Reviews
Le regine dell'abisso. Come la vita delle balene ci svela il nostro posto nel mondo by Rebecca Giggs
emsemsems's review against another edition
4.0
Perfect pre-bed / in-bed reading - to lull one to sleep with a head full of tiny speckles of whale 'facts' &/ historical stories. I love whales, but I love orcas/killer whales best - and in my personal opinion - they weren't written about enough in the book hence a 4-star rating. I also would have enjoyed it a bit more if the narrative tone was a little less 'dramatic'. A little too generous with hyperbolic language. Otherwise, a rather dreamy reading experience.
sjadeb's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
5.0
We depend on whales: they capture around 40% of the CO2 in the atmosphere, releasing it as poo which is then consumed by plankton. The removal of whales from the Earth's oceans contributes to global warming: in the last 100 years, whale populations declined somewhere between 60 and 90%, and the loss of these whales has a huge impact on our oceans and atmosphere. The "Save the Whale" campaign of the 1980s is seen as a success, and it is true that commercial whaling has been greatly reduced. However, whales are long-lived species, and their populations cannot easily bounce back. As well as that, our oceans are becoming more and more hostile to whales, due to plastic waste and to noise pollution. As Giggs says, the apocalypse has already come for whales: the remains of their population live in an environment of constant, painful noise, due to shipping and seismic surveying, where the water becomes more and more acid, and their blubber fills with toxins. Fathoms is a moving and meticulously researched book, but its content can make it painful reading: we are faced with deeply uncomfortable and painful truths about our environment and how our actions have led to so much loss. Giggs also writes beautifully about the different whale species, the ways in which whales can be said to have culture and language, and how such huge bodies perceive the world around them. She writes with great compassion about whales, and even when she discusses the horrors of commercial whaling she is even-handed and meticulous. This has been described as the best book about whales since Moby-Dick, and it's certainly the best modern book I've ever read about the whale: a thought-provoking and moving work that captured my imagination. Vital reading.
kcjulia's review against another edition
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Unusually poetic for nonfiction.
louisadassow's review against another edition
3.0
Potentially one of my most annoying audiobook experiences. Whales are my favourite, history, biological facts and mythology all blended into a creative exploration aimed towards furthering protection and conservation sounds exactly like it might be my favourite book.
Perhaps it was a personal distaste for the narrator, but I struggled hard to finish this book. I found passages aggravatingly self-absorbed and irrelevant but others illuminating and informed. Would recommend on the basis of cool whale facts and perspectives but it was in places very irksome.
Perhaps it was a personal distaste for the narrator, but I struggled hard to finish this book. I found passages aggravatingly self-absorbed and irrelevant but others illuminating and informed. Would recommend on the basis of cool whale facts and perspectives but it was in places very irksome.
alaramie's review against another edition
4.0
It was a bit all over the place in a few chapters but a solid marine science read
andreaedman72's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
I am not usually a fan of non-fiction but this book was incredible. Not only did I learn so much about Whales but Giggs is able to expand the discussion beyond just the anatomy and environment of whales and apply it to a broader sense of human understanding.