Fathoms : the world in the whale /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Winner of the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Finalist for the 2020 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction * Finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award

A "delving, haunted, and poetic debut" ( The New York Times Book Review ) about the awe-inspiring lives of whales, revealing what they can teach us about ourselves, our planet, and our relationship with other species.

When writer Rebecca Giggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beachfront in Australia, she began to wonder how the lives of whales reflect the condition of our oceans. Fathoms: The World in the Whale is "a work of bright and careful genius" (Robert Moor, New York Times bestselling author of On Trails ), one that blends natural history, philosophy, and science to explore: How do whales experience ecological change? How has whale culture been both understood and changed by human technology? What can observing whales teach us about the complexity, splendor, and fragility of life on earth?

In Fathoms , we learn about whales so rare they have never been named, whale songs that sweep across hemispheres in annual waves of popularity, and whales that have modified the chemical composition of our planet's atmosphere. We travel to Japan to board the ships that hunt whales and delve into the deepest seas to discover how plastic pollution pervades our earth's undersea environment.

With the immediacy of Rachel Carson and the lush prose of Annie Dillard, Giggs gives us a "masterly" ( The New Yorker ) exploration of the natural world even as she addresses what it means to write about nature at a time of environmental crisis. With depth and clarity, she outlines the challenges we face as we attempt to understand the perspectives of other living beings, and our own place on an evolving planet. Evocative and inspiring, Fathoms "immediately earns its place in the pantheon of classics of the new golden age of environmental writing" ( Literary Hub ).

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Prologue - Whalefall (p. 1)
• Petroglyph (p. 27)
• The Oooo-Ers (p. 61)
• Blue Museum (p. 93)
• Charisma (p. 115)
• Sounding (p. 149)
• Sea Pie (p. 183)
• Kitsch Interior (p. 213)
• Scantling (p. 237)
• Epilogue - Deep End (p. 267)
• Acknowledgments (p. 287)
• Abbreviations (p. 289)
• Further Reading (p. 291)
• Index (p. 325)

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

ProloguePROLOGUE Whalefall Excerpted from Fathoms: The World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Australian nature writer Giggs bookends her immersive exploration of whales with stories of beached whales, one in Perth and one near Sydney. Exploring varied species of whales, Giggs shares how their anatomy, uniquely suited for their lives as sea-faring mammals, proves lethal when they are on land. The author explains how whales' vertebrae is so heavy that outside of the water they crush the organs lying below; blubber is so insulating that whales smother and cook on land. Building on her theme of environmental concern, Giggs guides readers from the ravages of 19th-century whaling to modern-day chemical pollutants that accumulate in whales' blubber, illustrating the interconnectedness of all life and the ways man's depredations travel from the smallest creatures to this largest of Earth's animals. Giggs notes that while whaling has declined markedly after crusades against it in the 1980s, other dangers remain, especially man's heedless consumer culture. One whale found dead near Spain, for example, had swallowed an entire collapsed greenhouse that had blown into the ocean. VERDICT In lyrical language, Giggs leads readers on a journey through underwater cultures and the place of whales in the chain of life. Recommended for readers interested in nature, ecology, and environmentalism.--Caren Nichter, Univ. of Tennessee at Martin

Booklist Review

Fathoms evokes depth both as a unit of measurement for bodies of water and as "an attempt to understand," science writer Giggs notes at the start of her delving and lyrically precise first book. She then takes sea soundings by focusing on the history and current plight of whales, beginning with a beached humpback whale on her home ground in Perth, Australia. Giggs punctuates this encompassing cetacean chronicle with lists of human-generated objects found in dead whales' digestive systems. Even more alarming is how saturated whales are with toxic chemicals: "Inside the whale, the world." With fresh perceptions and cascades of facts, Giggs considers our ancient and persistent whale wonderment, high-tech whale hunting, the 1970s Save the Whales movement, global warming, mass extinction, and pollution, including the oceanic plastic plague. She offers a startling assessment of how smart phones pose new perils for the wild, and ponders the loss to our inner lives if we destroy the mystery of the sea. There is much to marvel at here: the bounty of a whalefall as a descending whale carcass feeds countless ocean creatures; whale mother's milk is pink; whales sequester more carbon than trees. Deeply researched and deeply felt, Giggs' intricate investigation, beautifully revelatory and haunting, urges us to save the whales once again, and the oceans, and ourselves.

Kirkus Book Review

Seafaring scrutiny of whales, their oceanic environment, and the dangers to their survival. For Australian journalist Giggs, the sighting of a humpback whale beached on a local shoreline sparked her curiosity for the life and lore of the storied marine mammal. She became captivated by the animal after an informative encounter with the wildlife officer who euthanized the whale. The entire ordeal inspired a research project that encompasses not only physical and ecological elements, but also artistic representations and philosophy. Giggs presents the bounty of that scholarship in crisp, creatively written chapters addressing the many layers of the whale population's unique physiology and evolutionary history, sociality, above-water balletic athleticism, and enigmatic "biophony" of their vocalizations. Most importantly, she analyzes how their behavior can be predictive for the Earth's future. An adventurous explorer, the author immerses readers in an Australian whale watching tour and then dips into the deep international waters of Japan, where whaling ships flourish. With a conservationist mindset, Giggs reiterates that the whale and its life, legacy, and precarious environmental state are reflective of the greater issues the Earth faces, from ecological upheaval to overconsumption. Whether describing the majesty of the blue whale or the human assault on sea ecology due to paper and plastic pollution, the author's prose is poetic, beautifully smooth, urgently readable, and eloquently informative. Her passion for whales leaps off the page, urging readers to care and--even more so--become involved in their protection and preservation. Throughout the book, the author's debut, she brilliantly exposes "how regular human life seeped into the habitats of wildlife, and how wildlife returned back to us, the evidence of our obliviousness." Refreshingly, she also reveals glimmers of hope regarding what whales can teach the human race about our capacity to ecologically coexist with the natural world. A thoughtful, ambitiously crafted appeal for the preservation of marine mammals. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Rebecca Giggs is an award-winning writer from Perth, Australia. Her work has appeared in Granta , The Atlantic , The New York Times Magazine , Best Australian Essays , Best Australian Science Writing , and other publications. Fathoms is her first book.