num_pages: 256
description: Remarkably little is known about the European eel Anguilla anguilla. So little in fact that scientists and philosophers have for centuries been obsessed with what has become known as the eel question: Where do eels come from? What are they? Are they fish or some other kind of creature altogether? Even today in an age of advanced science no one has ever seen eels mating or giving birth and we still dont understand what drives them after living for decades in freshwater to swim great distances back to the ocean at the end of their lives. They remain a mystery.Drawing on a breadth of research about eels in literature history and modern marine biology as well as his own experience fishing for eels with his father Patrik Svensson writes a book about this unusual animal. In The Book of Eels we meet renowned historical thinkers from Aristotle to Sigmund Freud to Rachel Carson for whom the eel was a singular obsession. And we meet the scientists who spearheaded the search for the eels point of origin including Danish marine biologist Johannes Schmidt who led research efforts in the early twentieth century catching thousands upon thousands of eels in the hopes of proving their birthing grounds in the Sargasso Sea.Blending memoir and nature writing Svenssons journey to understand the eel becomes an exploration of the human condition that delves into overarching issues about our roots and destiny both as humans and as animals and ultimately how to handle the biggest question of all: death.
language: English
title: The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World
publisher: Ecco