Product Description
Aspiring artists discover how easy it is to create their own aquatic companions while they absorb fun facts about the sea along the way. "Fascinating sea creatures are created with quick strokes of the pen by following his step-by-step guide."--Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. throughout. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Grandson loved it!
It was a birthday gift for a grandson and he loved it.He is really in to drawing creatures and he is having a grand time learning to draw all the sea creatures.

Draw 50 Sharks, Whales, Other Sea Creatures
This book has been fun for our kids, and they love being able to trace the full picture if they don't feel like drawing them.

Great book for budding artists of any age.
I have 4 books in this series, and this is another good one.Easy to follow and good variety of pictures to pick from.

Kids Can Draw!
My 8 yr old loves drawing! This book shows you step by step how to get sea creatures to appear on the page! Fun for all of us. Great gift idea for any budding artist (or any parent who wants to draw cool things for their kids).

Wonderful, simple, and intruiging!
"Draw 50 Sharks..." is an excellent book for children and adults interested in marine life, and at the same time wish to appreciate art. I found the step-by-step sketch examples non-intimidating as some drawingbooks present themselves. Children will find this book useful as a templatefor drawing sea creatures, and can improvise from them. The book is a"must-read" for children. Teachers should incorporate this bookinto their curriculum as a way to spark creativity in children. ... Read more

Product Description
A blue whale is longer than thirty dogs lined up nose to tail. Its tongue weighs as much as four hundred cats. Blue whales make terrible pets....Just ask Billy Twitters. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

So funny and so well done
It's hard to decide on a favorite thing about this book.

The illustrations are amazing -- so expressive and funny and detailed.

The story line is a hoot -- buying a kid a blue whale to teach him responsibility.

The size of the book and the quality -- this is a BIG book.

It's hard to find a book that a babysitter and a kindergartener will both love.This book does it.Not to mention -- grown ups enjoy it, too.

There are a few bits of humor tossed into the illustrations that just really make this a five-star:

+ the end papers look like old-time Sears & Roebuck advertisements for products, but of course they are all nautical and hilarious.(Captain Sheepshank's Big Old Anchors: "We're Going Nowhere Fast")
+ A "Cetacean of a Tale"
+ Mom fumes and her head is a storm cloud.The parents' faces are covered with the words coming out of their mouths.That's a clever touch.
+ Jacques Cousteau
+ The delivery service is FedUp -- delivering punishments worldwide
+ Jacques Cousteau!
+ The whale gets sprayed with graffiti while Billy is at school.
+ The fold-out whale care instruction booklet looks like airplane emergency cards -- nice touch.
+ Barnacles

The ending is so great.Don't hesitate to get this one.It would make a great birthday gift for any kid -- ages 5 to dead, as my kids say.

Fed-UPS is worth it
I have shared an illustration in this book with so many FedEx and UPS guys - the one where they're trying to figure out how the heck they're going to deliver a whale to a residential address - that I could cherish this book for that alone.But it's a clever story, too, with a good kinda-surprise ending.Great for grownups as well as kids.

Dave Eggers reads this book to his daughter. Enough said.
After his mother's pleas to clean his room, etc. fall on deaf ears, a "FedUp" truck (Delivering Punishment Worldwide, it reads on the side) pulls up in front of Billy Twitters' house. Needless to say, it's carrying an extremely large delivery.

And so goes Billy's hilarious foray into Learning to Be Responsible. Not only does he have to wash his whale, wax his whale, and check his whale for barnacles, but he has to take his whale to school, wrestle his whale, race his whale, and take his whale to the park. Whew. Adam Rex's illustrations are unforgettable as usual (if you've never seen The Dirty Cowboy, check it out immediately), and the suspension of disbelief throughout the story is inspired. No one ever asks "why?" or "how?"It's just understood: You get a blue whale, you drag it to school on your bike. Lovely.

So Much Fun!
This book will have readers of all ages laughing hysterically at Billy Twitters' predicament. Younger kids will love the silly illustrations and the wonderful details of childhood, while their parents will also appreciate the book's sly sense of humor. Don't forget to order your own Blue Whale - just check inside the dust jacket.

This book is GREAT!
What if Mom and Dad taught you responsibility by giving you a pet-- Whale!?
This book is GREAT!It takes exaggeration literally, and goes big, stretching reality in a way that reminds me of Roald Dahl.The book nudges the Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Danny and the Dinosaur genre, and says, really?Doesn't a pet that big smell pretty foul?And isn't it pretty inconvenient feeding your pet, say, 10,000 gallons of sea water daily? I laugh aloud every time I read it. The illustrations are vast, vivid, and just as clever as the text.
Don't miss the special offer under the dust jacket!
"Send us a self-addressed, stamped envelope (we call it a S.A.S.E.!) and we'll send you a blue whale.
What?!
My S.A.S.E. is in the mail! ... Read more

Product Description
Orcas, also known as "killer whales", are large, beautiful black and white mammals, inhabiting the cold coastal waters of oceans around the world. "Killer" may be a bit of a misnomer, while these aquatic animals dine of wide variety of species, humans aren't one of them. Intelligent predators, they are frequently compared to wolves. Orcas hunt together in pods, as wolves do in packs, and they maintain complex social relationships. They communicate through an extensive repertoire of sounds. Celebrate these impressive and beautiful creatures with this Orcas wall calendar. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Beautiful calendar
This calendar is good sized with beautiful photography.It made a great gift and arrived quickly and in perfect condition. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Enough insights to allow whale watchers to fully appreciate and anticipate their experience.
THE COMPLETE WHALE-WATCHING HANDBOOK: A GUIDE TO WHALES, DOLPHINS, AND PORPOISES OF THE WORLD blends a focus on the biology of whales and their behaviors with a species guide, a regional guide to whale-watching opportunities around the world, and seasonal analysis of species which can be expected. Much more than just a listing of parks and outfitters, it focuses on the biology and science of the species and provides maps, color photos, and enough insights to allow whale watchers to fully appreciate and anticipate their experience.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch ... Read more

Product Description

In 1953, the brilliant but terrifying titan of cinema John Huston summons the young writer Ray Bradbury to Ireland. The apprehensive scribe's quest is to capture on paper the fiercest of all literary beasts -- Moby Dick -- in the form of a workable screenplay so the great director can begin filming.

Customer Reviews (9)

Not enough for a book
It happens that Ray Bradbury spent a few months in Ireland while he was writing the script for a Moby Dick movie and he decided to write a book about his experience in the land of St. Patrick. The problem is that nothing worth of a whole book happened there. Just an eternal rain, some anecdotes with locals and many critics to the Irish.

