Reflections of a Whale-Watcher - Hardcover

Gilders, Michelle A

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0253325722 ISBN 13: 9780253325723

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 1995

Synopsis

The author recounts her experiences observing grey and blue whales in the Gulf of California, off Baja California

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Reviews

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.

"If God were a fish, he'd be a whale," wrote Melville in Moby Dick, and taking that lead, Gilders brings the reader up close to the mighty Leviathan, close enough to touch and reflect on the experience. An employee of British Petroleum in Alaska and an ardent environmentalist, Gilders often travels down the coast to Baja following the migratory path of whales and other cetaceans. Among the creatures she waxes eloquent about are humpbacks, gray whales, blue whales, sea lions, elephant seals, and dolphins. In the appendixes are complete lists of known whale species and their characteristics as well as a guide to the flora and fauna of Baja. Interesting insights are posed on the minimal effect of oil compared with the hazards posed by other pollutants, the methods of capturing whales, and human invasion of their territory. Most impressive is Gilders' impassioned, intelligent plea for a solution to the human (not a whale) problem that poses a threat to all of nature. Denise Perry Donavin

Edition details

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0253325722
• ISBN 13: 9780253325723
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 269