The Charged Border: Where Whales and Humans Meet

An exploration of the metaphysical connection between humans and whales and dolphins follows divers and undersea explorers as they free trapped creatures, lure them from danger with music, and demonstrate the special communication possible between species

For 25 years Nollman (Dolphin Dreamtime, etc.) has communicated through music with whales, dolphins and porpoises. Here, he explores our interest with these creatures as they play out along the "charged border"Athe place where human "desires and notions" interact with actual cetaceans. Nollman sees this charged border as a meeting place for scientists, environmentalists, mystics and artists, for each group provides insight as to why aquatic mammals hold such attraction for us. He begins his examination in the Sea of Japan, where in 1980 a diver released hundreds of dolphins that were to be slaughtered by Japanese fishermen who saw the animals as competitors for the area's supply of fish and squid. Nollman also takes readers to a dolphin workshop in Baja California, where he finds his guide's "cosmic rap" about marine life disconcertingly religious. Other experiences recounted here include meeting with scientists on a research vessel in Alaskan waters, using music to lure endangered gray whales to safety and promoting music-making with orcas off the east coast of Vancouver Island. Nollman clearly relishes the "nonscientific" nature of his work in interspecies communication, which he describes as "more an affair of the heart, the ear, and the gut, than of the mind and the spread sheet." His lyrical, imaginative descriptions of his encounters with cetaceans offer a fresh perspective on these extraordinary seagoing mammals. Agent, Felicia Eth.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Broad-minded excursions through the inscrutable land of interspecies communicationin this case, the human-cetacean nexusand the mind-altering perceptions that potentially ensue, by musician and latitudinarian Nollman (Why We Garden: Cultivating a Sense of Place, 1994; Dolphin Dreamtime, not reviewed). Nollman doesn't know why his encounters with whales and dolphins move him so, why they are such profound experiences. Yet he senses that therein lurks some elemental nugget that could change our relations not just with animals, but with the earth as well. ``Mapping the terrain of the interface is exceeding difficult because of the unfixed manner in which whales and dolphins swim through our collective imaginations.'' And one has to be open enough to give the conflicting associationsvital and unformed, behavioral and mythicaccess to ones intuition. What elevates Nollman above the crystal-gazers is that planetary consciousness is only one among a number of avenues he willingly, and critically, explores in the pursuit of grace and wisdom; other paths include the traditionally scientific (there is a seasoned tour of evolutionary advantage here), a range of environmental viewpoints, dolphin healing, telepathy, aboriginal hunters, Japanese whalersall hold distinct keys to the interface. The heart of the book consists of Nollman musically communing with the creatures, a conceptual art project that dig[s] deep into the elements of musical grammar . . . to attain a real-time flow''a flow state that he first experienced, and most convincingly illustrates here, when jamming with a Mexican turkeya piece of inspired call-and-response tomfoolery. For the most part, Nollman presents his ideas in a bell-clear, jargon-free voice, with the occasional corker: ``this species of Leviathan is an alchemist that stokes some significant part of its golden inner flame directly from a brutally leaden atmosphere.'' Nollman is a common-sensical freethinker. Not knowing doesn't scare him, categories haven't hardened his arteries. He wants his relations with cetaceans to feel right, and these pages recounting his odd experiences are his notes toward that understanding. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The "charged border" is a term coined by Nollman to describe ecological and ethical problems that arise when humans and cetaceans interact. Known for his work on interspecies communication, Nollman uses anecdotes to relay facts about cetacean biology and behavior. He also incorporates previously published material, including excerpts from his Spiritual Ecology: A Guide for Reconnecting with Nature (Bantam, 1990) and Dolphin Dreamtime: Talking to the Animals (1985. o.p.). The text is occasionally anthropomorphic, and although this title may be appropriate for large public libraries, it should not be considered a substitute for more specific books on cetacean ecology such as Peter G.H. Evan's The Natural History of Whales & Dolphins (Facts on File, 1987).?Barbara Butler, Oregon Inst. of Marine Biology, Charleston
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.