Not his best
Ray Bradbury was a science fiction icon, but there's a reason he didn't write "The Playboy of the Western World" or "Finnegan's Wake."The dialogue is all you get from this book.The rest of the book is a thin vehicle to get you from one conversation to the next.There are few descriptions and few insights.The dialogue itself is very humorous at parts, and in others it's obvious that this is Bradbury writing how the conversations should have gone, not how they really went.I've thoroughly enjoyed other works by Bradbury, but this wasn't one of them.

The best of both worlds, fact and fiction
Ray Bradbury wrote the screenplay for John Huston's Moby Dick.It is a hysterical account of his exploits in Ireland where he wrote the piece.It is also a work of fiction because he combined some of his previous short story writings about Ireland into the book.Bradubury masterly weaves both fact and fiction into a enjoyable tour-de-force.If you are an avid Bradbury fan, you will remember some of his earlier work and recognize the stories.If not, then I envy you because you will not be able to distinguish fact from fiction.Bradbury does both a wonderfull job of catching Irelands essence and terrible poverty of which he covers lightly.He also hints at the terrible genious of John Huston without going into the gory details.This book is a very fast read and is wonderfull.It is certainly deserving of the national book award it recieved.

Not the best Bradbury, but still worth while.
This didn't grip the same way Fahrenheit 451 or The Martian Chronicles or Something Wicked This Way Comes did. There are many entertaining and quite often fun stories and of course it is beautifully written. Bradbury is one of the best prose stylists and short story writers in American Lit, after all. It's not one of his classics but it's worth a consideration.

Great prose.
Green Shadows, White Whale is a tale about Ray Bradbury's travels in Ireland while helping John Huston write the screenplay for Moby Dick. The writing is absolutely wonderful. I have read many books in my life but Ihave rarely read one so beautifully written and well composed. There wereparagraphs and passages that I read over two and three times simply becausethey were so tasty. The story is broken up into chapters which compriselittle subplots of their own. This makes for easy reading because you canread a chapter or two at a time and still enjoy the entire book. Read thisbook. ... Read more

Product Description
Kids will learn about the many kinds of whales that live in the world's oceans. They'll find out how and where whales live, how they give birth and raise their young, how they find food, how some species migrate and communicate, and much more. Easy-to-read text and detailed illustrations meet the research needs of young children and satisfy their curiosity about these magnificent animals. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

best whale kids book
We borrowed this one from the library, and orderded a different one on here first. she liked the one from the library so much better we bought it. Informative, and my 4 year old likes to learn the types of whales she can do this with the chart. would be great if they could have some pics of real whales with it to but other than that its wonderful.

Whales
Again a great book to help children learnabout the topic and see good what writers do. ... Read more

Product Description
Off the Pacific coast of Mexico, a whale is born. Swimming beside Mama Whale, and surrounded by a protective pod, Baby Whale begins to grow and learn. She dives in the deep dark through swirling galaxies of luminous fish. She encounters dangerous orcas and a giant squid. Soon Baby can leap and blow, and comes to know all the ways of the whales and the sea.

Continuing the nature series that includes The Eyes of Gray Wolf, Condor's Egg and Honeypaw and Lightfoot, Jonathan London's simple, poetic prose captures the tenderness and drama in the life of the endangered sperm whale. Jon Van Zyle's dynamic illustrations reveal the grace and magnificence of these mighty mammals. An informative afterword and a reader's guide are included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Wonderful
London can do it.He writes of something so large and strange as a whale and makes you want to have one as a pet.This book is touching and allows us to understand about the whale in a whole new way.

Avoid for sensitive children
I personally loved this book and story and thought my 4 year old could handle the plot. She loves whales and mama/baby animal stories so I was hopeful.

It was a complete disaster. She was so worried about the daddy whale disappearing and about the mama whale fighting, etc. She was sobbing uncontrollably, and then I was too. It was just awful.

This is a girl who has never cried about any book before, and we read a ton of them of a huge range of topics.

So, just a warning if you have a sensitive youngster!

The world of a baby whale
"Baby Whale's Journey" is a truly magical and beautiful book for young readers. Jonathan London's compassionate and easy-to-read text blends perfectly with the majestic illustrations by Jon Van Zyle. Together, they tell the story of a baby sperm whale's life with her marine community.

The book is full of memorable images: the adult whales protecting the baby from orcas, the mother whale battling a giant squid, and mother and baby simply frolicking in their ocean habitat. Van Zyle's illustrations (most of which stretch across two-page spreads) are superb; Van Zyle is especially adept at capturing the marvelous play of light in the water. "Baby Whale's Journey" is educational, artistically impressive, and emotionally satisfying.

Wondeful Story about A Mother and Baby Whale
This is a great book for children to help them learn about Sperm Whales and provides children with an insight into life below the ocean waves.I would recomend this book to teachers who are looking for a book about Ocean Animals to share with their class. This would also be a good book for a mother to read to her daughter since it talks about the mother/daughter relationship of the whales in this book.

Wondeful Story about A Mother and Baby Whale
This is a great book for children to help them learn about Sperm Whales and provides children with an insight into life below the ocean waves.I would recomend this book to teachers who are looking for a book about Ocean Animals to share with their class. This would also be a good book for a mother to read to her daughter since it talks about the mother/daughter relationship of the whales in this book. ... Read more

Product Description
This title is suitable for toddlers and ages upwards. With text approved by the animal authorities at SeaWorld, photographs provided by the parks, and with the well-known SeaWorld brand on the cover, the marine animal's series is sure to be a big seller. To begin the series are the dolphins - the clowns of the sea; the sea lions - the clowns of circuses everywhere; the killer whale - made cuddly by Shamu the star of SeaWorld; and the adorable penguins - birds in formal attire with a funny waddle. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great non fiction for toddlers
We bought this -and others in the series- to keep at our beach house on the gulf coast of Florida. Our kids are fascinated by the sea life down there.

The books have a combination of photos, text and illustrations. The photos are nice, clear shots, but don't always match the text perfectly which is why they add the illustrations. It works! Best of all, there is not too much information- just enough for a toddler/preschooler. My kids, 2 and 4, don't pick this every night, but it's definitely a regular in the mix.

