptive and authoritative portrait results in a transforming ride to the ends of the Earth for the reader, as well as an eye-opening look at the health of our oceans.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 353-356) and index.
Synopsis
and#160;andldquo;At length did cross an Albatross, / Through the fog it came; / As if it had been a Christian soul, / We hailed it in Godandrsquo;s name.andrdquo; The introduction of the albatross in Samuel Taylor Coleridgeandrsquo;s andldquo;The Rime of the Ancient Marinerandrdquo; remains one of the most well-known references to this majestic seabird in Western culture. In Albatross, Graham Barwell goes beyond Coleridge to examine the role the bird plays in the lives of a wide variety of peoples and societies, from the early views of north Atlantic mariners to modern encounters by writers, artists, and filmmakers.and#160;Exploring how the bird has been celebrated in proverbs, folk stories, art, and ceremonies, Barwell shows how people marvel at the way the albatross soars through the air, covering awe-inspiring distances with little effort thanks to its impressive wingspan. He surveys the many approaches people have taken to thinking about the albatross over the past two hundred yearsandmdash;from those who devoted their lives to these birds to those who hunted them for food and sportandmdash;and discusses its place in the human imagination. Concluding with a reflection on the birdandrsquo;s changing significance in the modern world, Barwell considers threats to its continued existence and its prospects for the future. With one hundred illustrations from nature, film, and popular culture, Albatross is an absorbing look at these beautiful birds.
About the Author
Carl Safina, author of The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World, Voyage of the Turtle: In Pursuit of the Earth's Last Dinosaur, Eye of the Albatross: Visions of Hope and Survival, Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World's Coasts and Beneath the Seas, and founder of the Blue Ocean Institute, was named by the Audubon Society one of the leading conservationists of the twentieth century. He's been profiled by The New York Times, and PBS's Bill Moyers. His books and articles have won him a Pew Fellowship, Guggenheim Award, Lannan Literary Award, John Burroughs Medal, and a MacArthur Prize. He lives in Amagansett, New York.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1 Encountering the Albatross
2 Imagining the Albatross
3 Using the Albatross: Indigenous Cultures of the Pacific
4 Using the Albatross: Non-indigenous Peoples
5 Saving the Albatross
6 The Albatross Today: An Iconic Bird
Timeline
References
Select Bibliography
Associations and Websites
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index