Synopses & Reviews
“Unpredictable and amusing and informative and original, cavorting between biology, history, travel writing, and memoir.”
—Mark Kurlansky
The Whale by Philip Hoare is a enthralling and eye-opening literary leviathan swimming in similar bestselling waters as Cod and The Secret Life of Lobsters. Winner of the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction, The Whale is a lively travelogue through the history, literature, and lore of the king of the sea—the remarkable mammals that we human beings have long been fascinated with, from Moby Dick to Free Willy. Bestselling author and naturalist Bernd Heinrich calls it, “a moving and extraordinary book,” and Hoares sparkling account of swimming with these incredible behemoths will delight whale and wildlife aficionados, lovers of the sea and sea stories, as well as the socially and environmentally conscious reader.
Review
“A wonderful read!... Hoare magnificently weaves together his own experiences with stories about literary giants whose writings were inspired by whalesMelville, Hawthone, and Thoreauand he captures the utter beauty, size, and power of the whale.” Lynne Cox, author of GRAYSON
Review
“Genius … THE WHALE (is) a rhapsodic mediation on all things cetacean. Hoare is always on the lookout for the revealing detail. He also has a finely tuned sense of perspective and pacing.” Nathaniel Philbrick, New York Times Book Review
Review
“Philip Hoares THE WHALE is everything you want from a book. It is unpredictable and amusing and informative and original, cavorting between biology, history, travel writing, and memoir with an engaging sense of the subjects charisma. And the book is even handsome.” Mark Kurlansky, author of SALT and COD
Review
“Hoare is a splendid writer and a beguiling guide. I found the spell (he) casts powerful and difficult to shake.” Cleveland Plain Dealer
Review
“A love letter to the ‘largest, loudest, oldest mammal ever to have existed, Brit biographer Hoares book romps through science, history and literature to chronicle his obsession with the mighty whale. Salted with astounding facts (the calls of blue whales were one mistaken for earthquakes), this is an exhilarating valentine.” People
Review
“You dont have to love Moby Dick to love this book. But if you do, THE WHALE is probably one of the most sublime reading experiences youll have this year.” NPR's All Things Considered
Review
“Philip Hoares writing is quite untrammelled by convention and opens up astonishing views at every turn.” W.G. Sebald
Review
“[Hoares] work is rigorous, something every serious student of whales--and, more widely conceived, of the natural world--will want to have at hand.” Washington Post
Review
“This singular, magnificent book inspires both awe and shameawe of the whales, shame of the human species that has tried to destroy them. In the end, Hoares virtuosic sympathy for his subject makes you believe in the better angels of our nature.” Alex Ross, bestselling author of THE REST IS NOISE
Review
"A sweeping, important study of cetacean science and policy. . . . [Burnett] spent a decade poring over thousands upon thousands of pages scattered in far-flung archives. If the whale swallowed Jonah whole, then Burnett has made a considerable effort to get as much of the whale as possible down his voluminous intellectual gullet. . . . A reviewer pressed for time could, in lieu of an essay, put together a very respectable (or at least very weird) collage of all the 'you're kidding me, right?' facts about whales and whaling that appear on almost every one of Burnett's information-soaked pages. . . . A gifted and often very funny writer, Burnett bristles at the restrictions of academic rigor but does not abandon them. . . . His greatest service is to tell a story that helps us understand the present-day political obstacles to addressing key environmental questions."
Review
"A very good book."
Review
and#8220;The wait is over. We finally have a comprehensive, brilliantly written chronicle of science in the history of whalingand#8212;or whaling in the history of science. Graham Burnettand#8217;s leviathanic opus covers everything you ever wanted to knowand#8212;or didnand#8217;t know you wanted to knowand#8212;about the biology, conservation, politics, and history of what is perhaps manand#8217;s most troubled relationship with wild animals. This masterly study eclipses every cetological work that precedes it. Well, maybe not
Moby-Dick.and#8221;
Review
"In the bright new age of whale science, Graham Burnett's astounding and wide-ranging report from the front lines of cetacean studies is hugely welcome. Rooted in historical fact, political, philosophical and scientific analysis, it lays out the sorry story of the interaction of humans and whales in an era which redefined the ever uneasy meeting of natural and human history. By turns enlightening, lively and disturbing, always intuitive and drawing on a wealth of knowledge as vast as its subject, Burnettand#8217;s book is set to become a new high water mark in a still unfolding story."
