condensed discuss document expanded export feedback print share remove reset document_white enquire_white export_white report_white
discuss document export feedback print share gallery-landscape xml

Fathoms : the world in the whale

documentary heritage
  • Description

    "When Rebecca Giggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beach in Australia, she began to wonder how the lives of whales might shed light on the condition of our seas.

    How do whales experience environmental change? Has our connection to these fabled animals been transformed by technology? What future awaits us, and them? And what does it mean to write about nature in the midst of an ecological crisis? In Fathoms, the world in the whale, Giggs blends natural history, philosophy, and science to explore these questions with clarity and hope. In lively, inventive prose, she introduces us to whales so rare they have never been named; she tells us of the astonishing variety found in whale sounds, and of whale 'pop' songs that sweep across hemispheres. She takes us into the deeps to discover that one whale's death can spark a great flourishing of creatures. We travel to Japan to board whaling ships, examine the uncanny charisma of these magnificent mammals, and confront the plastic pollution now pervading their underwater environment. In the spirit of Rachel Carson and John Berger, Fathoms is a work of profound insight and wonder that marks the arrival of an essential new voice in narrative nonfiction, and provides us with a powerful, surprising, and compelling view of some of the most urgent issues of our time."--Publisher's website.

  • Place
  • Other Id

    QL795.W5 GIG (Library of Congress Call Number)

    91867 (Cat ID)

    91670 (Presto content ID)

  • Department

Images and documents

Catalogue

  • Object Type
  • Name/Title
    Fathoms : the world in the whale
  • Primary Maker
  • Contributor/Publisher
    Scribe Publications
  • Place
  • Date
    2020
  • Physical Description

    358 pages ; 24 cm

  • ISBN/ISSN
    9781925321388
    192532138X
  • Language
    English
  • Level of Current Record
    Bib record
  • Member Object

    1 item in this collection. View all items.

  • Subject Category
  • Content
    Prologue: Whalefall -- petroglyph -- the oooo-ers -- blue museum -- charisma -- sounding -- sea pie -- kitsch interior -- scantling -- epilogue: deep end.
  • Public Access Text

    [Keywords: Whales--Behaviour; Whales--Australia]

    Includes bibliographical references.

  • Subject Notes
    Rebecca Giggs is a writer from Perth, Western Australia. Her work has been widely published, including in Best Australian Essays, Best Australian Science Writing, Best Australian Stories, Granta, Aeon, The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, and Griffith Review. Rebecca?s nonfiction focuses on how people feel about, and feel for, animals in a time of technological change and ecological crisis.
  • Collection Type
    Reading Room
  • Copyright
    All rights reserved
  • Last Update
    19 Dec 2023
The development of the Auckland War Memorial Museum online collection is an ongoing process; updates, new images and records are added weekly. In some cases, records have yet to be confirmed by Museum staff, and there could be mistakes or omissions in the information provided.

The gift of curiosity

With unlimited free entry to all paid exhibitions, discounted event tickets and exclusive Member-only events, a Museum Membership is the gift that keeps on giving year-round.

SEE OPTIONS FROM $60

The gift of curiosity