Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Contributors
Kurlansky, Mark Author, Narrator
Series
Published
Books on Tape , 2020.
Status
Checked Out

Available Platforms

Libby/OverDrive
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Description

"Henry David Thoreau wrote, 'Who hears the fishes when they cry?' Maybe we need to go down to the river bank and try to listen."

In what he says is the most important piece of environmental writing in his long and award-winning career, Mark Kurlansky, best-selling author of Salt and Cod, The Big Oyster, 1968, and Milk, among many others, employs his signature multi-century storytelling and compelling attention to detail to chronicle the harrowing yet awe-inspiring life cycle of salmon.

During his research Kurlansky traveled widely and observed salmon and those who both pursue and protect them in the Pacific and the Atlantic, in Ireland, Norway, Iceland, Japan, and even the robust but not as frequently visited Kamchatka Peninsula. This world tour reveals an eras-long history of man’s misdirected attempts to manipulate salmon and its environments for his own benefit and gain, whether for entertainment or to harvest food.

In addition, Kurlansky’s research shows that all over the world these fish, uniquely connected to both marine and terrestrial ecology as well as fresh and salt water, are a natural barometer for the health of the planet. He documents that for centuries man’s greatest assaults on nature, from overfishing to dams, from hatcheries to fish farms, from industrial pollution to the ravages of climate change, are evidenced in the sensitive life cycle of salmon.

With stunning historical and contemporary photographs and illustrations throughout, Kurlansky’s insightful conclusion is that the only way to save salmon is to save the planet and, at the same time, the only way to save the planet is to save the mighty, heroic salmon.

More Details

Format
eAudiobook
Edition
Unabridged
Street Date
03/03/2020
Language
English
ISBN
9780593293850

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These books have the genre "nature writing -- environmental issues"; and the subject "environmentalism."
These books have the genre "nature writing -- environmental issues"; and the subjects "rare and endangered fishes," "rare and endangered animals," and "wildlife conservation."
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These books have the genre "nature writing -- animal studies -- fish and fishing"; and the subjects "fishes," "habitats," and "environmental degradation."

Similar Authors From NoveList

NoveList provides detailed suggestions for other authors you might want to read if you enjoyed this book. Suggestions are based on recommendations from librarians and other contributors.
Both Mark Kurlansky and Robert Sullivan make the ordinary extraordinary as they explore the origins and history of commonplace things. While Sullivan's work focuses more on the grotesque, both tell compelling stories. -- NoveList Contributor
What Marc Kurlansky has done for food, Brian Fagan has done for climate change. Both authors write engaging, accessible, and well-researched books on a narrowly-related range of subjects, and readers who like this kind of writing, no matter the topic, will enjoy both writers. -- Katherine Johnson
Both authors write compelling, meticulously researched, and sweeping microhistories that reveal how a specific item has influenced world history. Their keenly insightful and infectiously enthusiastic chronicles suggest that what really drives humanity is our appetites. -- Derek Keyser
Presenting the details of their narrow subjects with both personal enthusiasm and well-documented, balanced narratives, these microhistory writers hook their readers from the beginning and keep their attention to the very last page. -- Katherine Johnson
The writer most like Mark Kurlansky in style is Simon Winchester. While Winchester tends to focus more on people or geological events, he uses the same zoom technique and tone as Kurlansky. The authors also concentrate on how their subject has affected the larger world. -- NoveList Contributor
Mark Kurlansky readers who want to experience microhistory through a different lens should try Michael Pollan. While Pollan also writes about food, his works focus primarily on the world of plants. Like Kurlansky's, Pollan's books are full of detail, yet accessible to a general audience. -- NoveList Contributor
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Those fascinated by Kurlansky's ability to elevate the commonplace should try Henry Petroski. Petroski writes Microhistories about household objects from the paper clip to the kitchen sink, combining compelling storylines with engineering and technical history. Both authors trace the history of a seemingly mundane item or commodity and demonstrate its connections to much larger matters. -- NoveList Contributor
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Published Reviews

Kirkus Book Review

Having written about milk, salt, oysters, and frozen food, Kurlansky (Milk!: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas, 2018, etc.) turns his pen to an iconic fish on the brink of extinction."How many species do we lose when we lose a salmon?" asks the author toward the end of this handsomely illustrated work of natural history and environmental advocacy. The answer is that we do not know for certain, but the salmon is part of a chain of life that ranges from tiny insects to large mammals and birds. Every species, then, unlocks the door to many other species, and allowing any species to diminish is to threaten the whole web of life. So it is with the salmon. Kurlansky covers all the bases, from life cycle and reproductive history to the fact that the salmon is particularly vulnerable precisely because it spends part of its life in salt water, part in fresh water. The author observes that ideal salmon habitat includes rivers that run clear and clean and that are undammed, which are increasingly rare except in very remote places such as the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, which may turn out to be where salmon make their last stand. Certainly it won't be on the Columbia River, where Lewis and Clark saw a horizon of flashing fins two centuries ago, whereas "by 1975, a total of 14 dams were blocking the main Columbia River, 13 were on the Snake [River]," numbers that don't begin to take into account the thousands of smaller dams along the tributaries. Kurlansky offers a dauntingly long list of things that need to happen if the salmon is to be saved, ranging from dismantling dams to checking climate change, restoring forests and apex predators, ending the use of pesticides, and removing homes and roads from riverbanks in favor of galleries of trees. "If we can save the planet," he writes, "the salmon will be all right." And if not, we must conclude, not.In championing a critically important part of the natural world, Kurlansky sounds an urgent alarm that commands our attention. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Kurlansky, M. (2020). Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate (Unabridged). Books on Tape.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Kurlansky, Mark. 2020. Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate. Books on Tape.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Kurlansky, Mark. Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate Books on Tape, 2020.

Harvard Citation (style guide)

Kurlansky, M. (2020). Salmon: a fish, the earth, and the history of their common fate. Unabridged Books on Tape.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Kurlansky, Mark. Salmon: A Fish, the Earth, and the History of Their Common Fate Unabridged, Books on Tape, 2020.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

Copy Details

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Libby102

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