Warning!
The text in this book and the dolphin book are VERY similar...Ok, so a lot of the info is the same (they both live in pods, for example), but I think the author could have found a way to change them up. I would NOT recommend buying both. ... Read more

Product Description
Personal, anecdotal, and highly engaging, Watching Giants opens a window on a world that seems quite like our own, yet is so different that understanding it pushes the very limits of our senses. Elin Kelsey's colorful first-person account, drawing from her rich, often humorous, everyday experiences as a mother, a woman, and a scientist, takes us to the incredibly productive waters of the Gulf of California and beyond, to oceans around the world. Kelsey brings us along as she talks to leading cetacean researchers and marine ecologists about their intriguing discoveries. We encounter humpback whales that build nets from bubbles, gain a disturbing maternal perspective on the dolphin-tuna issue, uncover intimate details about whale sex, and contemplate the meaning of the complex social networks that exist in the seas. What emerges alongside these fascinating snapshots of whale culture is a dizzying sense of the tremendous speed with which we are changing the oceans' ecosystems--through overfishing, noise pollution, even real estate development. Watching Giants introduces a world of immense interconnectivity and beauty--one that is now facing imminent peril. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Acutely disappointing.
Perhaps I misunderstood what this book was going to be about. I may not have read the reviews carefully enough. What I *thought* was that this book would be about the secret life of whales.

Sure, I learned something of the secret life of whales, but this was gleaned only after flipping through all the mind-numbing information on the author's children, Kip and Esme, how the honey-tongued local waiter tended to make women's thoughts leap instantly to sex, and what a trial it is to get a room in an inn when you don't speak much Spanish and they don't accept plastic. And so on and so forth.

I am not sure if Kelsey was trying to pad out the book, or adopt a girly coffee-time chat style (she called whale faeces whale 'poop', constantly, I could hardly bear it), or if she was trying to draw parallels between Kip and Esme's toileting habits and whales' 'poop'.

All I wanted was the whales. And I wanted an adult discussion of whales. Largely, I didn't get it. (Kelsey didn't have to talk down to me. Among many other examples, she didn't have to keep calling whale faeces whale 'poop'.)

Discussion of whales was largely confined to the Gulf of California, which was also acutely disappointing. Whales elsewhere are referred to, but why not include them in the overall discussion? I just felt that the author's wealth of knowledge was confined to one thing ... whales in the Gulf of California.

Kelsey also had a heavy conservation agenda. Many chapters/essays given over to her conservation agenda. This is fine, but I just wanted whales.

In summary, *not* a book on the secret life of whales, and possibly not even aimed at adults. Some whale life is discussed, but that only highlights its intense lack throughout most of the book.

I think the book should be re-titled, and I think the book's description should more adequately explain what this book is about. I also disliked the author's girly chatty style.

This was just not what I thought it was going to be. Acutely disappointing. If whales are what you want, be aware that much of this book is not about whales. I would not recommend it.

A wonderful book, but not a lot that's new
This is less a 'book' and more a compilation of wonderful and well-told stories about whales and dolphins, each one a sort of essay examining a different species or topic. Kelsey writes beautifully and the book is compulsively readable, and very enjoyable at that. What I also thought was great (despite being a male in my 20's with no children) is that she knits the various stories together with the theme of motherhood, a little-examined side of cetaceans. She dwells at length on lactation strategies, mothers bonding together to protect and 'educate' their young, and the arduous "single mother" lifestyle required of many species. It is a heartwarming and, so far as I know, unique perspective for a book on cetaceans. Many of the 'episodes' involve visits to researchers in the field and are told more as anecdotes (with lots of scientific research in the endnotes to back up claims) as opposed to a dry, factual account.

I take one star off only because if you've been into cetaceans for any length of time there won't be a whole lot that's new here, other than the inventive perspective (whales-as-mothers) itself. You won't be surprised to read about humpback bubble-netting on acoustical tracking for the 18th time. On the other hand there are some shocking factoids within that I really had never thought of before, such as that the number one killer of dolphins today is our abysmally destructive fishing methods - the number of dolphins killed annually as 'by-catch' numbers in the millions!

All in all an endearing and enjoyable read. Well done.

Fascinating book - a must read for any ocean enthusiast
Elin Kelsey has taken a different approach to studying whales, and a different approach in writing this book.She seems to be a scientist utterly fascinated by the culture & psychology of whales - why else would she compare whale behavior to her own menopause or interactions with humans?

Having said that, I found that I could hardly put the book down - I only reluctantly laid it down at night when my eyes refused to stay open.I have long been fascinated by whales, but everything I've ever read before was superficial stuff - the fact that a blue whale weighs 100 tons, or that Gray whales like humans.It has been a long time since I was touched by a book the way I was touched by this one.As a child growing up in San Diego, I wanted to be a marine biologist.Many moves later, and finding myself living in the desert, I didn't pursue the dream - instead I focused on what seemed a more practical choice.

This book, however, has reinvigorated my interest in marine biology.There's no telling where it will take me, just like there's no telling what scientists will discover next about these fantastic mammals that populate our planet's oceans.

If for nothing more than general curiosity about the chapter titled "Let's talk about sex, Baby", pick up this book & read it - if you have any interest at all in these enormous creatures, you'll be well rewarded by reading this book.

Families and what we don't know about whales
The book offers an interesting view of whales through the lens of motherhood and the unknown. We still know very little about these giant beasts. They spend most of the time underwater, beyond our realm of study and research.

For example, as the book points out, a blue whale opening its mouth to take in a school of krill is the biggest biomechanical event to happen on the planet. The scale of a whale's life is well beyond the scale of humans.

But they are parents and they have families. We are still trying to figure out how that works.

Understanding whales by looking at the roles of the mothers
This book is in many ways a collection of superb essays that read like dispatches from the frontiers of whale science, including current thoughts on whale intelligence, homosexuality in dolphins, the culture of whales, and how best to save whales. However, at the center of these probing investigations are the roles of mothers and their crucial importance to understanding the big picture. Filled with insights. Highly recommended.
-- Erich Hoyt, Senior Research Fellow, WDCS, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society; Director, Far East Russia Orca Project; Author, Creatures of the Deep, The Earth Dwellers and Marine Protected Areas for Whales, Dolphins & Porpoises ... Read more

Product Description
Nine tales, selected and retold here by anthropologist and author Theodora Kroeber for the adult general-interest reader. The new foreword by her son, Karl Kroeber, provides context about the author's methods and describes his own personal connection to the stories themselves. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Poem for Ishi
Theodora Kroeber is best known for her account of Ishi, the Yahi or Yana Native American who emerged from a life of evasion of 'the White Man' in Northern California, at the beginning of the 20th Century, and had the fortune to fall into the 'care' of anthropologists rather than bounty hunters. Theodora never met Ishi. Her book was first published in 1961, while Ishi died in 1916. Theodora worked from the notes of her famous pioneering anthropologist husband, Alfred Kroeber, after his death. Details of her account have been challenged by later writers, but the story of Ishi has become an icon of America's callous disruption and decimation of indigenous cultures. Indeed, of all the nations of the Western Hemisphere, the USA has most thoroughly and hypocritically 'cleansed' itself of its "First Nations" , their languages and their significance in the modern population. Ishi spent his few last years at what is now the UCSF Medical Center, wher he is said to have roamed the wildly neglected UC property called The Sutro Forest. That land is still undeveloped and overgrown, though the vegetation isn't remotely what Ishi might have explored. There are semi-secret paths through the gullies of the forest, and one comes upon makeshift tributes to Ishi here and there.

