iszys's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

2.75

I really enjoyed the parts that were about eel biology and the history of studying eels. Unfortunately, about half the book was an autobiographical account of eel fishing. There's also an odd tangent about faith. It's sad to be reminded that many humans are only interested in nature so they can dominate it. Give me a book about a non-cuddly animal that isn't mostly about killing and eating them please!

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rayreyes's review against another edition

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challenging sad slow-paced

0.5

I thought this book would be like Gerald Durell’s book My Family and Other Animals. Oh boy was I under the wrong impression. This book is not for me. Including my journal entry impressions.

19% 
Absolutely disgusting. The discussion of Freud being a fucking skeez and all the killing of eels feels like violence. It’s gutting to hear of all the killing of thousands eels to learn NOTHING for decades. Absolutely sickening. Freud sounds like a damn dangerous creep and this book speaking with esteem for him in conjunction with the endless descriptions of eels writhing in pain under knives is deeply unsettling. 
 
34% 
The book goes on and on to describe everything miraculous and stunning about eels and then goes on to describe all the ways they’re destroyed by people wanting to behold them. This alongside the discussion of freud’s volatile love of a TWELVE year old and his belligerence against women he couldn’t have highlights the dangers of being in a world where men believe that to behold beauty means they’re entitled to conquer, behold, and destroy it until satiated. It’s appalling to wade through these casual descriptions of violence. I feel confident that the same type of person who enjoyed Catcher in the Rye would enjoy this book. 
 
37% 
This book is about the unrelenting hunger of colonial consumption, not eels. 
 
Stopped at 52%

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sunburntghost's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

5.0


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isabella_reads's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.5


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marionlundqvist's review

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informative lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.0


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and_opossum's review against another edition

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funny informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.0


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mscalls's review against another edition

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emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.75


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saphirabloom's review against another edition

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informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

5.0


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carracarmenchu's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective relaxing slow-paced

4.75

It is uncanny how Patrik Svensson gets to connect part of his biography with the history of the eel in a beautiful writing that is informative and personal alike. It is as all his life would have led him to write this book. He only had to follow traces of memory and human history. It is startling how such an ancient creature intertwines generations of curious souls like Aristotle, Freud, and Rachel Carson to reveal a common thread: the human passion for unraveling the mysteries of the natural world:

This is what the eel can teach us, Tom Crick argues. It tells us something about the curiosity of humankind, about our unquenchable need to seek the truth and understand where everything comes from and what it means. But also about our need for mystery.

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mar's review against another edition

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informative

3.5

huh.

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