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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
I started this book actually MONTHS ago and put it down because I quite literally could not stop dreaming about eels. After a psychic break from whatever THAT’S about, I felt ready to return and learn more about eels, which I can honestly say I had almost never thought of before reading this book. It’s a genuinely touching memoir at times, mixed with an engaging delivery of an old, fascinating, and ongoing story of scientific progress. Inconclusive, collaborative, full of logistical and sometimes societal hurdles. I had fun reading this book :)
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Much like the eel, I love to mind my business, isolate myself, and leave scientists wondering how I have sex
Factual information about eels is interspersed with the author's memories of eel fishing with his father. It is a very readable and relatable book. Notable figures like Aristotle, Pliny the Elder, Freud, and Rachel Carson all contributed to scientific knowledge of the eel.
My own fascination with the eel began with a project I completed for the Western Reserve Historical Society. I researched recipes that people who traveled the Ohio and Erie Canal prepared. One of those recipes involved eel. I knew that eel was a common ingredient in Europe and supposed that if there were eels in Lake Erie, immigrants would know how to fish for and prepare them. It turns out that the digging of another canal, the Welland Canal in 1829, connected Lake Ontario to Lake Erie and brought eels into Lake Erie and from there down the Ohio and Erie Canal. The Ohio Fish Commission also release elvers into Ohio waterways from 1882-1892.
My own fascination with the eel began with a project I completed for the Western Reserve Historical Society. I researched recipes that people who traveled the Ohio and Erie Canal prepared. One of those recipes involved eel. I knew that eel was a common ingredient in Europe and supposed that if there were eels in Lake Erie, immigrants would know how to fish for and prepare them. It turns out that the digging of another canal, the Welland Canal in 1829, connected Lake Ontario to Lake Erie and brought eels into Lake Erie and from there down the Ohio and Erie Canal. The Ohio Fish Commission also release elvers into Ohio waterways from 1882-1892.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
This is the book of life as seen through eels. It was a joy to read, full of interesting facts and trivia.
This is also the book of life as seen through a father and son relationship, which in the end made this book possible.
This is also the book of life as seen through a father and son relationship, which in the end made this book possible.