It was the second marriage for both the elderly Alfred and the younger Theodora. Their daughter is the well-known fantasy novelist Ursula Le Guin, who in turn has a daughter, Elizabeth Le Guin, who is a very fine baroque cellist, performing with Philhormonia and Tafelmusik. Quite a family!

This is a collection of stories based on the oral traditional narratives ofNorthern Californian Native Americans. It is not written as ethnographic material; rather, the stories are told in forthright literary English. Nonetheless, they taste and smell authentic, and make excellent reading. Both of Theodora Kreober's book are popular assignments to high school students in California, as they should be. The title story tells of a young gray whale tossed by a tsunami into a fresh water lake; it's a reflection of the kind of calamity that can result from "imbalance" between humanity and nature. And it's a memorable story as literature.

I first read this collection many years ago. As if by fate, it suddenly popped up at the top of my to-read-again stack. The title story still impressed me, so I wrote a poem in response to its impact:

THE INLAND WHALE

A hard land to need
consolation from. An awkward visit,
rainy weather in a small tent.What tells it to exist?
Subsistence in the cave of care
conditions one, as the thoughts of a landlocked whale

teach one to dream of whales,
one who camps out at this inland sea and persists
despite overweariness.Without some need,
a self gets stagnant.... a landscape too familiar to visit,
a flood reflected in a puddle, a care

which accommodates itself.Those who care
are amphibious and may procreate in need,
though both care and need are fantasies of a whale
which fills its pond to overflowing, as the womb would be filled
if the child could more than visit.

A hard land to visit:
steep granitic shores, from which the whale's
fluke, or its spout, is visible at times...where if you care
to listen, you can hear the whale sing of need-
lessness, sameness of self and sea, the will

awash in the sea it displaces. Life
crawls up these shores too surfeited to care.
A departure without a visit:
all creatures dry or finny being dreams of the whale...
a land where care displaces need.

Voices of the First Americans
Kroeber heard these stories mostly from Natives who had begun their syncretism with the modern world. These stories are rightly told in a contemporary fashion. For instance, Eskimo kinship terms are utilized to establish kindred, (grandfather, uncle, etc.) instead of the more traditional, descriptive anthropological method of using terms such as "fathers-mothers-sister."

Theodora Kroeber can be congratulated for this great little book of traditional stories from California's Native Americans. Lessons can be learned, values can be taught, and more importantly, the people who originally inhabited these lands can have their voices heard. This book is appropriate for all age groups, but I would insist also that this book be read to youngsters, who could indubitably benefit from the lessons taught within.

Truly a great piece of ethnographic work and literature simultaneously. ... Read more

Product Description
“Deeply ecological, original, andspellbinding. . . . [A] hauntingly beautifulnovel of the hidden dimensions of life.”—Booklist, starred reviewRaised in a remote seaside village, Thomas WitkaJust marries Ruth, his beloved since infancy.But an ill-fated decision to fight in Vietnamchanges his life forever: cut off from hisNative American community, he fathers a childwith another woman. When he returns home a hero, he finds his tribe in conflict over the decisionto hunt a whale, both a symbol of spiritualityand rebirth and a means of survival. In the end, he reconciles his two existences, only to seetragedy befall the son he left behind.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Touched by the Gods & Unsanitized
In the acknowledgments at the end of the novel, Hogan thanks her husband, "who talked with me about Viet Nam back before my accident."She then says, "I apologize for forgetting names." While reading this novel with my International Lit class, several students noticed the Russell/Randall error, as did I.Maybe Hogan's editor at Norton was so lazy and inept as to not catch this obvious miscue; ditto, presumably, various friends who read the draft, common practice for writers nowadays, even given she was recovering from a head injury and had the presence of mind to offer a preemptive apology for mixing up names.

Add to this the fact that, same as for many (arguably most) Native American and other indigenous writers, Hogan's main theme is discontinuity of memory following the rupture of colonization and its subsequent, arguably still unhealed trauma, notably including the severing of a sacred relationship between a human culture and its non-human cohabitants.

What better way to make the trope of recovery-of-memory real than for a tribal author to tell a commanding story about this theme, while overtly and graphically confessing to the very flaw she places at the core of our current ecological crisis, likewise contemporary tribal "forgetting" of traditional culture and its values?So yes, I bet any college kid getting paid minimum wage to find the mistakes could have fixed that one, ditto the erstwhile howler wherein a fishing boat named the Marco Polo becomes "Marco Pollo" (Mark the Chicken, in Spanish).Maybe Hogan did have a crap editor, and lazy friends, but I doubt it.Amongst the tens of thousands of "creative writers" currently bearing their souls to no one, Hogan has earned her audience, and has taken a leap that would until recently have been called postmodern, letting the seams show in what otherwise would be a mimetically convincing but ultimately less real and less powerful rendering of a story told by someone who has the misfortune--or maybe the blessing--of being touched by the gods, via a fall to earth.

Linda Hogan disappointed me for the first time.
I LOVE all of Linda Hogan's other books.She is my favorite author.I love her so much that I won't even let my bookclub select any of her books as one of our monthly picks, lest one of our members besmirch her name in some way or offer a criticism of her.However, I'm very disappointed in People of the Whale.The premise of the story is great, but I think she does a poor job of telling it.The writing seems lazy and careless to me, almost like she didn't care much about doing a good job."There was heated water for him in the winter when the old women filled a tub for him with heated containers of water."Other times it just seems sloppy to me, as when she mistakenly writes "Randall" when the character's name is Russell.

If I had read "Whale" first I wouldn't have read anything else she wrote.I wouldn't recommend it -

An Incredible Book!
This is such a beautifully written book; descriptive, intriguing, engrossing. I actually read it first from the library, then I had to buy it for my own collection for the pleasure of rereading it whenever I want!

I highly recommend it! I'm definitely reading more from this author.

people of the whale
A very moving story creating understanding of Native American's lives and struggles in today's culture.Linda Hogan is a passionate and moving author and a voice that captures the complexities of being a woman like no other author I know!If you want to read about powerful women, read all of her books.

