How far the light reaches : a life in ten sea creatures

Title:

Author:

Imbler, Sabrina, author.

Publication Information:

New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2022.

Edition:

First edition.

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

viii, 263 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Contents:

If you flush a goldfish -- My mother and the starving octopus -- My grandmother and the sturgeon -- How to draw a sperm whale -- Pure life -- Beware the sand striker -- Hybrids -- We swarm -- Morphing like a cuttlefish -- Us everlasting.

Summary:

"Imbler profiles ten of the ocean's strangest creatures, drawing astonishing connections between their lives and ours and illuminating wondrous models of survival, adaptation, identity, sex, and care on our faltering planet."-- Adapted from publisher's description.

Personal Subject:

Subject Term:

Genre:

Added Author:

ISBN:

9780316540537

Document ID:

SD_ILS:5024640

Availability:

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Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A fascinating tour of creatures from the surface to the deepest ocean floor: this "miraculous, transcendental book" invites us to envision wilder, grander, and more abundant possibilities for the way we live (Ed Yong, author of An Immense World ).

A queer, mixed race writer working in a largely white, male field, science and conservation journalist Sabrina Imbler has always been drawn to the mystery of life in the sea, and particularly to creatures living in hostile or remote environments. Each essay in their debut collection profiles one such creature, including:

·the mother octopus who starves herself while watching over her eggs,

·the Chinese sturgeon whose migration route has been decimated by pollution and dams,

·the bizarre, predatory Bobbitt worm (named after Lorena),

·the common goldfish that flourishes in the wild,

·and more.

Imbler discovers that some of the most radical models of family, community, and care can be found in the sea, from gelatinous chains that are both individual organisms and colonies of clones to deep-sea crabs that have no need for the sun, nourished instead by the chemicals and heat throbbing from the core of the Earth. Exploring themes of adaptation, survival, sexuality, and care, and weaving the wonders of marine biology with stories of their own family, relationships, and coming of age, How Far the Light Reaches is a shimmering, otherworldly debut that attunes us to new visions of our world and its miracles.

WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE in SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award One of TIME's 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year * A PEOPLE Best New Book * A Barnes & Noble and SHELF AWARENESS Best Book of 2022 * An Indie Next Pick * One of Winter's Most Eagerly Anticipated Books: VANITY FAIR, VULTURE, BOOKRIOT

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this captivating debut, science writer Imbler shines a light on the mysterious sea creatures that live in Earth's most inhospitable reaches, drawing parallels to their own experience of adaptation and survival. In "My Mother and the Starving Octopus," Imbler describes octopus brooding--a process during which a female starves and withers to death while protecting her eggs--and uses it as a poignant launching point to delve into the ramifications of their mother's disordered relationship with food. In "Pure Life," Imbler considers the yeti crab, marveling at how it survives atop hydrothermal vents, little islands of heat on the ocean floor, and recounts their own experience craving closeness: "I wanted communities that warmed me until I tingled." Science, race, and the act of writing are at the core of the deeply personal "Hybrids," in which Imbler describes their fixation on a butterflyfish that was the offspring of two different species and dissects their changing experience writing about race. Imbler's ability to balance illuminating science journalism with candid personal revelation is impressive, and the mesmerizing glints of lyricism are a treat. This intimate deep dive will leave readers eager to see where Imbler goes next. (Dec.)

Booklist Review

Science journalist Imbler pairs vibrant descriptions of the lives of wondrous creatures of the deep with candid accounts of her experiences as a mixed-race and queer individual seeking their place in an often inhospitable world. Imbler portrays wild goldfish, a self-sacrificing mother octopus, nearly extinct Chinese sturgeon, and besieged whales, detailing the marvels of each species' anatomy, ways of being, and threats to their survival due to human environmental destruction and the resulting climate change. In each essay, the author also chronicles their own struggles with body image, sexuality, sexual assault, difficult relationships, and intrusive and offensive reactions to their being the child of a Chinese mother and a white father. As Imbler illuminates the camouflage of cuttlefish, the hunting strategies of the large marine worm known as the sand striker and the defensive tactics of it prey, hybrid butterfly fish, and the swarming of the zooplankton called salps, they find parallels to racism, the quest to be one's true self, and the power of community. Imbler's insightful blend of marine biology and memoir is utterly captivating and complexly elucidating.

Library Journal Review

Revealing the glories of marine life through 10 distinctive creatures, like the mother octopus who starves herself while tending her eggs, science writer Imbler then reveals their own experiences as a queer, biracial author to connect these often endangered sea creatures to marginalized human communities.

If You Flush a Goldfish	p. 1
My Mother and the Starving Octopus	p. 25
My Grandmother and the Sturgeon	p. 49
How to Draw a Sperm Whale	p. 65
Pure Life	p. 91
Beware the Sand Striker	p. 113
Hybrids	p. 145
We Swarm	p. 167
Morphing Like a Cuttlefish	p. 195
Us Everlasting	p. 219
Acknowledgments	p. 240
Sources	p. 244

Norwell Public Library

Availability:

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents