Spineless
The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone
(Sprache: Englisch)
Jellyfish have been swimming in our oceans for well over half a billion years, longer than any other animal that lives on the planet. Yet until recently, jellyfish were largely ignored by science. A former ocean scientist goes in pursuit of the slippery...
Leider schon ausverkauft
versandkostenfrei
Buch (Kartoniert)
14.95 €
7 DeutschlandCard Punkte
sammeln
- Lastschrift, Kreditkarte, Paypal, Rechnung
- Kostenlose Rücksendung
Produktdetails
Produktinformationen zu „Spineless “
Jellyfish have been swimming in our oceans for well over half a billion years, longer than any other animal that lives on the planet. Yet until recently, jellyfish were largely ignored by science. A former ocean scientist goes in pursuit of the slippery story of jellyfish, rediscovering her passion for marine science and the sea's imperiled ecosystems.
Klappentext zu „Spineless “
"A book full of wonders" Helen Macdonald, author of H Is for Hawk"Witty, insightful. . . .The story of jellyfish. . . is a significant part of the environmental story. Berwald's engaging account of these delicate, often ignored creatures shows how much they matter to our oceans' future." New York Times Book Review
Jellyfish have been swimming in our oceans for well over half a billion years, longer than any other animal that lives on the planet. They make a venom so toxic it can kill a human in three minutes. Their sting microscopic spears that pierce with five million times the acceleration of gravity is the fastest known motion in the animal kingdom. Made of roughly 95 percent water, some jellies are barely perceptible virtuosos of disguise, while others glow with a luminescence that has revolutionized biotechnology. Yet until recently, jellyfish were largely ignored by science, and they remain among the most poorly understood of ocean dwellers.
More than a decade ago, Juli Berwald left a career in ocean science to raise a family in landlocked Austin, Texas, but jellyfish drew her back to the sea. Recent, massive blooms of billions of jellyfish have clogged power plants, decimated fisheries, and caused millions of dollars of damage. Driven by questions about how overfishing, coastal development, and climate change were contributing to a jellyfish population explosion, Juli embarked on a scientific odyssey. She traveled the globe to meet the biologists who devote their careers to jellies, hitched rides on Japanese fishing boats to see giant jellyfish in the wild, raised jellyfish in her dining room, and throughout it all marveled at the complexity of these alluring and ominous biological wonders.
Gracefully blending personal memoir with crystal-clear distillations of science, Spineless is the story of how Juli learned to navigate and ultimately embrace her ambition, her curiosity, and her passion for the natural world.
... mehr
She discovers that jellyfish science is more than just a quest for answers. It s a call to realize our collective responsibility for the planet we share.
... weniger
Lese-Probe zu „Spineless “
1If You Dare
Hiroshima's downtown is a garden of modern architecture interspersed with swaths of lovely green parks. In the center, there is a single structure, in ruins, capped by a skeleton of curved iron. This is the Atomic Bomb Dome, located at the destruction's epicenter, the sole building that managed to remain standing amid the massive force that flattened everything else for miles in all directions. It is an astonishing memorial to both our capacity for horrifying devastation and our awesome resilience. The dome sits along the side of one of six tidal streams that flow through Hiroshima. In the murky, green water, I watched thousands-maybe hundreds of thousands-of pale pink disks parade by, a flood of jellyfish. Juxtaposed with the dome, the endless stream of jellyfish seemed to square off nature's power against our own, a battle as old as civilization that continues to play out in the decisions we make today. They were the first wild jellyfish I saw in years of chasing jellyfish. The milky creatures pulsed slowly, slower than my heartbeat, which dropped as I watched. The movements of their bells trailing gossamer tentacles were like millions of eyelashes blinking open and closed and open again, giving me a feeling that these alien animals could peer deep into the soul of the sea. I found it impossible to fathom the source of this endless river of life. The jellies continued to flow by for as long as I stood and watched.
Maybe you remember the first time you saw a jellyfish. Maybe you were lucky enough to stick your head under the ocean's surface, wearing a mask, and watch the primal undulations of a jellyfish dancing to some internal rhythm. Maybe you felt a biting sting in the water and turned to see a gelatinous blob disappear like sinking mucus. Maybe you stood against the glass and watched the elegant clover on the back of a moon jellyfish or the graceful train of a sea nettle in an aquarium. Or maybe it was footage of
... mehr
jellyfish hawking a cure for memory loss.
I don't remember the very first jellyfish I saw. I grew up in a time before aquaria were full of jellyfish tanks, in a very landlocked in St. Louis. I never spent an extended period near the ocean until I was in college. In my junior year, 1987, I attended an English-speaking study-abroad program in Tel Aviv. From a New England school where getting ready to go to a party meant putting on tattered jeans, a flannel shirt, and duck boots, I was a misfit among the other American students, who were a lot less style-challenged. I found the Israelis my age no easier to get along with. At nineteen, they were required to serve in the army, while I had the freedom to jaunt off to college unencumbered.
I stuffed my loneliness down with the hummus and baba ghanoush sold from a cart on the street corner near my cinder-block dorm. At about the same rate that my weight increased, my spirits sank. One day, I opened the door to the building where my class on Middle Eastern politics was held and spotted a sign out of the corner of my eye. It advertised a marine biology course: a week in Eilat, at the southern tip of Israel, studying the ecology of the Red Sea. Knowing next to nothing about biology or Eilat, not to mention the fact that I was hardly able to squeeze into my swimsuit anymore, I scrawled my name at the bottom of the list. It was clear I needed to put some distance between me and the pita cart.
A few days later, with about twenty other students, I boarded a bus headed south at dawn. After a five-hour ride through the desert, we were offloaded and handed snorkels, masks, and fins. I think there was a quick instruction on keeping hands away from urchin spines and fire coral. I shuffled down the beach backward, the only way to walk in fins. When I slipped my face below the water's surface, it was as if I were Dorothy stepping into Oz. My dull, sad world erupted in a kaleidoscope of colors, shapes, and textures. I glided over cr
I don't remember the very first jellyfish I saw. I grew up in a time before aquaria were full of jellyfish tanks, in a very landlocked in St. Louis. I never spent an extended period near the ocean until I was in college. In my junior year, 1987, I attended an English-speaking study-abroad program in Tel Aviv. From a New England school where getting ready to go to a party meant putting on tattered jeans, a flannel shirt, and duck boots, I was a misfit among the other American students, who were a lot less style-challenged. I found the Israelis my age no easier to get along with. At nineteen, they were required to serve in the army, while I had the freedom to jaunt off to college unencumbered.
I stuffed my loneliness down with the hummus and baba ghanoush sold from a cart on the street corner near my cinder-block dorm. At about the same rate that my weight increased, my spirits sank. One day, I opened the door to the building where my class on Middle Eastern politics was held and spotted a sign out of the corner of my eye. It advertised a marine biology course: a week in Eilat, at the southern tip of Israel, studying the ecology of the Red Sea. Knowing next to nothing about biology or Eilat, not to mention the fact that I was hardly able to squeeze into my swimsuit anymore, I scrawled my name at the bottom of the list. It was clear I needed to put some distance between me and the pita cart.
A few days later, with about twenty other students, I boarded a bus headed south at dawn. After a five-hour ride through the desert, we were offloaded and handed snorkels, masks, and fins. I think there was a quick instruction on keeping hands away from urchin spines and fire coral. I shuffled down the beach backward, the only way to walk in fins. When I slipped my face below the water's surface, it was as if I were Dorothy stepping into Oz. My dull, sad world erupted in a kaleidoscope of colors, shapes, and textures. I glided over cr
... weniger
Autoren-Porträt von Juli Berwald
Juli Berwald received her Ph.D. in Ocean Science from the University of Southern California. A science textbook writer and editor, she has written for a number of publications, including The New York Times, Nature, National Geographic, and Slate. She lives in Austin with her husband and their son and daughter.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Juli Berwald
- 2018, 352 Seiten, 15 Abbildungen, Maße: 13,9 x 21,2 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: Penguin US
- ISBN-10: 0735211280
- ISBN-13: 9780735211285
- Erscheinungsdatum: 30.10.2018
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
Spineless is as mesmerizing, surprising, and beautiful as the jellyfish itself. Every page contains some astonishing treasure. If you cherish the sea, if you care about the environment, if you relish life on this sweet, blue planet, you will love this book. Sy Montgomery, New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus"Thoroughly engaging. . . . Berwald shows us a kind of natural science in which beauty and wonder, scientific investigation and the varied shapes of human lives are bound closely together. I love Spineless for that, and also for its inspiring call to follow your own star." Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
Berwald s engaging book is part memoir, part pop science, weaving together stories of her own twisting academic path along with fascinating, vivid details about the delicate creatures. New York Times Book Review
