Reflections of a Whale-Watcher - Softcover

Gilders, Michelle A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0253209579 ISBN 13: 9780253209573

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 1995

Synopsis

"This story about touching whales—and whales touching us—touches a cultural nerve. An important, informed, and insightful book. Powerful." —Lee Sterrenberg, Indiana University

"The first time I saw a whale, I looked into its eye and saw myself reflected." For Michelle Gilders, this moment was a revelation and becomes for us the start of a marvelous journey into the realm of the great whales. Gilders weaves a spellbinding account of her voyages through the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean in search of whales. Along the way, she takes us to the desert of Baja California to witness its diverse and remarkable wildlife. She recounts the whaling history of the area and the pressures brought to bear on this region and its wildlife. In the rough beauty of Baja, Gilders ponders ecological complexity, environmental issues, and ethical concerns, while immersing the reader in the sights and sounds of a desert awash in the whale-haunted seas.

Gilders's encounters with whales occasion reflections on such matters as speciation and evolution, the diversity of life, the role of politics and science in the treatment of animal populations, and the ethical and moral dilemmas that face us as we contemplate the possible sentience of non-human animals.

Written for a general readership, the book is an enthralling, deeply reflective, and scientifically accurate portrait of the great whales and our long and often troubled encounter with them.

About this title

About the Author

Michelle A. Gilders is an environmental scientist and avid whale-watcher.

From Publishers Weekly

There be whales here, all right, but you have to weather a heavy sea of prose to get to them. Gilders made four trips to the Sea of Cortez in Baja California between 1989 and 1992 to observe gray whales, blue whales, humpbacks and others. She proclaims early on that "the amateur whale-watcher need make no apology for emotional enthrallment and wide-eyed wonder." Unfortunately, the author parlays her wonder into an overlong discourse that zigzags from travelogue to zoology text to personal diary in a disorganized fashion that does the whale and the reader no favors. For every interesting nugget?and there are plenty, such as Gilders's speculation about why whales breach ("the biology of energetics tells us that the event must 'mean' something to the animal"), there are many more instances of vagueness ("My images of Baja are an amalgam of thoughts during and after the event, of changing perceptions, and of relating past histories and future potential to what we have in the present."). The pity is that Gilders doesn't seem to trust her material. During a narrative account of two male humpbacks clashing over a female, the reader is convinced. What need, then, for so many Zoology 101 and New Age detours ("you feel as though the dream continues, that the world around you is part of you and apart from you")? Perhaps there is a clue later on in the book, when Gilders writes, self-consciously, "There is an arrogance in the written word." One wishes at moments like this that there were less reflecting and more whale-watching.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0253209579
• ISBN 13: 9780253209573
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288