In Fathoms: the world in the whale, Giggs blends natural history, philosophy, and science to explore these questions with clarity and hope. How do whales experience environmental change? Has our connection to these fabled animals been transformed by technology? What future awaits us, and them? And what does it mean to write about nature in the midst of an ecological crisis?
When Rebecca Giggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beach in Australia, she began to wonder how the lives of whales might shed light on the condition of our seas. ‘There is a kind of hauntedness in wild animals today: a spectre related to environmental change … Our fear is that the unseen spirits that move in them are ours.
HIGHLY COMMENDED IN THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR WRITING ON GLOBAL CONSERVATION WINNER OF THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTIONįINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE FOR NONFICTION
A thoughtful, ambitiously crafted appeal for the preservation of marine mammals.’ STARRED REVIEW Kirkus Reviews 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. Her passion for whales leaps off the page, urging readers to care and-even more so-become involved in their protection and preservation. 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. Most importantly, she analyses how their behaviour can be predictive for the Earth’s future … 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. ‘Seafaring scrutiny of whales, their oceanic environment, and the dangers to their survival … Giggs presents … 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 vocalisations.
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