Deeply Moving
In her quiet, intensive, often lyrical writing, Linda Hogan has created a serious and magical book. In the story of one Native man's search for his place in the Native and the American world, in tribal tradition and modern day problems, she speaks to all of us. What is the source of our greed and desparation, that leads this man, Thomas Just, to going to the Vietnam War, or leads his tribal members to restart whale hunting outside of international treaties and their own traditions? We get more insight into men suffering from war than many fictional and non-fiction titles about war can provide - we see with empathy.

A moving book with strong female characters, especially Thomas' wife Ruth, and wise elders, it also opens our heart and mind to the ocean and the survival struggle of all its creatures, especially the mysterious octopuses and whales. ... Read more

Product Description
How can we understand the language of whales? How will the evolving composition of seawater affect life on earth? Why do whales sing? Roger Payne has listened to the whales' haunting songs for most of his adult life and taught us to listen too. He's swum with them. He's fought for them. He's studied them and become the world's foremost cetacean biologist.

"His Knowledge Of These Animals Is Unsurpassed, His Prose Elegant And Moving."

-- Edward O. Wilson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Diversity of Life

Sharing his scientific observations in spellbinding detail, Payne brings vividly to life the awesome presence of these great, noble -- and desperately threatened -- creatures. A work of biology, of philosophy, and most certainly of literature, Among Whales is more than a book about whales. It is also a journey of the heart, a journey of discovery about the larger questions of life on earth.

"A StoreHouse Of Knowledge Fired By Love."

-- The Washington Post

Passionate in his love, Roger Payne is also passionate in his outrage at the whalers who slaughter whales for profit and at the pollutants that are destroying our oceans. His words shimmer with truth; his ideas strike powerfully at our consciences. Destined to become a classic, Among Whales is a book of great beauty -- a cautionary tale every one of us who cares about our planet must read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Did you like the cetology chapters in Moby Dick?
Satisfy your literary and scientific interest in whales--and it is a select few who have both--with Payne's fantastic and sadly out-of-print book.

By way of a deeper wrinkle, it should also be pointed out that Payne is (allegedly) a good friend of Cormac McCarthy, whose novel "Blood Meridian" has been characterized as the twentieth century's answer to "Moby Dick."At some point in the last twenty-five years, McCarthy wrote a (still unpublished) screenplay called "Whales and Men," which includes a character believed to be based on Payne.(McCarthy is credited in "Among Whales.")So, two literary strands, Melville and McCarthy, and one scientific one, cetology, are smoothly wound in Payne's book.Used copies abound.

Among whales.
This was a marvelous read although its flaws were sometimes predictable. I will try to minimize references to the flaws because the book was generally a joy to read. Payne has spent his passion on whales and presents a treasure trove of information, about the behavior, history, plight, and politics of the great cetaceans. Where he sticks to empirical science (which fortunately is most of the book), the eminent whale biologist takes the reader along on a wonder-filled journey beneath the waves. Accounts of his personal life fit nicely with accounts of his work. The reader comes to feel that, in some sense, he knows right whales and humpbacks, and knows Mr. Payne. The insights into the psychology, economics and politics of whaling are fascinating and troubling and are issues with which more people should have some familiarity.
The book is so good that I almost hate to offer any detracting comments, but in the interest of truth I must: (1.) Payne assigns a kind of well-intended and hopeful 'happy face' to zoological and marine parks. Yes, zoos and marine parks do educate the public, but that education is primarily this -- that wild animals make excellent and profitable corporate merchandise. For compelling counterpoint read Jack Turner's The Abstract Wild. (2.) Payne's metaphysical musings are too typical of a large number of biologists. Gaia is not science; it is a philosophy of aesthetics similar to aboriginal pantheism. The concept of "collectively immortal" biology presents the conclusion that, as Payne says, Life is god. It makes for a pleasant enough concept until it is subjected to critical analysis. Some priests of biology should (collectively?) think a little deeper. One needn't adopt a Star Trek religion or a form of shamanism to respect bio-diversity. Assailing Christianity because it was the claimed practice of "God fearing" and blood thirsty sea captains is as logically dubious as attacking biological science because it was the claimed practice of a Dr. Josef Mengele, is the claimed practice of the Japanese "scientific" whaling industry, and is in fact the practice of developers of biological warfare agents. The evil besetting nature is not theism, it is holy capitalism, saint self-interest, a god called greed, and hard-hearted indifference. In short, small minded selfishness. Most scientists, including Payne, are at their best when they stick with science (although the mathematical sciences have lent the world some excellent philosophers).
All nay-saying aside, this is a book well worth reading.

Touched By Whales
I am astonished that this book is out of print.How can this be?Why aren't people using it as a textbook in writing, psychology, ethics and marine biology classes?Why aren't high schools and universities clamouring to have Roger Payne speak at their commencement exercises? Why isn't he being interviewed by Oprah and Good Morning America?Why isn't the name Roger Payne as familiar to us as Jacques Cousteau or Keiko the whale?Believe me, it should be.

Roger Payne is a cetacean scientist - that is to say he studies whales - however that doesn't begin to tell you about what he really does or who he really is.You see, Roger Payne swims up to Right Whales and looks them in the eye.He hangs upside down next to Humpback whales in order to experience their bone shaking songs up close.He spends hundredsd of hours a year on boats watching and recording the movements, behaviors and songs of whales.Best of all, Roger Payne has stories to tell about another world that exists beyond land.He knows and can prove, for example, that Humpback whales sing.Yes sing. Not simply make sounds but create rhythm, patterns and notes in sequences that put some of our greatest composers to shame.He has stories to tell of his encounters with whales that make it abundantly clear that they think, feel and communicate.In short Roger Payne has something to teach us about our relationship to another species on this planet, and we should be listening.

But if you're not the sort to read a book just because it would be good for you, read it because Payne is a fine writer whose stories are well told and fascinating, and whose scientific explanations are so clear that even the most scientifically-challenged person can follow.Read it because it will enchant you with its descriptions of whales at play and captivate you with its studies of why whales do what they do.Read it because it will challenge your mind and touch your heart. It's that good.

a great book for an aspirering ceteacean biologist
Roger Payne brings up issuses that this world is going to have to deal with in the years to come. His passion for cetaceans shows through in every page, I encourage everyone to read this masterpeice!

