Book cover of Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive with the World's Most Misunderstood Predator by David Schiffman
Biological Sciences

Why Sharks Matter: A Deep Dive with the World’s Most Misunderstood Predator

Get submerged in the amazing world of sharks! Your expert host, award-winning marine biologist Dr. David Shiffman, will show you how—and why—we should protect these mysterious, misunderstood guardians of the ocean.

Sharks are some of the most fascinating, most ecologically important, most threatened, and most misunderstood animals on Earth. More often feared than revered, their role as predators of the deep have earned them a reputation as a major threat to humans. But the truth is that sharks are not a danger to us—they’re in danger from us. […Learn More]

Book cover of Ahab's Rolling Sea: A Natural History of "Moby-Dick" by Richard J. King
Biological Sciences

Ahab’s Rolling Sea: A Natural History of “Moby-Dick”

Although Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is beloved as one of the most profound and enduring works of American fiction, we rarely consider it a work of nature writing—or even a novel of the sea. Yet Pulitzer Prize–winning author Annie Dillard avers Moby-Dick is the “best book ever written about nature,” and nearly the entirety of the story is set on the waves, with scarcely a whiff of land. In fact, Ishmael’s sea yarn is in conversation with the nature writing of Emerson and Thoreau, and Melville himself did much more than live for a year in a cabin beside a pond. He set sail: to the far remote Pacific Ocean, spending more than three years at sea before writing his masterpiece in 1851.
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Book cover of Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods by Danna Staaf
Biological Sciences

Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods

Before there were mammals on land, there were dinosaurs. And before there were fish in the sea, there were cephalopods—the ancestors of modern squid and Earth’s first truly substantial animals. Cephalopods became the first creatures to rise from the seafloor, essentially inventing the act of swimming. With dozens of tentacles and formidable shells, they presided over an undersea empire for millions of years. But when fish evolved jaws, the ocean’s former top predator became its most delicious snack. […Learn More]

Book cover of Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods by Danna Staaf
Biological Sciences

Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods

Before mammals, there were dinosaurs. And before dinosaurs, there were cephalopods.

Publisher’s Note: Monarchs of the Sea was previously published in hardcover as Squid Empire.

Cephalopods, Earth’s first truly substantial animals, are still among us: Their fascinating family tree features squid, octopuses, nautiluses, and more. The inventors of swimming, cephs presided over the sea for millions of years. […Learn More]

Book Cover of Fathoms: The World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs
Biological Sciences

Fathoms: The World in the Whale

When writer Rebecca Giggs encountered a humpback whale stranded on her local beachfront in Australia, she began to wonder how the lives of whales reflect the condition of our oceans. Fathoms: The World in the Whale is “a work of bright and careful genius” (Robert Moor, New York Times bestselling author of On Trails), one that blends natural history, philosophy, and science to explore: How do whales experience ecological change? […Learn More]