Part travelogue, part memoir, part deep-dive (literally) into the world of jellyfish... Spineless can serve as inspiration for any of us to reclaim a creative space in the midst of family life. NPR
[Spineless is] fascinating... This combination of insider and outsider perspective is uniquely suited to a book on creatures whose internal organs are visible through transparent outer layers. Wall Street Journal
[Berwald s] sense of wonder is infectious and the book is a heartfelt plea for humans to fulfill their responsibilities toward nature. New Yorker
In this memoir/science-reporting mash-up, [Berwald] profiles one of the ocean's most intriguing creatures the unique contractions it uses to propel through water, its acidifying habitat and its booming populations. Scientific American
An astonishingly gorgeous book... Science enthusiasts, curious animal lovers, and those who want to educate themselves more on climate change s effect on our oceans will find this book
... mehr
irresistible. W Magazine
Carefully and insistently, Berwald s book reveals to us that the world is wider and vastly stranger than we know This is a book full of wonders. New Statesman
Berwald's clear, delectable prose is accessible... The book forces the reader to reconsider the future of our planet, and of our role in it. It will, at the very least, leave you with a newfound appreciation of the translucent, spineless jellies. Buzzfeed
A wandering, compelling mixture of memoir and nature writing... [written with] clear, strong prose, a welcome help when dealing with the complex stew of biomechanics, chemistry and evolutionary theory that the subject entails. Texas Observer
Breathtaking... What shines through this is Berwald s fascination with her subject, and the way it transformed a woman feeling stuck in her life and craving a new purpose. Outside
There is perhaps no more soothing sight than the illuminated jellyfish tanks in an aquarium. In Spineless Juli Berwald brings us inside, unraveling a memoir about the scientific exploration of these strange, wonderful creatures. Popular Science
Berwald offers an engrossing look at the enigmatic sea creature most easily recognised in its swimming medusa form. . . . A revelatory science memoir. BBC Culture
It s a story of personal discovery, rediscovery of the underwater world, and an earth-spanning journey to study these complex creatures, all the while throwing into stark relief the importance of understanding and protecting our increasingly endangered marine ecosystems. Southern Living
Full of humor and intrigue, Spineless is a seaworthy saga brimming with information about not only jellyfish but also about the health and future of the oceans and our planet. BookPage
Stunning memoir. Bustle
Captivating and informative. Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Unexpected and uniquely delightful. Parade Magazine
In this astonishing adventure of a book, Juli Berwald takes us on a personal journey into the enchanting and mystifying aqueous world of jellyfish, and in so doing, sheds light on the vital ecological balances upon which our own survival depends. Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being
Carefully and insistently, Berwald s book reveals to us that the world is wider and vastly stranger than we know This is a book full of wonders. New Statesman
Berwald's clear, delectable prose is accessible... The book forces the reader to reconsider the future of our planet, and of our role in it. It will, at the very least, leave you with a newfound appreciation of the translucent, spineless jellies. Buzzfeed
A wandering, compelling mixture of memoir and nature writing... [written with] clear, strong prose, a welcome help when dealing with the complex stew of biomechanics, chemistry and evolutionary theory that the subject entails. Texas Observer
Breathtaking... What shines through this is Berwald s fascination with her subject, and the way it transformed a woman feeling stuck in her life and craving a new purpose. Outside
There is perhaps no more soothing sight than the illuminated jellyfish tanks in an aquarium. In Spineless Juli Berwald brings us inside, unraveling a memoir about the scientific exploration of these strange, wonderful creatures. Popular Science
Berwald offers an engrossing look at the enigmatic sea creature most easily recognised in its swimming medusa form. . . . A revelatory science memoir. BBC Culture
It s a story of personal discovery, rediscovery of the underwater world, and an earth-spanning journey to study these complex creatures, all the while throwing into stark relief the importance of understanding and protecting our increasingly endangered marine ecosystems. Southern Living
Full of humor and intrigue, Spineless is a seaworthy saga brimming with information about not only jellyfish but also about the health and future of the oceans and our planet. BookPage
Stunning memoir. Bustle
Captivating and informative. Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Unexpected and uniquely delightful. Parade Magazine
In this astonishing adventure of a book, Juli Berwald takes us on a personal journey into the enchanting and mystifying aqueous world of jellyfish, and in so doing, sheds light on the vital ecological balances upon which our own survival depends. Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being
... weniger
Kommentar zu "Spineless"
0 Gebrauchte Artikel zu „Spineless“
| Zustand | Preis | Porto | Zahlung | Verkäufer | Rating |
|---|
Schreiben Sie einen Kommentar zu "Spineless".
Kommentar verfassen