num_pages: 352
description: When writer Rebecca Giggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beachfront in Australia she began to wonder how the lives of whales shed light on the condition of our seas. Fathoms: The World in the Whale blends natural history philosophy and science to explore: How do whales experience ecological change? Will our connection to these storied animals be transformed by technology? What can observing whales teach us about the complexity splendour and fragility of life? 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 planets atmosphere. We travel to Japan to board the ships that hunt whales and delve into the deepest seas to discover the plastic pollution now pervading the whales undersea environment. In the spirit of Rachel Carson and Rebecca Solnit Giggs gives us a vivid exploration of the natural world even as she addresses what it means to write about nature at a time of environmental crisis.
language: English
title: Fathoms: The World in the Whale
publisher: Simon  Schuster