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Fathoms

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Fathoms

By: Rebecca Giggs
Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio
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About this listen

There is a kind of hauntedness in wild animals today: a spectre related to environmental change.... Our fear is that the unseen spirits that move in them are ours. Once more, animals are a moral force.

When Rebecca Giggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beach in Australia, she began to wonder how the lives of whales might shed light on the condition of our seas. How do whales experience environmental change? Has our connection to these fabled animals been transformed by technology? What future awaits us, and them? And what does it mean to write about nature in the midst of an ecological crisis?

In Fathoms, Giggs blends natural history, philosophy and science to explore these questions with clarity and hope. In lively, inventive prose, she introduces us to whales so rare they have never been named; she tells us of the astonishing variety found in whale sounds and of whale ‘pop’ songs that sweep across hemispheres. She takes us into the deeps to discover that one whale’s death can spark a great flourishing of creatures. We travel to Japan to board whaling ships, examine the uncanny charisma of these magnificent mammals and confront the plastic pollution now pervading their underwater environment.

In the spirit of Rachel Carson and John Berger, Fathoms is a work of profound insight and wonder. It marks the arrival of an essential new voice in narrative nonfiction and provides us with a powerful, surprising and compelling view of some of the most urgent issues of our time.

©2020 Rebecca Giggs (P)2022 W F Howes
Adventure Travel Animals Ecosystems & Habitats Environment Conservation Adventure Ecosystem

Critic Reviews

"‘I can’t think of many books in which love for the world and uncompromising, ever-deepening rigour come together in this way. Time slows down. This book makes a permanent dent in the reader." (Maria Tumarkin)

"Fathoms took my breath away. Humanity’s relationship with nature has never been more important or vulnerable, and we are truly fortunate that at such a pivotal moment, a writer of Rebecca Giggs’s calibre is here to capture every beautiful detail, every aching nuance. She is in a league of her own." (Ed Yong, author of I Contain Multitudes)

"Fathoms is a marvel: a glorious, prismatic, deeply affecting hymn to the beauty, majesty and extremity of whales and the human imagining of them." (James Bradley)

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The world within the whale

Absolutely brilliant read. Not just your average whale centric nonfiction, but a poetic reflection on whales and the how we can view our history, possessive present, and potential futures in the lives and bodies of these remarkable creatures.

Narration was excellent, soft and soothing, which guided the reader easily through the deep questions and rich abundance of facts.

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Interesting book let down by sloppy narration

Australian accent native here - Narrator repeatedly butchers Australian place names, to the point where I had to keep rewinding the audio to figure out the word. I found this sloppy and downright rude. I ended up returning the title because I became so fed up. Also, IF that was meant to be narrated in an Australian accent, it absolutely wasn't. It was bearable but not enjoyable.
The book itself seems quite interesting. I might get a written copy.

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.