Here are 80 books that When the Whales Leave fans have personally recommended if you like
When the Whales Leave.
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I began as a journalist and turned into a novelist who uses extensive research to build my imagined stories. So, I tend to end up writing novels about whatever is fascinating enough to send me down research rabbit holes. I’m finishing a novel now about the wonders and mysteries of whales and the researchers who commit their lives to try to understand them. During the last three years, I have interviewed whale researchers, gone on expeditions with them, and have read countless scientific papers and quite a few books on whales. These books I’m recommending here were some of my favorites.
The Presence of Whales includes more than twenty different articles, essays, and excerpts about whales, including work from famous nature writers like Diane Ackerman and Farley Mowat, as well as seminal pieces from whale scientists Hal Whitehead and Roger Payne. Barry Lopez’s story about 36 sperm whales stranding on the Oregon coast alone is worth the price of this book—if you can find it. Here’s Lopez describing a sperm whale: “Imagine a forty-five-year-old male fifty feet long, a slim shiny black animal with a white jaw and marbled belly cutting the surface of green ocean water at twenty knots.”
Frank Stewart, an observer, writer, storyteller, and lover of whales gathers the most compelling contemporary essays on cetaceans in the first anthology to bring together many of the foremost marine scientists and nature writers, including Diane Ackerman, Barry Lopez, Farley Mowat, Faith McNulty, and Jonathan White.
The essays are organized in five sections that celebrates our ongoing fascination with these fragile giants.
Sharing the World of Giants
contains essays inspired by being in the presence of whales,
Songs from the Deep
concentrates on whale vocalizations,
Sightings of the Leviathan
are compelling accounts of personal observations of whale behavior,
I began as a journalist and turned into a novelist who uses extensive research to build my imagined stories. So, I tend to end up writing novels about whatever is fascinating enough to send me down research rabbit holes. I’m finishing a novel now about the wonders and mysteries of whales and the researchers who commit their lives to try to understand them. During the last three years, I have interviewed whale researchers, gone on expeditions with them, and have read countless scientific papers and quite a few books on whales. These books I’m recommending here were some of my favorites.
Kelsey’s book is a graceful mix of science and personal odyssey. She hangs out with whale scientists and asks smart questions. Her subjects are as much the scientists as the whales, including Chris Clark who studies the acoustics of whales and our increasingly noisy oceans. She takes us on her personal journey to the last page where she concludes that whales “inspire me to act more generously.”
Personal, anecdotal, and highly engaging, "Watching Giants" opens a window on a world that seems quite like our own, yet is so different that understanding it pushes the very limits of our senses. Elin Kelsey's colorful first-person account, drawing from her rich, often humorous, everyday experiences as a mother, a woman, and a scientist, takes us to the incredibly productive waters of the Gulf of California and beyond, to oceans around the world. Kelsey brings us along as she talks to leading cetacean researchers and marine ecologists about their intriguing discoveries. We encounter humpback whales that build nets from bubbles,…
Born in England but living now in America’s mountain west, I am sucker for landscapes that dance with unusual plants and animals. I have been a commercial fisherman, a tool librarian, and a back-country park ranger. These days, I’m an award-winning public philosopher and author. I have written books and articles about powerful emerging technologies. However, I realized a few years ago that wild animals are an antidote to the technological and commercial forces that can flatten our world. From art painted on cave walls millennia ago to the toys we still give to our children, animals are an important part of human identity. I celebrate this in my work.
How can you not already love these underwater giants? But I didn’t know much about them before reading Gigg’s love letter to our undersea cousins. They live by breathing air and giving birth like we do, but most of their lives takes place in a hidden, watery world.
The horror our species inflicted on whales during commercial whaling became more repulsive as Giggs uncovered the layers of whales’ complexity and sociality. I learned that arthritis sufferers in the nineteenth century would bathe in holes cut into whale carcasses for their curative powers. I also tried to imagine an animal with blood vessels big enough for a child to crawl through and a heartbeat that can be heard through the water for over a mile.
WINNER OF THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION
WINNER OF THE NIB LITERARY AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE FOR NONFICTION
HIGHLY COMMENDED IN THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR WRITING ON GLOBAL CONSERVATION
A SUNDAY INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR
'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. Once more, animals are a moral force.'