Review
"It is tempting to use big words to describe this big book--and Burnett's
The Sounding of the Whale is big in terms of both size and importance. In his investigation of the creation of knowledge about whales, Burnett offers a uniquely fertile avenue into the fraught topics of modern whaling, science-based regulation, and the dramatic shift in the cultural meanings of whales during the twentieth century. The volume itself offers eloquent testimony to the centrality of historical narrative for understanding the relationship between science and regulation. Yet, despite the lesson that complexity and distinctiveness matter, deeply, for the particular case of twentieth-century whaling, Burnettand#8217;s study also illuminates durable characteristics of science-based regulation and provides analytical context for current controversies such as the scientific whaling exception or the concept of 'scientific uncertainty.' Historians of various stripes, those who study science, the environment, politics, or culture, will find this invaluable study worthy of careful and considered attention, but so will environmental activists, political scientists, and people concerned with the history and fate of the largest creatures on our planet and their smaller marine mammalian brethren.and#160; To use little words to describe a big book, Burnett's
The Sounding of the Whale is great."
Review
"This wonderful book documents the interplays among science, conservation and politics in the evolving career of the whale over the last century, with bravura, insight and wit, as has never been done before.and#160;Using a narrative style, it explores the thoughts and trials of the men behind the origins and activities of the Discovery Investigations, the International Whaling Commission and the save-the-whale movement.and#160;It's scholarly history that reads like a good novel--Harmer, Kellogg, Mackintosh, Lilly, and more; they're all here, in full. The language is marvelous: original and eloquent."
Review
"In the early twentieth century, whale biology was restricted to the flensing decks of factory ships, where scientists were in danger of being sucked 'into the belly of the beast' of modern whaling. Graham Burnett artfully renders the history, and the often fractious relationship, between biologists and whalers; I felt as if I had discovered a trail of ambergris meticulously arrayed along the shores of twentieth-century cetology.
The Sounding of the Whale is a work of stunning scholarship and a bracing read."
Review
"By questioning the very nature of our scientific interest in the whale,andnbsp;Burnett has set the tone for a new century of discoveryand#8212;and, one hopes, recovery. . . . Aandnbsp;history of breathtaking depth."
Review
"In other hands it might have yielded a story as dry as dust, but this historian has an eye for small, telling details, resulting in an intriguing book full of paradoxes and unlikely heroes."
Review
"The heft of
The Sounding of the Whale does not weigh it down, not least because Burnett takes the reader on some wonderfully strange detours. Like one of the flensers, who carved the blubber off whales, Burnett scrambles and rappels across the living and dead bodies of his subjects with aplomb."
Review
andldquo;A history of breathtaking depth. . . .
The Sounding of the Whale offers a telling reminder of just how much ideas matter, literally and figuratively, in the material relationships that bind the lives of humans to other animals with whom we share Earth.andquot;
Review
"A remarkable book, an astounding piece of research. . . . This is a major work in the history of science, but it is also an environmental history, a study in decision-making and a contribution to the growing genre of ocean history."
Review
"Overall, Theand#160;Sounding of the Whale amounts to a stinging criticism of science and its methods, and should provide a basis for reflection among professional scientists from all disciplines about how they should play their role in society."
Review
"At once original, insightful, wide-ranging, and provocative, The Sounding of the Whale is a marvelously engrossing work of high scholarship and enduring worth."
Synopsis
"Unpredictable and amusing and informative and original, cavorting between biology, history, travel writing, and memoir."
--Mark Kurlansky
The Whale by Philip Hoare is a enthralling and eye-opening literary leviathan swimming in similar bestselling waters as Cod and The Secret Life of Lobsters. Winner of the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction, The Whale is a lively travelogue through the history, literature, and lore of the king of the sea--the remarkable mammals that we human beings have long been fascinated with, from Moby Dick to Free Willy. Bestselling author and naturalist Bernd Heinrich calls it, "a moving and extraordinary book," and Hoare's sparkling account of swimming with these incredible behemoths will delight whale and wildlife aficionados, lovers of the sea and sea stories, as well as the socially and environmentally conscious reader.
Synopsis
Philip Hoare's life calling started as a childhood interest with the gigantic Natural History Museum model of a blue whale and quickly turned into a hybrid of fascination and admiration of the giants of the sea. Spurned forward with inspiration from Moby Dick, The Whale is the result of Hoare's quest for a comprehensive understanding of the human and natural worlds, and their points of interaction throughout history.
