Book Review: Voices in the Ocean
Dolphins always look like they are smiling. How can we not love them? So asks author Susan Casey whose book, Voices in the Ocean, is an exploration of dolphin life and their interactions with humans.
According to the New York Times, the book is a mix of science, pseudo-science, and a kind of New Age mysticism.
But Casey’s book is intended, in part, to be mystical. Casey fell in love with dolphins during a difficult time after a divorce and the death of her father. Feeling lonely, she went for a swim in Hawaii only to be joined by a pod of spinner dolphins. The experience, she says, was a bolt of lightning, filling her with awe at the fun of swimming with the squeaking creatures. The experience, mystically, lifted her spirits.
Joyous is the way she portrays the gleeful creatures of the oceans. They are clowns, she says, and also incredibly intuitive and empathetic.
Some reviewers say she goes off the deep end saying things like dolphins can tell if a woman is pregnant. This is has never been proved but it is treated as fact in the book. At other times, she quotes, without skepticism, people who assert dolphins are mind readers who can transmit messages about opera.
Still, Casey’s book offers many examples of dolphins displaying great acts of apparent selflessness, courage and empathy and reviewers say it is a lively read.
Voices in the Ocean is based on her years of swimming the open seas with dolphins, interviews with leading experts and protectors, and her extensive travels.
Below is a link to purchase this book on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Ocean-Journey-Haunting-Dolphins/dp/0385537301
Photo: www.judithrae.com
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