Hey, a Reading Circle! I like
Now enjoying Diane Ackerman’s The Moon by Whale Light. While not exactly a “diving book,” one-fourth of her nature-expedition accounts here (shorter versions of these ran in The New Yorker) centers on whales -- recounting trips to Hawaii, Argentina, and Patagonia. Towards the end, she describes swimming within two feet of a 50-foot, 50-ton Right Whale’s mouth. “I looked directly into her eye, and she looked directly back at me, as we hung in the water, studying each other.” Even more exciting, that same whale’s big-as-an-elephant calf was right there too. It’s not as macho as this may perhaps sound; There was a lot of tentativeness and sensing and respect going on.
I guess the kind of books on animals and their habitats (my diving motivation, really) that I take home are those that weave the scientific with the anecdotal; you know, journalism that’s a pleasure to read (I'm a David Quammen and Tim Cahill fan too). And Ackerman does take her time to -- as the all-too common blurb goes -- bring the reader along for the ride.