When Rebecca Giggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beach in Australia, she began to wonder how the lives of…
Who was the man who would become Caesar's lieutenant, Brutus' rival, Cleopatra's lover, and Octavian's enemy?
When his stepfather is executed for his involvement in the Catilinarian conspiracy, Mark Antony and his family are disgraced. His adolescence is marked by scandal and mischief, his love affairs are fleeting, and yet,…
Besides being an avid sketchbook keeper, author, and illustrator, I also collect weird and random facts. In my Everything Awesome book series, I love discovering cool facts to share with readers about some of my favorite topics, including sharks, space, and dinosaurs.
Yes, it’s another snail, but a different tale! (Or should it be tail?)
Easily already a children’s lit classic since it first came out in 2003, this book takes you on an oceanic journey with two very unlikely traveling companions to see the sights. There may be danger ahead, but friendship rules the day.
The Snail and the Whale is a delightful tale of adventure and friendship by the unparalleled picture book partnership of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, creators of The Gruffalo.
One little snail longs to see the world and hitches a lift on the tail of an enormous whale. Together they go on an amazing journey, past icebergs and volcanoes, sharks and penguins, and the little snail feels so small in the vastness of the world. But when disaster strikes and the whale is beached in a bay, it's the tiny snail's…
As a mother of 3 kids, I’ve always valued story time in our home. It’s a moment in the day to catch your breath and watch your child’s imagination begin to run wild and free. It’s a moment that I believe should be enjoyed by everyone involved. I have read thousands of kids' books over the years, and when I began to find books that I could enjoy just as much as my kids, it was like striking gold. It became my passion to find books and then, in turn, write books that brought the family together.
This was one of the first children’s books I read to my kid, and I enjoyed it just as much as he did. I love it when kids' books look quirky or whimsical with a simple message, and this book had all of that.
It also reminded me of being back in Ireland by the sea. And I loved the simple message of spending time with the people who mean the most to you.
The stunning bestseller by Benji Davies, winner of the inaugural Oscar's First Book Prize, now available in board format!
Noi and his father live in a house by the sea, his father works hard as a fisherman and Noi often has only their six cats for company. So when, one day, he finds a baby whale washed up on the beach after a storm, Noi is excited and takes it home to care for it. He tries to keep his new friend a secret, but there's only so long you can keep a whale in the bath without your dad…
Years of teaching Verbal First Aid™, hypnotic language for healing, only whet my curiosity for Non-Verbal First Aid. I love mysticism and magic, and I love science and evidence. When the two work together to illuminate profound understandings, I am such a fan. Just imagine this if you can: Dolphins’ visual and aural nerves connect so that when they send out sound beams of echolocation, it comes back as an ultra-sound-looking picture, which they can send to other dolphins! Magic and science are used by them for healing, as well. How could one NOT investigate further and be passionate about this subject?
The subhead of this wonderful book is Dolphins, Whales, and Human Destiny. It covers the extensive history of respect for dolphin wisdom from 30,000 years ago in Australia, through ancient Greece, to their seeming withdrawal from our awareness 1,000 years ago. Dolphins have reappeared now, when we need their wisdom most. Taylor writes of their being the other self-aware, intelligent life we have been searching the Universe for, and about “dolphin embassies,” where we can meet as equals, already begun at their behest.
Dolphins have long been attributed with intelligence, but do they have souls? Self-awareness? Compassion? Scott Taylor, Director of the Cetacean Studies Institute, investigates the history, mythology, and science surrounding these creatures and emerges with a resounding yes. And not only do whales and dolphins merit our attention and respect in their own right: they are an index to what our future as a species can be.
In this multi-faceted cetology compendium, Taylor surveys the portrayal of dolphins and whales in works of literature as disparate as Moby Dick and Sumerian legend, examines biologist John Lilly's research on interspecies communication, and…
In Svetlana's country, it’s a felony to break a mirror. Mirrors are conduits of the Voice, the deity worshiped by all who follow Light. The Voice protects humans of MotherLand from the dangers that beset them on all sides: an invading…
Besides being an avid sketchbook keeper, author, and illustrator, I also collect weird and random facts. In my Everything Awesome book series, I love discovering cool facts to share with readers about some of my favorite topics, including sharks, space, and dinosaurs.
I love how these best beach friends (that’s BBF to you!) think deeply about both friendship and the realities of being invisible. They also need to work together to figure out why the rain won’t stop falling on only the two of them! Can they figure it out?
