Book Reviews

By William Rossiter

Thousand Mile Song, Whale Music In a Sea of Sound, by David Rothenberg, won't be available until March, but it's got to be an outstanding choice for anyone moved by the sounds and songs of whales. David spent many months researching whale songs, helped by many prominent researchers who brought him along to listen, as well as his own musical talents as a composer and jazz clarinetist and his magnificent warm-up to whales: Why Birds Sing, which has been published in six languages and turned into a TV documentary by the BBC. His new book includes a CD of David's attempts to make interspecies music, as he plays his clarinet with whales in Russia, Canada and Hawaii. Expect to get a stimulating and entertaining mix of science, music, and philosophy, and a richer and more meaningful listening experience.

One Dolphin's Story, The Life and Times of an Eastern Tropical Pacific Spinner Dolphin, is authored by Stanley Minasian, a name so familiar to whale advocates that you just know the book will be excellent, and it is. Readers will be taken along from the birth of a female dolphin, through a fast-paced, lyrical narrative that follows her life, while combining exciting drama with the newest scientific information. Along the way Minasian mixes in some of the yet-to-be proven yet obvious perceptions of a highly social dolphin whose experiences are so different from ours. Beyond being out there among the dolphins for a short while, the greatest value from this book is that you will know what these dolphins go through to live, and be moved to help them.