Download or read book Whale Talk written by Chris Crutcher and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-09-22 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A truly exceptional book.”—Washington Post There's bad news and good news about the Cutter High School swim team. The bad news is that they don't have a pool. The good news is that only one of them can swim anyway. Bestselling author Chris Crutcher’s controversial and acclaimed novel follows a group of outcasts as they take on inequality and injustice in their high school. "Crutcher's superior gifts as a storyteller and his background as a working therapist combine to make magic in Whale Talk. The thread of truth in his fiction reminds us that heroes can come in any shape, color, ability or size, and friendship can bridge nearly any divide.”—Washington Post T.J. Jones hates the blatant preferential treatment jocks receive at his high school, and the reverence paid to the varsity lettermen. When he sees a member of the wrestling team threatening an underclassman, T.J. decides he’s had enough. He recruits some of the biggest misfits at Cutter High to form a swim team. They may not have very much talent, but the All-Night Mermen prove to be way more than T.J. anticipated. As the unlikely athletes move closer to their goal, these new friends might learn that the journey is worth more than the reward. For fans of Andrew Smith and Marieke Nijkamp. "Crutcher offers an unusual yet resonant mixture of black comedy and tragedy that lays bare the superficiality of the high-school scene. The book's shocking climax will force readers to re-examine their own values and may cause them to alter their perception of individuals pegged as 'losers.'"—Publishers Weekly An American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age Features a new afterword by Chris Crutcher

Download or read book How to Speak Whale written by Tom Mustill and published by . This book was released on 2023-09-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if animals and humans could speak to one another? Tom Mustill--the nature documentarian who went viral when a thirty‑ton humpback whale breached onto his kayak--asks this question in his thrilling investigation into whale science and animal communication. "When a whale is in the water, it is like an iceberg: you only see a fraction of it and have no conception of its size." On September 12, 2015, Tom Mustill was paddling in a two-person kayak with a friend just off the coast of California. It was cold, but idyllic--until a humpback whale breached, landing on top of them, releasing the energy equivalent of forty hand grenades. He was certain he was about to die, but they both survived, miraculously unscathed. In the interviews that followed the incident, Mustill was left with one question: What could this astonishing encounter teach us? Drawing from his experience as a naturalist and wildlife filmmaker, Mustill started investigating human-whale interactions around the world when he met two tech entrepreneurs who wanted to use artificial intelligence (AI)--originally designed to translate human languages--to discover patterns in the conversations of animals and decode them. As he embarked on a journey into animal eavesdropping technologies, where big data meets big beasts, Mustill discovered that there is a revolution taking place in biology, as the technologies developed to explore our own languages are turned to nature. From seventeenth-century Dutch inventors, to the whaling industry of the nineteenth century, to the cutting edge of Silicon Valley, How to Speak Whale examines how scientists and start-ups around the world are decoding animal communications. Whales, with their giant mammalian brains, virtuoso voices, and long, highly social lives, offer one of the most realistic opportunities for this to happen. But what would the consequences of such human animal interaction be? We're about to find out. Includes a Reading Group Guide.

Download or read book Song for a Whale written by Lynne Kelly and published by Delacorte Press. This book was released on 2019-02-05 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The award-winning and USA Today bestselling story of a deaf girl's connection to a whale whose song can't be heard by his species, and the journey she takes to help him. "Fascinating, brave, and tender...a triumph." --Katherine Applegate, Newbery Award-winning author of The One and Only Ivan From fixing the class computer to repairing old radios, twelve-year-old Iris is a tech genius. But she's the only deaf person in her school, so people often treat her like she's not very smart. If you've ever felt like no one was listening to you, then you know how hard that can be. When she learns about Blue 55, a real whale who is unable to speak to other whales, Iris understands how he must feel. Then she has an idea: she should invent a way to "sing" to him! But he's three thousand miles away. How will she play her song for him? Full of heart and poignancy, this affecting story by sign language interpreter Lynne Kelly shows how a little determination can make big waves. And make sure to read Lynne Kelly's next book and instant classic, The Secret Language of Birds!

Download or read book Fathoms written by Rebecca Giggs and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-07-28 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Finalist for the 2020 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction * Finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award A “delving, haunted, and poetic debut” (The New York Times Book Review) about the awe-inspiring lives of whales, revealing what they can teach us about ourselves, our planet, and our relationship with other species. When writer Rebecca Giggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beachfront in Australia, she began to wonder how the lives of whales reflect the condition of our oceans. Fathoms: The World in the Whale is “a work of bright and careful genius” (Robert Moor, New York Times bestselling author of On Trails), one that blends natural history, philosophy, and science to explore: How do whales experience ecological change? How has whale culture been both understood and changed by human technology? What can observing whales teach us about the complexity, splendor, and fragility of life on earth? In Fathoms, we learn about whales so rare they have never been named, whale songs that sweep across hemispheres in annual waves of popularity, and whales that have modified the chemical composition of our planet’s atmosphere. We travel to Japan to board the ships that hunt whales and delve into the deepest seas to discover how plastic pollution pervades our earth’s undersea environment. With the immediacy of Rachel Carson and the lush prose of Annie Dillard, Giggs gives us a “masterly” (The New Yorker) exploration of the natural world even as she addresses what it means to write about nature at a time of environmental crisis. With depth and clarity, she outlines the challenges we face as we attempt to understand the perspectives of other living beings, and our own place on an evolving planet. Evocative and inspiring, Fathoms “immediately earns its place in the pantheon of classics of the new golden age of environmental writing” (Literary Hub).