Outstanding!!!
If you have wondered about the beauty of these mammals, then you must read this book.Roger Payne shares the wonders of the graceful aminals.If you care for them at all, then you are foolish not to read this book.It hasreally bought me closer to who they really are. ... Read more

Product Description
In Listening to Whales, Alexandra Morton shares spellbinding stories about her career in whale and dolphin research and what she has learned from and about these magnificent mammals. In the late 1970s, while working at Marineland in California, Alexandra pioneered the recording of orca sounds by dropping a hydrophone into the tank of two killer whales. She recorded the varied language of mating, childbirth, and even grief after the birth of a stillborn calf. At the same time she made the startling observation that the whales were inventing wonderful synchronized movements, a behavior that was soon recognized as a defining characteristic of orca society.

In 1984, Alexandra moved to a remote bay in British Columbia to continue her research with wild orcas. Her recordings of the whales have led her to a deeper understanding of the mystery of whale echolocation, the vocal communication that enables the mammals to find their way in the dark sea. A fascinating study of the profound communion between humans and whales, this book will open your eyes anew to the wonders of the natural world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (29)

A multifaceted, beautiful account
This book is so great because it works on multiple levels at once.

i) It is the endearing autobiography of the author's transition from shy, confused teenager who heads West and gradually gets involved in the early scientific research on cetaceans, working with various greats in the field and then eventually finding her own footing on the coast of British Columbia, studying orcas with her underwater photographer husband.

ii) You get a fascinating peak behind the scenes at the way life was with some of the early pioneers of cetacean research. Morton worked right in John Lilly's home back in the day, working on understanding dolphin language (assuming they have one), spent months hanging around the first aquariums to bring in cetaceans from the wild for the amusement ('education' maybe...) of the public, and also lived up on Paul Spong's notorious whale 'research' island off the coast of BC. After reading the many books and research articles of these and other people, it is really interesting to get someone's personal account of them.

iii) Of course, Morton gives a great overview of the world of cetacean research (and the threats cetaceans are still facing in the form of pollution, environmental degradation, salmon farming, etc.), focusing on her speciatly, the Orcas (or 'killer whale'). There is a huge amount of fascinating information about orca 'dialects', cultures, and behaviors that you can learn from this book.

What really makes it wonderful though is that these three themes of autobiography, biography and research review are so seamlessly and beautifully woven together. In terms of literary quality this is probably the best book out there on whales and dolphins, and a captivating look at the lives of the people involved (author included) to boot. Very highly recommended.

Buy this book!
I loved this book! I could not put it down. If you love whales or just animals in general, you must read this book!

Loved it
I didn't realize until I read the book how drawn I am to marine biology esp. whales. She starts in Malibu with Dr. Lilly and moves to the old Marineland where she listens herself and ends up on Vancouver Island where pods were just beginning to be studied.
I expected something more New Age.She sticks to well-documented ideas about orca's social behavior.When she feels things beyond what is scientificly proved, she says that this is what she felt and you feel for someone who has devoted this much time and thought to these animals her observations are not inappropriate. This is now one of my favorite books.

Synchrony
Outstanding book. A. Morton was and is on the cutting edge of orca research and environmental impact research.Her research of the orcas is objective, pragmatic, and thorough.Humble beginnings in her methods with captive dolphins (followed by captive orcas) prepared her to be a researcher who thrives on challenges and values self sufficiency.Her book reflects that.Buy this book.

Tell it like it is!
This is a wonderful book. Without indulging in either over-sentimentality or extreme romanticisation about nature, both so popular now, Alexandra Morton introduces us to the lives of whales and what it means to commit one's being to understanding them in their native habitat.While reading Alexandra's book I have also been reading the biography of a renown anthropologist.The difference between the two could not be more stark.While a genuine observer of his subjects, the anthropologist makes little existential commitment to them.He romanticizes societies he likes and condemns those he doesn't. Although he becomes famous there is little evidence that he shares his fortune with his subjects. In her passion to try to understand the language of whales Alexandra dedicates her life to living near them, indifferent to gain that might accrue to her. In the course of her quest, she also manages to be wife, mother, widow, wife and mother again.As widowed mother she learns how to survive on the north coast of British Columbia.The relationships she has prosper rather than suffer from her work. Her first child grows up chasing whales in his mom's boat and from pictures in the book, it looks like his little sibling, coming years, later is likewise so lucky.

Alexandra's book teaches us a lot about how sophisticated the social life of whales is, their intelligence and variations in habits.She also gives a picture of life on the edge of the wilds.Having participated in the movement to homestead in Canada that grew out of the counterculture and expatriation during Vietnam, I find it fascinating to have a glimpse the locals who fished and logged the coast and others who came there to dive and study nature. Oriented toward the sea and obsessed with sea life, they lived a very different kind of existence from what I saw in the northwestern mountains of BC, Vancouver Island or the Queen Charlottes.Besides the very different physical environment, a major distinction is the focus on marine life.While elsewhere subsidence was important and wolves and bears companions, few homesteaders I knew made observation of nature a lynchpin of their lives.Alexandra has.

I often found myself touched to the point of tears by her descriptions.I can see how someone can fall in love with orcas.With a commercial fisherman brother and a doctoral student who is an expert on fishing communities, although I knew the facts before reading her book, I was still overwhelmed by her description of the impact of salmon farming on the west coast.It is analogous to what happened around the US invasion of Iraq.In advance it was obvious that the war was based on lies and that it would profoundly fail (a half million dead, a couple of million refugees---was that a reasonable cost to pay for getting rid of a murderous loudmouth who actually kept the world safer for the US).Likewise, corporations who advocatedfish farming with the connivance of the BC government embarked on an environmentally catastrophic strategy for which there was plenty of prior evidence of its destructiveness.Time after time asserted safety turned out to begross deception.Salmon on the Canadian West Coast are one for the world's most precious wildlife resources.Yet farm bred fish escaped--they weren't supposed to--, their diseases spread despite assurances they wouldn't and their waste seeped out.At least the sound blasts meant to keep away seals were suspended after years, so that the killer whales whose navigation and hunting are governed by echolocation (according to Dave Lindberg, professor of Integrative Biology at Berkeley, a sperm whale can detect a water filled baggy at 300 meters) and whose complex social life depends on sound communication could return.

