captaincocanutty's review against another edition
5.0
Super interesting and informative book about the Great Lakes!
brettpet's review against another edition
4.0
Fantastic nonfiction book detailing the environmental factors impacting the Great Lakes. This is my old man book for the year and I loved it for that—the material never felt slow or tedious despite the length. The most interesting chapter for me was definitely the quagga and zebra mussel one, detailing the frantic race to limit their spread into reservoirs around the US. Much like with the Asian carp chapter, Dan Egan does a great job detailing the Sisyphus-like challenge of preventing the spread of invasive species. Humanity has unexpectedly wreaked havoc on the region's ecological balance since the opening of the lakes to international trade in 1959, and this book provides a comprehensive guide to that. I definitely recommend the audiobook narrated by Jason Culp, as it helped me maintain a good pace with the material.
weasel8109's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful recent history of Great Lakes ecology and threats. Included many interesting historical characters and facts.
kermitology's review against another edition
4.0
Very well written. I grew up spending my summers on West Ipperwash Beach on Lake Huron. I never understood the impact that Zebra mussels had on the ecosystem, or really the ecosystem at all of the Great Lakes basin. This is a cautionary tale that imparts how important it is to take care of our water sources. This is a must read for anyone living on those waters.
sarahd3's review against another edition
5.0
I've taken some days after finishing to marinate on this book. Some parts were extremely fascinating and others were insane at what we have done to "fix" the great lakes. There were times when I could not put this book down, it read like a thriller. It was also very knowledgeable, I found myself looking up fish and maps just to follow along with what I was reading. This book is all one could want from a nonfiction book on a subject I had no idea I cared about until I read the book. A must read for everyone who has every been to the great lakes or wanted to go.
nanikeeva's review against another edition
5.0
excellent reporting and detail - interesting sense of mourning for the inevitability of destruction of ecosystems