Taking students deep into their domain, Hoare shows these mysterious creatures as they have never been seen before. Following in Ishmael's footsteps, he explores the troubled history of man and whale; visits the historic whaling locales of New Bedford, Nantucket, and the Azores; and traces the whale's cultural history from Jonah to Free Willy. Winner of the prestigious BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, The Whale is an unforgettable and often moving attempt to explain why these strange and beautiful animals still exert such a powerful hold on our imagination.
"The Whale is a moving and extraordinary book .... Philip Hoare here brings whales], their story, and our long relationship...to life."-Bernd Heinrich, author of Summer World
--Lynne Cox, author of GRAYSON
Synopsis
A love letter to the 'largest, loudest, oldest' mammal ever to have existed...exhilarating. -People Magazine
Winner of the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction,
From his childhood fascination with the gigantic Natural History Museum model of a blue whale, to his abiding love of Moby-Dick, to his adult encounters with the living animals in the Atlantic Ocean, the acclaimed writer Philip Hoare has been obsessed with whales. The Whale is his unforgettable and moving attempt to explain why these strange and beautiful animals exert such a powerful hold on our imagination.
An enthralling and eye-opening literary leviathan swimming in similar bestselling waters as Cod and The Secret Life of Lobsters. The Whale is a lively travelogue through the history, literature, and lore of the king of the sea--the remarkable mammals that we human beings have long been fascinated with, from Moby Dick to Free Willy.
Bestselling author and naturalist Bernd Heinrich calls it, "a moving and extraordinary book," and Hoare's sparkling account of swimming with these incredible behemoths will delight whale and wildlife aficionados, lovers of the sea and sea stories, as well as the socially and environmentally conscious reader.
Synopsis
From his childhood fascination with the gigantic Natural History Museum model of a blue whale, to his abiding love of Moby-Dick, to his adult encounters with the living animals in the Atlantic Ocean, the acclaimed writer Philip Hoare has been obsessed with whales. The Whale is his unforgettable and moving attempt to explain why these strange and beautiful animals exert such a powerful hold on our imagination.
Synopsis
From the Bibleand#8217;s and#8220;Canst thou raise leviathan with a hook?and#8221; to Captain Ahaband#8217;s and#8220;From Helland#8217;s heart I stab at thee!,and#8221; from the trials of Job to the legends of Sinbad, whales have breached in the human imagination as looming figures of terror, power, confusion, and mystery.
In the twentieth century, however, our understanding of and relationship to these superlatives of creation underwent some astonishing changes, and with The Sounding of the Whale, D. Graham Burnett tells the fascinating story of the transformation of cetaceans from grotesque monsters, useful only as wallowing kegs of fat and fertilizer, to playful friends of humanity, bellwethers of environmental devastation, and, finally, totems of the counterculture in the Age of Aquarius. When Burnett opens his story, ignorance reigns: even Nature was misclassifying whales at the turn of the century, and the only biological study of the species was happening in gruesome Arctic slaughterhouses. But in the aftermath of World War I, an international effort to bring rational regulations to the whaling industry led to an explosion of global researchand#8212;and regulations that, while well-meaning, were quashed, or widely flouted, by whaling nations, the first shot in a battle that continues to this day. The book closes with a look at the remarkable shift in public attitudes toward whales that began in the 1960s, as environmental concerns and new discoveries about whale behavior combined to make whales an object of sentimental concern and public adulation.
A sweeping history, grounded in nearly a decade of research, The Sounding of the Whale tells a remarkable story of how science, politics, and simple human wonder intertwined to transform the way we see these behemoths from below.
About the Author
Philip Hoare is the author of biographies of Stephen Tennant and Noël Coward and the historical studies Wilde's Last Stand, Spike Island and England's Lost Eden. He is also the writer and presenter of the BBC Arena film, The Hunt for Moby-Dick. He lives in Southampton, England.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Abbreviations
ONEand#160;and#160; Introduction
TWOand#160;and#160; Into the Belly of the Beast
THREEand#160;and#160; The Prince of Whales
FOURand#160;and#160; A Cetaceous Parliament
FIVEand#160;and#160; Trials of Force
SIXand#160;and#160; Shots across the Bow
SEVENand#160;and#160; Conclusion
Bibliography
Index