The Breath of a Whale: The Science and Spirit of Pacific Ocean Giants

by Leigh Calvez Narrated by Karen White

Overview

From the author of The Hidden Lives of Owls, an exploration of the elusive lives of whales in the Pacific Ocean, home to orcas, humpbacks, sperm, blue, and gray whales.



Leigh Calvez has spent a dozen years researching, observing, and probing the lives of the giants of the deep. Here, she relates the stories of nature's most remarkable creatures, including the familial orcas in the waters of Washington State and British Columbia; the migratory humpbacks; and the ancient, deep-diving blue whales, the largest animals on the planet. The lives of these whales are conveyed through the work of dedicated researchers who have spent decades tracking them along their secretive routes that extend for thousands of miles, gleaning their habits and sounds and distinguishing peculiarities. The author invites the listener onto a small research catamaran maneuvering among 100-foot-long blue whales off the coast of California; or to join the task of monitoring patterns of humpback whale movements at the ocean surface: tail throw, flipper slap, fluke up, or blow. To experience whales is breathtaking. To understand their lives deepens our connection with the natural world.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

04/08/2019

These intimate but sometimes off-putting musings from naturalist Calvez (The Hidden Lives of Owls) on her cetacean experiences over two decades wander too heavily into her personal frustrations and problems. Although the ethological information she shares is detailed and well-presented, reflecting her background as a researcher for the Ocean Mammal Institute, she is explicit about now identifying as a writer and not a scientist after becoming disillusioned with the government’s lack of response to her studies of the disruptive effect on whale populations of the U.S. Navy’s use of low-frequency sonar. Nevertheless, her credulous mentions of other people’s theories that whales communicate across “unseen morphic fields, like invisible magnetic or gravitational fields,” and that dolphins are from other star systems, and her own theory about speaking to whales from inside her mind, will strike rational-minded readers as deeply questionable. Detailed accounts of her involvement in tagging expeditions express the immediacy of the experience of respectfully following the whales, but are marred by bland reconstructed dialogue between Calvez and her human colleagues. This memoir of mammalian encounters skirts a space between activist inspiration and spiritual memoir, and misses both marks. (Feb.)

From the Publisher

"The Breath of a Whale is as intimate and spirited as its title. This splendid book offers us the whale watch most of us can only dream of: We get close-up and personal with wild giants, in the company of an expert who feels like a good friend. Because these whales' individual dramas are so entwined with those of their observer, the insights in these pages are riveting and deeply inspiring. Leigh Calvez offers not only hope for saving these endangered leviathans, but also for saving ourselves." 
—Sy Montgomery, author of Journey of the Pink Dolphins and The Soul of an Octopus

"Calvez's semi-autobiographical account of several close encounters with whales and dolphins, as well as with the researchers who dedicate their lives to the study of marine mammals, is unabashed in calling for the conservation of whales and protection of their environment. It does so with personality, sensitivity, and clear love for cetaceans."
—ForeWord Reviews

"Leigh Calvez writes well-researched, thoroughly beautiful books that illuminate the lives of animals without stripping them of their essential mystery [...] With The Breath of a Whale, she's going back to her roots as an aquatic ecotour guide, which explains why the book reads like the literary accompaniment to a very excellent whale-watching excursion."
—The Stranger

"Some of the most striking sections in [The Breath of a Whale] stem from Calvez's remarkable ability to humanize scientific research itself...Though she does a good job explaining the nuts and bolts of cetacean research, equally interesting are the scenes where Calvez shows the connection between whale and human emotions...the book’s main success is connecting Calvez's audience to a magnificent creature that so many of us rarely, if ever, see."
—Massive Science

"Researchers can spend years finding and studying whales, orcas, and dolphins in the open ocean. The Breath of a Whale, a new book from naturalist Leigh Calvez, tells the story of these magnificent mammals and the challenges they face from human impacts, including climate change."
—Oregon Public Broadcasting

MARCH 2019 - AudioFile

This book was written more for the eye than the ear, which makes its transition to audio difficult. The author offers up fascinating facts about whales, dolphins, and porpoises, such as how some dolphins can shut down half their brains at will. Long sentences with complex structures can be a challenge to follow. Narrator Karen White helps with an easy-on-the-ears narration. She handles scientific terms nicely, slowing down so listeners can digest them. But when the author piles multiple scientific names for species into a single series, the effect is numbing. White effectively captures the palpable excitement of whale-spotting expeditions, but these episodes can’t overcome the work’s other shortcomings. Listeners may prefer the author’s previous book, THE HIDDEN LIVES OF OWLS. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171303297
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	02/26/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged

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