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nssutton 's review for:
Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks
by Juliet Eilperin
I'm a total armchair marine biologist. I will eat up book after book about any aquatic creature. But this in particular caught my attention, because, well, SHARKS!
I had a lot of trouble with sticking with it, though. Part of the problem is being in a library every day, surrounded by lots of books I haven't read, that I would be allowed to just take home. As if I didn't have any other books to read. Part of it is just the writing and pacing -- it's no The Secret Life of Lobsters, that's for sure. But I'm glad I kept at it because man, did I learn a lot.
Like, please get me started about shark mating because I could go for hours. Specifically on how some female sharks actually get pregnant by several male sharks, but then their offspring duke it out in the womb, until one male's offspring eats all of the other males' offspring. IN THE WOMB.
My notes actually read "shark babies are monsters."
And I didn't know that Jaws was based on actual events that happened in New Jersey. Or that you shouldn't wear black or blue swimwear, because that makes you look like a seal pup. Or that you definitely shouldn't swim near dogs, whose paddling can easily be mistaken for a floundering fish. Or how hard it is to determine the particular type of shark you've caught through one means or another -- DNA testing or X-rays are usually used. And shark fin soup is total bullshit currently being used to emphasis the growing middle class in China. It doesn't add any nutritional value or taste to the soup and causes the price of fins to soar but then like fishermen just throw the rest of the carcass into the sea which is a total waste.
Seriously guys. I can go on for hours.
I don't think this book is instantly going to change our perception of sharks overnight, although it does point out that faulty toasters often cause more deaths per year than shark attack. But the bottom line is that we don't know fuck all about sharks, so if we keep killing them, not only is it terrible for the environment but we'll never get to answer all of those questions we have. And I have like, so many. Plus, I've totally added cage diving with great white sharks to my Mighty List.
I had a lot of trouble with sticking with it, though. Part of the problem is being in a library every day, surrounded by lots of books I haven't read, that I would be allowed to just take home. As if I didn't have any other books to read. Part of it is just the writing and pacing -- it's no The Secret Life of Lobsters, that's for sure. But I'm glad I kept at it because man, did I learn a lot.
Like, please get me started about shark mating because I could go for hours. Specifically on how some female sharks actually get pregnant by several male sharks, but then their offspring duke it out in the womb, until one male's offspring eats all of the other males' offspring. IN THE WOMB.
My notes actually read "shark babies are monsters."
And I didn't know that Jaws was based on actual events that happened in New Jersey. Or that you shouldn't wear black or blue swimwear, because that makes you look like a seal pup. Or that you definitely shouldn't swim near dogs, whose paddling can easily be mistaken for a floundering fish. Or how hard it is to determine the particular type of shark you've caught through one means or another -- DNA testing or X-rays are usually used. And shark fin soup is total bullshit currently being used to emphasis the growing middle class in China. It doesn't add any nutritional value or taste to the soup and causes the price of fins to soar but then like fishermen just throw the rest of the carcass into the sea which is a total waste.
Seriously guys. I can go on for hours.
I don't think this book is instantly going to change our perception of sharks overnight, although it does point out that faulty toasters often cause more deaths per year than shark attack. But the bottom line is that we don't know fuck all about sharks, so if we keep killing them, not only is it terrible for the environment but we'll never get to answer all of those questions we have. And I have like, so many. Plus, I've totally added cage diving with great white sharks to my Mighty List.