A review by foggy_rosamund
Fathoms: the world in the whale by Rebecca Giggs

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.