Whale Song

Description

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. The sapiens of the sea, whales are the other intelligent, social, and loquacious animal. But they seem to swim away the more people chase after them in an effort to communicate and connect. Why does the meaning of their mesmerizing songs continue to elude us? In times of unprecedented environmental and social loss, Whale Song ponders the problems facing ocean ecosystems and offers lessons from those depths for human social life and intimacy. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

Margret Grebowicz is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Goucher College, USA. She is the author of The National Park to Come (2015), Why Internet Porn Matters (2013), and Beyond the Cyborg (2013, with Helen Merrick).

Enchanting ... Beautifully written and often deeply moving, Whale Song is more than a fascinating examination of ocean life - it's a balm for the soul ... This slim but enthralling work of nonfiction explores what whale song has meant to humans since our first recording of it. * Shelf Awareness * Writing with the clarity and precision of a dolphin's clicks, Grebowicz covers the history of the sometimes-futile attempts by humans to communicate with whales, dolphins, and other ocean dwellers. Humans could learn much from the dispassionate language of these creatures, whose sonar and other forms of long-range sonic communication is, by necessity, without deceit. * Alvin Lucier, Composer * Whale Song is just the music of the earth we need now. Margret Grebowicz is listening to our Terran cousins in the rising storm. * Donna Haraway, author of Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene *