Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Eye of the Whale - Great read!

We interviewed Douglas Carlton Abrams, author of "Eye of the Whale," for the show on communication (Say What?) and I read the book in preparation. I am a fan of science-driven Michael Crichton and Robert Preston thrillers, and this book had a similar pace. I picked it up on a Sunday, read all day, until midnight, and again the next day until I finished it.

“Eye of the Whale” is both a compelling ecological story about whether humpback whale songs reveal a (frightening) truth about what we've done to our environment, and also a thriller – about a heroine who is trying to piece together the puzzle before her detractors have her silenced.

And the most shocking information in the novel - about whales, endocrine disruptors, I learned from Doug, is all true (sadly). But – I have to say – it was also fun to read, the way well-written thrillers should be.

I also happened to begin the book the day after seeing the film The Cove, about dolphin slaughter, which had a powerful, amplifying effect.

4 comments:

Quantum_Flux said...

Good podcast :)

This is slightly off topic, actually just listened to this one, but I wonder why you guys don't interview Roger Penrose about Twister Theory?

Quantum_Flux said...

Another thought:

Could Mass and Anti-Mass explain both dark matter and dark energy? i.e. where likes gravitationally attract and opposites gravitationally repel. (Mass is attracted to mass, anti-mass is attracted to anti-mass, but mass and anti-mass repel each other)....perhaps this could explain galaxies colliding and the huge jets of matter escaping black holes too.

Quantum_Flux said...

After listening to This One

How about the viewpoint that life might have arisen from abiotic oil? Clearly that some oil is abiotic in origin (others is biodiesel), and that hydrocarbons closely resemble fatty acids has to be worth looking into.

Luke said...

This book looks very interesting, I'll definitely check it out. The Cove is absolutely amazing. It's basically a real life espionage thriller too