Join Crab and Snail in the surf zone, where they think deep thoughts and have unforgettable seaside adventures, in this graphic early reader series debut by New York Times bestselling author Beth Ferry and beloved illustrator Jared Chapman.
The never-ending rain is putting a damper on Crab and Snail's plans for a sunny, funny day. So when the BBFs (Best Beach Friends) realize that it's only raining on them, they put their heads together and consult one know-it-all gull (he really does know it all!) to get to the bottom of it. By the time the rain clears, the duo…
I am the author of Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America. This book was sparked by a painting I own of a whaling scene. Gazing at that painting, I often wondered what it was like to go whaling. Having Moby-Dick in school, I already knew a fair amount about whaling. But the painting continued to stir my curiosity, and soon I discovered that there were libraries devoted to whaling, providing almost unlimited material for a historical narrative. This book, then, is my attempt to weave that material into a maritime tapestry that attempts to do justice to America’s rich whaling heritage.
This oversized book traces the long history of man’s tempestuous relationship with whales, and rather than focusing solely on American whaling, it covers whaling around the world. In addition to sections on Basque whaling going back more than a millennium, other parts of the book survey whaling in Australia, Japan, South Africa, Canada, Germany, Iceland, Norway, and the Caribbean, among many other locales. The book also discusses the anti-whaling movement in the twentieth century that ultimately led to the International Whaling Commission’s (not quite universal) moratorium on whaling, adopted in 1986. There are more than 300 images that beautifully complement the text and bring history to life.
Traces the complex history of humans and whales--from the aborigines to tenth-century Basques to eighteenth-century British and Dutch whalers to the Yankee sperm whale fishery and the whaling industry in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa
I’m the eldest of seven children and didn’t grow up with pets because frankly, it was chaotic enough with that many people in the house. And yet I always had a penchant for looking at an animal and imagining what it was thinking to itself. I assumed that every creature had an inner life that was as colorful and varied as my own. Animal fables were as plausible to me as stories about humans. Now I love writing books with talking animals, because once your furry or feathery protagonist opens their mouth and starts talking, anything goes!
Of coursefate could bring a whale and a mouse together, their bond of friendship lasting for the rest of their lives! In his matter-of-fact yet sparkling and stylish way, William Steig always made the fantastical seem unremarkable. I have given this book to at least five friends. Its quirky and gorgeous illustrations (by Steig, who was also a brilliant cartoonist) are as vital to the story as the words. Amos & Boris is just one of those books that does not condescend to young readers and is therefore as appealing to adults as children. I recommend it because Steig understood that kids can handle the deepest of deep life-and-death stories, and if those stories happen to feature animals, well...all the better!
Amos the mouse and Boris the whale are friends who have very little in common. Boris rescues Amos, who has set out to sail the seas - but might there be a time when Boris needs rescuing too?
An awardwinning fable and New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year from classic creator, William Steig.
Curiosity is certain she saw fairies at the bottom of the garden. Little does she know . . . they saw her first.
Emotionally abandoned by her mother and infatuated by a figurine of a fairy ballerina she discovers in an old toy shop, eight-year-old Curiosity Portland steals the figurine,…
Over my career as an elementary school teacher and a science educator I’ve seen time and time again that no matter the topic, learning happens best when people feel positive and engaged. My favorite books to share with young readers are those that capture their attention–be it with stunning illustrations, unusual information, or hilarious situations–and leave them with a strong emotional connection to the characters or story. Now, as I read oodles of picture books for writing research, I keep an extra special eye out for those that leave me smiling and also make me think. Some of my very favorites are collected for you here.
The Whole Whale is a counting book, a delightful, read-aloud rhyming book, and, at its core, it’s a book about making space for everyone, even when it might seem easier to say, “Sorry, there’s no room for you.” The other 99 animals in the book don’t hesitate to make way for their biggest friend by pushing and shoving until… voilà… they arrive at a special surprise—adouble fold-out page big enough to fit all 100 different animals (Seriously! 100!). Talk about a page you and your little one can pore over again and again and find something new every time!
One hundred unusual animals try to squeeze into the pages of this raucous rhyming tale. But will there be room to fit a whole blue whale? The humorous ending features an expansive double gatefold and educational endnotes list the 100 animals in the book.