Download or read book We Are All Whalers written by Michael J. Moore and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2021-11-12 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Marine scientist Michael J. Moore says we are all whalers, but we don't have to be. Eating fish leads to North Atlantic right whales' entanglement and death. Buying goods made around the world requires global shipping routes, which do not accurately consider right whale breeding and feeding sites, leading to collision. To explain this, Moore conveys to readers scenes from over thirty years' worth of fieldwork, performing whale necropsies for animals stranded on beaches, working as an independent researcher alongside whalers using explosive harpoons, and tracking injured pregnant whales to deliver antibiotics. Despite these sometimes disturbing experiences, Moore has written a hopeful book. He uses these stories to show we can change and to tell us how; the technology for rope-less fishing and tracking whale migrations already exist to protect both right whales and the people who depend on shipping and fishing for their livelihoods"--

Download or read book The Whale written by Ethan Murrow and published by Candlewick Press. This book was released on 2016-04-12 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The legend of the Great Spotted Whale has never been proven until two whale watchers set out on a journey fifty years later to find the mythical animal. When they finally see it, they discover another surprise even bigger than they imagined.

Download or read book Becoming Wild written by Carl Safina and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2020 "In this superbly articulate cri de coeur, Safina gives us a new way of looking at the natural world that is radically different."—The Washington Post New York Times bestselling author Carl Safina brings readers close to three non-human cultures—what they do, why they do it, and how life is for them. A New York Times Notable Books of 2020 Some believe that culture is strictly a human phenomenon. But this book reveals cultures of other-than-human beings in some of Earth’s remaining wild places. It shows how if you’re a sperm whale, a scarlet macaw, or a chimpanzee, you too come to understand yourself as an individual within a particular community that does things in specific ways, that has traditions. Alongside genes, culture is a second form of inheritance, passed through generations as pools of learned knowledge. As situations change, social learning—culture—allows behaviors to adjust much faster than genes can adapt. Becoming Wild brings readers into intimate proximity with various nonhuman individuals in their free-living communities. It presents a revelatory account of how animals function beyond our usual view. Safina shows that for non-humans and humans alike, culture comprises the answers to the question, “How do we live here?” It unites individuals within a group identity. But cultural groups often seek to avoid, or even be hostile toward, other factions. By showing that this is true across species, Safina illuminates why human cultural tensions remain maddeningly intractable despite the arbitrariness of many of our differences. Becoming Wild takes readers behind the curtain of life on Earth, to witness from a new vantage point the most world-saving of perceptions: how we are all connected.

Download or read book Whale Done written by Kenneth Blanchard and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2003-02-03 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compendium of straightforward techniques on how to accentuate the positive and redirect the negative, increasing productivity at work and at home. What do your people at work and your spouse and kids at home have in common with a five-ton killer whale? Probably a whole lot more than you think, according to top business consultant and mega-bestselling author Ken Blanchard and his coauthors from SeaWorld. In this moving and inspirational new book, Blanchard explains that both whales and people perform better when you accentuate the positive. He shows how using the techniques of animal trainers -- specifically those responsible for the killer whales of SeaWorld -- can supercharge your effectiveness at work and at home. When gruff business manager and family man Wes Kingsley visited SeaWorld, he marveled at the ability of the trainers to get these huge killer whales, among the most feared predators in the ocean, to perform amazing acrobatic leaps and dives. Later, talking to the chief trainer, he learned their techniques of building trust, accentuating the positive, and redirecting negative behavior -- all of which make these extraordinary performances possible. Kingsley took a hard look at his own often accusatory management style and recognized how some of his shortcomings as a manager, spouse, and father actually diminish trust and damage relationships. He began to see the difference between "GOTcha" (catching people doing things wrong) and "Whale Done!" (catching people doing things right). In Whale Done!, Ken Blanchard shows how to make accentuating the positive and redirecting the negative the best tools to increase productivity, instead of creating situations that demoralize people. These techniques are remarkably easy to master and can be applied equally well at home, allowing readers to become better parents and more committed spouses in their happier and more successful personal lives.

Download or read book The Man who Talks to Whales written by Jim Nollman and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jim Nollman is an internationally known musician and ecologist who doesn't hesitate to get up-close and personal with a pod of gray whales, a herd of buffaloes, and a school of dolphins in his quest to communicate directly with these creatures. His writing conveys his joy and sense of brotherhood in these encounters. 'The Man Who Talks to Whales' opens us up to the idea that animals can educate us and contribute to the growth and development of our own species.

