false 91362 8 In a post-<i>Jaws</i>/Discovery Channel world, unearthing fresh data on great white sharks is a feat. So credit Susan Casey not just with finding and spotlighting two biologists who have done truly pioneering field research on the beasts but also with following them and their subjects into the heart of one of the most unnatural habitats on Earth: the Farallon Islands. Though just 30 miles due west of San Francisco, the Farallones--nicknamed the Devil's Teeth for their ragged appearance and raging inhospitality--are utterly alien, which may explain why each autumn, packs of great whites return to gorge on the seals and sea lions that gather there before returning to the Pacific and beyond. That Casey, via her biologist buddies Peter Pyle and Scot Anderson, can even report that sharks apparently follow migratory feeding patterns is a revelation. Throughout <I>The Devil's Teeth</I>, Casey makes clear that year upon year of observing the sharks have given Pyle and Anderson (and by extension, us) insights into shark behavior that are entirely new and too numerous to list. The otherworldly Farallon Islands, meanwhile, also dominate Casey's engaging tale as she charts their transformation from ultradangerous source of wild eggs in the 19th century to ultradangerous real-life shark lab and bird sanctuary today. Despite the plethora of factoids on offer, Casey's style is consistently digestible and very amusing. She also has a knack for putting things into perspective. Take this characteristic passage: <blockquote>The Farallon great whites are largely unharassed. They might cross paths with the occasional boatload of day-trippers from San Francisco, but they're subjected to none of the behavior-altering coercion that nature's top predators regularly endure so that people can sit in the Winnebago... and get a look at them. This is important because despite their visibility at the Farallones, and despite the impressive truth that sharks are so old they predate <i>trees</i>, great whites have remained among the most mysterious of creatures."</blockquote> By book's end, it's hard to know what's more captivating: The biologists' groundbreaking data, Casey's primer on the evolution of the Farallones, the islands' symbiotic relationships with the sharks, the gulls and sea lions they attract, or the outpost's resident ghosts. Frankly, it's a nice problem to have. <i>--Kim Hughes</i> <p> <span class="h1"><strong>Getting to Know the Great White</strong></span> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="4" cellpadding="4"> <p> <img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/authors/casey_t.jpg" border="1" align="left">It was a BBC documentary on great white sharks visiting California's Farallon Islands that turned Susan Casey from an editor of adventure and outdoors stories in such magazines as <i>Outside</i> to a journalist obsessed with an outdoors adventure of her own. In her Amazon.com interview, Casey recalls the fascinations and the follies of her time with the sharks in the Farallones and discusses everything from the ethics of adventure journalism to the stunning silence and size of nature's perfect predators. And in her answers to the Significant Seven (the seven questions we like to ask every author), she reveals her admiration for both Joseph Mitchell and Johnny Knoxville (once you've read her book, both choices seem appropriate). <p> <span class="h1"><strong></strong></span> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="4" cellpadding="4"> <tr align="center" valign="top" class="tiny"> <td width="33%"><img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/books/a-plus/fog-200.jpg" border="0"><br> The outer edge of the fearsome Maintop Bay, a spooky, boat-eating stretch of water that makes everyone uneasy. Not surprisingly, the sharks seem to love it. (Susan Casey)</td> <td width="33%"><img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/books/a-plus/fin-200.jpg " border="0"><br> An 18-foot shark investigates a 6-foot surfboard. (Peter Pyle)</td> <td width="33%"><img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/books/a-plus/blood-200.jpg " border="0"><br> A shark attack at the Farallones is not usually a subtle event. (Peter Pyle)</td> </tr> <tr align="center" valign="top" class="tiny"> <td width="33%"><img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/books/a-plus/boat-200.jpg " border="0"><br> Scot Anderson (in orange) observes a feeding. Also in the boat are director Paul Atkins and cinematographer Peter Scoones of the BBC film crew that visited the Farallones in 1993 to film <i>The Great White Shark</i>. (Peter Pyle)</td> <td width="33%"><img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/books/a-plus/closeup-200.jpg " border="0"><br> The Farallones researchers see some action from a shark named Bluntnose. (Peter Pyle)</td> <td width="33%"><img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/G/01/books/a-plus/rocks-200.jpg " border="0"><br> An unquiet cove: <i>Just Imagine</i> (Casey's temporary home) at its moorage in Fisherman's Bay, 150 yards west of Tower Point and 200 yards east of Sugarloaf. (Susan Casey)</td> </tr> </table> 880084 2005 The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks total:740|5:218|4:305|3:183|2:29|1:5| 740 2922 953 210 2 3 false false Mon Oct 20 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 17 09:25:34 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 20 10:33:10 -0700 2008 3 3 true false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 08 14:19:39 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 08 14:20:59 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 23 20:49:11 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 28 05:55:15 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Aug 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 20:33:26 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 20:52:05 -0700 2009
A reporter develops an obsession with great white sharks and spends time in the Farallon Islands off of Sand Francisco. I never knew this, but the largest of the Great Whites come here every Sept-Nov to feast on seals. Not a few...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Aug 04 12:17:11 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 13:41:09 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Apr 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 15 17:59:35 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 21 17:54:12 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Dec 26 20:01:47 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 08 13:43:28 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Mar 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 13:15:52 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 13:23:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Sep 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 18:39:41 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 18:50:09 -0700 2009
The book has some cool history of the Farallones, and the stories of the shark researchers are pretty awesome. Casey herself is extremely frustrating as a person. The last quarter of the book is hard ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu May 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 21:56:11 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 21:58:51 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Sep 03 18:40:53 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 03 18:47:53 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Mar 09 12:03:50 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 09 12:10:51 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 19 17:16:10 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 17:18:32 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false true Mon Aug 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 08:39:06 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 18:45:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false true Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jan 15 20:03:26 -0800 2009 Tue Apr 07 09:21:46 -0700 2009
However,...more...]]> 3 0 true false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 29 13:47:50 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 29 14:02:08 -0700 2008 1. sharks
2. The Sea
3. shipwrecks & other maritime disasters
4. non-fiction reportage

So, you'd think that I would have TOTALLY LOVED this book. And I didn't dislike it.

But, I dunno, it never really cap...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Mon Jul 28 10:24:43 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 28 10:42:40 -0700 2008
Susan Casey, a writer for various magazines including Outdoors, the New Yorker and (recently) Sports Illustrated, saw a BBC documentary about a small group of researchers on some islands off the California coast who had disco...more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Feb 12 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 09 16:19:02 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 13 07:10:44 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Feb 08 09:23:08 -0800 2008 Mon Apr 28 07:43:56 -0700 2008
...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Sat Jan 19 11:13:50 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 19 11:14:15 -0800 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=91362