The Social Credit Party (Socred) and the Liberals in BC kept and keep selling the province's birthright for a mess of potage: forests, oceans, electricity, minerals, coalbed methane, and even water if they could get away with it.It is sinful.Alexandra's awakening to the depth of the connivance and lying is instructive.That she has become a potent force in the path of destructive "development" is inspiring.I am surprised that more people did not cut farm nets or do other monkey wrenching.I suppose that would have risked releasing farmed salmon making the impacts of farming even worse.I remember some years ago sitting in a fish restaurant in Cambridge Mass with my student deciding to eat farmed salmon for the first time.We were both disgusted.It is to wild salmon like Kentucky fried chicken is to chicken before factory farms.But both cooks and customers eat their ideas and efficiency and don't notice.I have rarely eaten farmed salmon since.(Lox made out of farmed salmon is mush. My freezer is filled with dryfish from First Nations' fisherwomen.)Thank god that salmon fishermen finally wised up and began to market their fish as wild and natural, so the trend toward total farming has not succeeded.Although, as Alexandra has pointed out, the lumber companies would love to see the wild salmon go because then they would not have to protect their watersheds.

What can I say.This is atruly great book and its author lives her life authentically.We could use many more the likes of her to defend whales, salmon and other endangered nature.Read this book.

Charlie Fisher emeritus prof. and author of Dismantling Discontent: Buddha's Way Through Darwin's World
... Read more

Product Description
This unprecedented volume presents a sweeping picture of what we know about the natural history, biology, and ecology of whales in the broad context of the dynamics of ocean ecosystems. Innovative and comprehensive, the volume encompasses multiple points of view to consider the total ecological impact of industrial whaling on the world's oceans. Combining empirical research, ecological theory and modeling, and historical data, its chapters present perspectives from ecology, population biology, physiology, genetics, evolutionary history, ocean biogeography, economics, culture, and law, among other disiplines. Throughout, contributors investigate how whaling fundamentally disrupted ocean ecosystems, examine the various roles whales play in food webs, and discuss the continuing ecological chain reactions to the depletion of these large animals. In addition to reviewing what is known of the current and historic whale populations, Whales, Whaling, and Ocean Ecosystems considers how this knowledge will bear on scientific approaches to conservation and whaling in the future and provocatively asks whether it is possible to restore ocean ecosystems to their pre-whaling condition. ... Read more

Product Description
A great resource for teachers!

Read and Wonder books tell stories, take children on adventures,
and reveal how big and WONDER-full the natural world really is. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Pre-Teen Book
Although it falls in the "picture book" catagory, the art work is suitable for an older child and it offers so much interesting information about blue whales it is perfect for a student in 4th or 5th grade.My pre-teen granddaughter loved the book.

Enjoyable & Informational
We did not purchase this from Amazon, we borrowed it from the library.

Delightful and detailed large crosshatching colored pen and ink illustrations.It is of note that this is not a storybook - but informational in nature.There are actually two sets of complementary facts being provided simultaneously.While this is an interesting feature throughout the book, there were a few times when it actually disrupted the flow of thought.Facts about blue whales are presented in specific measurements (feet, tons, counts, etc.) as well as relative terms (larger than an elephant, eyes the size of the end of a pencil) and with detailed graphics.We learned interesting facts about migration, birth, nutrition, and communication.

The text was quite extensive and was enjoyed more by our 6-year-old than our 4-year-old.However, the pictures were enough to keep the younger's attention throughout.

Big Blue Whale
This book is a delight to read out loud to children, the illutrations are excellent and the information that is given is also educational.I would reccomend this book for lower primary use, it could even be used for middle primary use to start of a unit of work on Whales.It is also excellent for just reading to your children at home, or as independant reading material.

Perfect science and read-aloud book.
A wonderfully succinct overview of the blue whale and it's habits.

The clear, sweet prose makes delivery of the content easy, and the very fine, soft illustrations demand repeated veiwing. My Preschool and Kindergarten ESL students found it highly engaging.

If there's a better science and read-aloud book around I'd really like to know about it. TEN stars.

Follow this book up with the superb "Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?" by Robert E. Wells. Wells' book uses the whales' size as a starting point for exploring the size of the universe and other very big things (the second step involves putting a hundred blue whales in a really big jar). Read my review of Wells' book if you like.

ONE OF THE BEST WHALE BOOKS AVAILABLE!
I'm a whale researcher who has spent much of the last 12 years studying blue whales in the North Pacific. I'm also a mom who loves children's literature. Rarely do I see a book that is so accurate factually while it is captivating and magical! The illustrations are beautiful. I highly recommend it to anyone who has children who are facinated by whales. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

An extensively informative and visually impressive guide
Written by a cetacean biologist Robin W. Baird (who was also part of the team involved with the successful release program for the killer whale "Keiko" in Iceland), Killer Whales Of The World: Natural History And Conservation is an extensively informative and visually impressive guide to the life and habits of these amazing animals, wonderfully illustrated with full-color photography. Individual chapters address killer whale family life, on-going research, conservation efforts, human interactions and more. A captivating account of these amazing mammals, Killer Whales Of The World is very highly recommended reading for marine wildlife enthusiasts. ... Read more

Product Description
Over the course of their 70-year lifespan, sperm whales will easily travel the circumference of the Earth in search of food and the need to breed and find a mate. Males will travel as far north as the Bering Sea and as far south as Antarctica in order to find enough food to sustain their ways of live—up to 700 squid a day! Along the way, these massive beasts battle 30-feet-long giant squids, and each other, to sustain their ways of life. ... Read more

Product Description
Storytelling & Origami - Dive into learning with Whale of a Tale. Join the adventures of a magic square that transforms into different origami shapes: a kite, a whale and finally a penguin. Includes beautiful watercolor illustrations that features hands-on learning activities and easy-to-follow instructions for how to fold a whale. Great for early readers, classroom teachers or as a family gift. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A fun book
This simple story integrates learning about the natural world with learning about geometry.The origami element allows parent and child to interact outside of the book.One minor criticism:the origami diagrams are sometimes easy to miss (they're tucked away to the side).But a parent's eye should catch them.

My Grandchildren loved it!
My grandchildren love this fantastic book.It has lovely illustrations, helps them to listen to and follow directions, has math concepts, and vocabulary all rolled in to a delightful story.They also learned how to make an origami whale.

Creative Education
Wildly creative, with delicious illustrations.Best of all, it teaches basics while it captures the imagination. I bought copies for all the young ones in my life, including myself!

A whale of a book!
Very clever book.

The story is imaginative, the illustrations beautiful, and the oragami twist original.

My seven year old loved it, and I must admit I loved it as well.

You will love it too.