Download or read book Leapholes written by James Grippando and published by American Bar Association. This book was released on 2006 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Middle school student Ryan Coolidge finds himself in trouble with the law and turns to a mysterious and magical old lawyer named Hezekiah, who uses leapholes to travel through time and law history in search of an answer to Ryan's legal troubles.

Download or read book A Boat a Whale a Walrus written by Renee Erickson and published by Sasquatch Books. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Simple but elegant seafood recipes from acclaimed James Beard nominated chef and beloved Seattle restaurateur Renee Erickson One of the country's most acclaimed chefs, Renee Erickson is a James Beard nominated chef and the owner of several Seattle restaurants: The Whale Wins, Boat Street Café, The Walrus and the Carpenter, and Barnacle. This luscious cookbook is perfect for anyone who loves the fresh seasonal food of the Pacific Northwest. Defined by the bounty of the Puget Sound region, as well as by French cuisine, this cookbook is filled with seasonal, personal menus like Renee’s Fourth of July Crab Feast, Wild Foods Dinner, and a fall pickling party. Home cooks will cherish Erickson’s simple yet elegant recipes such as Roasted Chicken with Fried Capers and Preserved Lemons, Harissa-Rubbed Roasted Lamb, and Molasses Spice Cake. Renee Erickson's food, casual style, and appreciation of simple beauty is an inspiration to readers and eaters in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. This eBook edition includes complete navigation of recipes and ingredients with hyperlinks throughout the book in the Table of Contents, the menus, and the index.

Download or read book A Whale in Paris written by Daniel Presley and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-05-22 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Perfect for readers who love a touch of the fantastic and the impossible.” —Booklist A hopeful and heroic girl befriends a small, lost whale during World War II and together they embark on a journey to liberate France and find their families in this charming debut novel. Ever since the Germans became the unwelcome “guests” of Paris in the early days of World War II, Papa and Chantal have gone out in the evenings to fish in the Seine. Tonight Chantal is hoping for a salmon, but instead she spies something much more special: a whale! Though small (for a whale) and lost, he seems friendly. Chantal soon opens her heart to the loveable creature and names him Franklin, after the American president who must surely be sending troops to rescue her country. Yet Franklin is in danger: The Parisians are starving and would love to eat him, and the Nazis want to capture him as a gift to Hitler. In a desperate bid to liberate themselves and their city, Chantal and Franklin embark on a dangerous voyage. But can one small girl manage to return a whale to the ocean and reunite him with his parents? And will she ever see her own family again?

Download or read book The Sounding of the Whale written by D. Graham Burnett and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-01-31 with total page 825 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Sounding of the Whale, D.

Download or read book Fluke written by Christopher Moore and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Readers new to the work of Christopher Moore will want to know two things immediately. First: Where has this guy been hiding? (Answer: In plain sight, since he has a cult following.)...[H]e writes laid back fables straight out of Margaritaville, on the cusp of humor and science fiction.”—Janet Maslin, New York Times Whale researcher Nathan Quinn has a problem. It’s not a new problem; in fact, it’s been around for nearly 20 million years. And Nate’s spent most of his adult life working to solve it. You see, although everybody (well, almost everybody) knows that humpback whales sing (outside of human composition, the most complex songs on the planet) no one knows why. Nate, a Ph.D. in behavior biology, intends to discover the answer to this burning question—and soon. Every winter he and Clay Demolocus, his partner in the Maui Whale Research Foundation, ply the warm waters between the islands of Maui and Lanai, recording the eerily beautiful songs of the humpbacks and returning to their lab for electronic analysis. The trouble is, Nate’s beginning to wonder if he hasn’t spent just a little too much time in the sun. Either that, or he’s losing his mind. Because today, as he was shooting an I.D. photo of a humpback tail fluke, Nate could’ve sworn he saw the words “Bite Me” scrawled across the whale’s tail. . .

Download or read book Chinese Handcuffs written by Chris Crutcher and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-06-28 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dillon is living with the painful memory of his brother's suicide -- and the role he played in it. To keep his mind and body occupied, he trains intensely for the Ironman triathlon. But outside of practice, his life seems to be falling apart. Then Dillon finds a confidante in Jennifer, a star high school basketball player who's hiding her own set of destructive secrets. Together, they must find the courage to confront their demons -- before it's too late.

Download or read book Whale Day written by Billy Collins and published by Picador. This book was released on 2021-12-14 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Funny but serious, accessible but rich in meaning, consistently surprising – the world looks slightly different after reading a Billy Collins poem. He’s a one-off, an American treasure’ Nick Laird These are poems of whimsy and imaginative acrobatics, but they are grounded in the familiar, common things of everyday experience. Collins takes us for a walk with an impossibly ancient dog, discovers the proper way to eat a banana, meets an Irish spider, and invites us to his own funeral. Facing both the wonders of being alive and the thrill of mortality, these new poems can only solidify Collins’s reputation as one of America’s most durable and interesting poets.

Download or read book This Morning I Met a Whale written by Michael Morpurgo and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At sunrise, young Michael spots a whale on the shores of the Thames and thinks he must be dreaming. But the creature is real and it has a message for him - one that only an open-minded child can deliver to the rest of the world.