The Sounding of the Whale

"A remarkable book, an astounding piece of research." (David Blackburn, Guardian) "By questioning the very nature of our scientific interest in the whale, Burnett has set the tone for a new century of discovery-and, one hopes, recovery." (Nature) "In other hands it might have yielded a story as dry as dust, but this historian has an eye for small, telling details, resulting in an intriguing book full of paradoxes and unlikely heroes." (Tim Flannery, New York Review of Books) "A very good book." (Larry McMurtry, Harper's) "A sweeping, important study of cetacean science and policy.... A gifted and often very funny writer, D. Graham Burnett bristles at the restrictions of academic rigor but does not abandon them.... His greatest service is to tell a story that helps us understand the present-day political obstacles to addressing key environmental questions." (New York Times Book Review)"