What a great book!
I have a 6 year old who loved this book!She loves to read,and I am always happy to find new books that are different.We found this book easy to read, both alone and as a family, and we all really enjoyed creating the whale and penguin from a square piece of paper.She picks this book up again and again; and I have seen her share it with friends when they come over and are looking for something fun to do together. I highly recommend this book for anyone with children that are looking for a book that encourages creativity and imagination.Whale of a tale will take everyone for a fun adventure. ... Read more

Product Description
In his new book, Steve Jones takes on the challenge of going back to the book of the millennium, Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species. Before The Origin, biology was a set of unconnected facts. Darwin made it into a science, linked by the theory of evolution, the grammar of the living world.It reveals ties between cancer and the genetics of fish, between brewing and inherited disease, between the sex lives of crocodiles and the politics of Brazil. Darwin used the biology of the nineteenth century to prove his case. Now, that science has been revolutionized and his case can be reargued using the twentieth century's astonishing advances. From AIDS to dinosaurs, from conservation to cloned sheep, bursting with anecdotes, jokes and irresistible facts, Almost Like a Whale is a popular account of the science that makes biology make sense. It will catch the millennial mood and tell all those for whom Darwin is merely a familiar name what he really meant.It exposes the Darwinian delusions which try (and fail) to explain human behaviour in evolutionary terms, and, while giving an up-to-date account of our own past, shows how humans are the first species to step beyond the constraints of biology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A refreshing take on an old classic
A little less than one hundred fifty years after Darwin first released On the Origin of Species, author and evolutionary biologist Steve Jones took it upon himself to use Darwin's most famous framework and apply 20th century knowledge to it. Using the same chapters and headings Darwin used in On the Origin of Species, Jones successfully manages to create an enjoyable, intellectually stimulating book. With topics ranging from the evolution of HIV and dogs to the evolutionary paths humans have taken themselves, this book covers a wide variety of topics while still holding true to its roots. This book has several significant strengths and a few weaknesses that deserve mention

Strengths:

-Readability: In each section Jones manages to provide stimulating knowledge furthering the average reader's understanding of evolution, and the depth of understanding today's evolutionary biologists have without a lot of the scientific jargon you find in similar books.
-Framework: since Jones utilizes Darwin's framework the reader feels like he's following what conclusions Darwin's On the Origin of Species would come to had it been written today.
-Scientific Data: On every page there is either a different study or experiment being mentioned that brings evolution in practice to life. Or a furthering of Darwin's own sentiments.
-Writing Style: Jones is a fantastic writer, and this book truly showcases his talent. While some may argue that a book supposed to be based around furthering the general knowledge of evolution is supposed to be unlined with metaphor it was exactly these lines that helped draw me in and read this more like a novel than a scientific text which I believe was Jones' goal with writing the book.

Weaknesses:

-Scientific Data: In the text itself Jones does not provide a single in text citation. While he has his references located in the back, I found it distressing while I was reading. As a reader who likes to occasionally look up studies when they are referenced in a text I read, I was at first horrified that he wouldn't include citations at all. When I finally found the citations in the back of the book I couldn't remember which I wanted to look up.
-Tone: While I appreciate the relative ease I was about to read this book, it might just be a bit too conversational. A topic this important possibly could use some added formality, however since this is an attempt at Darwin for the masses it is an understandable weakness.

Conclusion:

I enjoyed this book a great deal and while I believed in evolution both before and after reading it, I certainly learned of many more real world examples than I knew of before reading it. In addition, I think that someone who does not view evolution as at least a viable theory would gain serious second-thoughts upon finishing this book. All in all an enjoyable read that I'd suggest to anyone interested in reading a book on evolution.

An introduction to Darwin, without tears
I have not read the original work by Charles Darwin, the famous "The Origin of Species" - but this book "Almost Like a Whale" (it's title in its native English and the Australian market) not only introduces Darwin's main lines of argument and examples, it also brings many of them up to date. It uses Darwin's original chapter structure and organization to do so, bringing into modern illustrations of examples, better cases, and modernized arguments - and current scientific questions. It is very well written, good for reading a chapter at a time to allow for reflection between groups of ideas.

Fabulous
A wonderfully well written book that is accessible for everyone- I'm no biologist but I could understand everything about. The book deals with evolutionary biology and Darwin's theory of evolution. A must for anyone interested in where they and the world around them are from or linked to one another.

Brits vs. the Yanks
Actually, this "review" is meant merely to link "Darwin's Ghost", the American title of this work and its many fine reviews to "Almost Like A Whale" the British title.It's interesting how marketers treat the clash of cultures isn't it? ... Read more

Product Description
The perfect introductory guide to 96 species of whale, dolphin and porpoise that you are likely to spot on your whale-watching trip. More than 4.3 million people went on whale-watching excursions in 1998, and the number has been rising steadily since, signifying a growing global appreciation of these magnificent mammals and their environments. This pocket-sized guide is the ideal companion for whale-watching trips throughout the world, helping you to identify each species and discover more about them. It includes a detailed description and the ID Fact File provides at-a-glance information for each entry. Each species is illustrated with a stunning photograph, depicted as encountered on observation trips. It includes information on size, geographical distribution and diet. It also contains information on whether the species is under threat and protection. The entries are organised taxonomically, and each two-page spread is devoted to a different species. Packed with information and easy-to-use, "Wild Guide Whales and Dolphins" is the ideal guide for those wanting to learn more about these fascinating creatures. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Good Guide to Whales
My wife and I are planning to go to Alaska and hope to do some whale watching.This book is a great guide to identification of the various whales we hope to see.It is not too wordy in descriptions but gives enough information for the identification of the various types of whales and other sea mammals.

Even an artist needs this type of book!
Fisrt of all, I believe this is the exact same book as "Whales, dolphins, and porpoises. It is great book. I'm a marine life artist, so I needed a book like this one to study the scientific anatomy of each animal in details in order to get them down the right way realistically on canvas. It's the best way I can think of to make the animals as real and as beautiful or magnificent as they truly are in reality. It's hard to find a book that has even photos of each and every whale, dolphin, or porpoise there is in the world. This one little field guide has them all. It's great. So many! I also can learn about them if I decide to go whale watching some day! This book tells just about everything about each animal. Anything you would want to know. If I do go whale watching I'lltake the book with me! Yes, believe it or not, even an artist needs this type of book!

Rehana(Chicago, IL.)

book
i bought this book for my grandson who wants to be a marine biologist.ithink this will be a good start to his study.

book review
overall the book is a great guide to identifying whales and dolphins.one thing about the book that i am not so happy about is the small text size.

Incredible
From the great illustrations and quick-reference title bar that includes taxonomic, habitat and population information, to the range maps and behavioral information, this book was such a steal. I received this book shortly before starting cetacean surveys in the south pacific and it was an incredible source of information. I have used many field guides and, although I never tested its 'water-proofness", it is simultaneously concise yet complete. It not only gives identification keys for individual species, but also keys to identifying individual animals. If you are a teacher, student, biologist or enthusiast, get it, wherever you are in the world.
... Read more