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Of Orcas and Men: What Killer Whales Can Teach Us Kindle Edition

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Length: 320 pages Word Wise: Enabled

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“It is tragic and unforgivable that humanity, in its arrogance, continues to assert that other animals are mere 'things.' In this powerful and beautifully written book, David Neiwert explores the extraordinary intelligence, rich social life, and obvious consciousness of orcas. He points out the psychological cruelty inflicted when an individual is stolen from the wide ocean and incarcerated in a concrete prison for our 'entertainment.' Of Orcas and Menhighlights the need to rethink our relationship with other animals.” (Jane Goodall, New York Times bestselling author of Seeds of Hope)

“Human beings need to learn from and understand the cooperative nature of orca society. Everyone who is interested in both animal and human behavior should read this remarkable book.” (Temple Grandin, New York Times bestselling author of Animals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human)

“One of the most comprehensive works to date for anyone who has become enthralled by this magnificent animal.” (Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Director of Blackfish)

“Humans and killer whales have a long and complicated history, one that David Neiwert describes forcefully and eloquently in this fascinating and highly readable book.” (David Kirby, New York Times bestselling author of Death at SeaWorld)

“A wide-ranging, interesting book that should be required reading for school-aged environmentalists.” (Kirkus)

“A triumph of far-ranging research and vivid storytelling. Eloquent, astute, and compassionate.” (Brenda Peterson, author of Build Me an Ark: A Life With Animals)

“Many of the stories are incredible and heartwarming, other shocking. This book is a great read for any nature lover.” (Jeffrey Ventre, Blackfish cast member)

“[A] breathtaking survey of orca science, folklore, and mystery.” (The Stranger)

About the Author

David Neiwert is an investigative journalist based in Seattle. He is the author of many books, including And Hell Followed With Her: Crossing the Dark Side of the American Border and Strawberry Days: How Internment Destroyed a Japanese American Community. His reportage for MSNBC.com on domestic terrorism won the National Press Club Award for Distinguished Online Journalism in 2000. He is also a contributing writer for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Product Details

  • File Size: 4461 KB
  • Print Length: 320 pages
  • Publisher: The Overlook Press; 1 edition (June 16, 2015)
  • Publication Date: June 16, 2015
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00ZGHVFC4
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray:
  • Word Wise: Enabled
  • Lending: Not Enabled
  • Enhanced Typesetting: Not Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #152,458 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful By Joshua N. Wiley on July 2, 2015
Format: Hardcover
Of Orcas and Men is a beautiful, very readable account of the Killer Whale, Orcinus orca, its natural history and ecology, and its human history and interaction.

Neiwert is a journalist and writes this full book as a labor of love. He is an amateur, in the best sense, not a professional scientist. He tends to quote the key researchers at length from personal interviews after summarizing their work. There are no close references, although there are some notes. (My biggest lead is to read Lori Marino's papers.) Some reviewers have noted that the book is somewhat repetitive, which is true. Some of the factual underpinnings of the account are scattered and hard to find for reference. Chapter subheadings would have been helpful, IMHO, although they would break up the flow a little.

What I probably learned most from Neiwert's book is that Killer Whales limit the range of their abilities and instinctive responses by social intelligence and "ethnic" culture. The males don't fight--at least not to the degree seen in other dolphins (or Sperm Whales). Everyone shares food. Everyone eats a particular kind of food, according to the specialization of the ecotype. Orcas don't eat human beings, at all--although they certainly could. (Bears, sharks, and crocs all do. Lions do.)

Neiwert is clearly on the path to show that Orcas are exceptional vis-a-vis other dolphins and all whales. This contrasts with the account given in the more scientific but nonetheless complementary text of the past year, _The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins_ (Whitehead and Rendell, 2014). Whitehead and Rendell focussed on some smaller dolphins as especially matrilineal odontocetes—Orcas, Sperm Whales, and Pilot Whales—as possessing culture and being dependent on culture.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful By mrs. rubble on August 1, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This book is fantastic! Fabulous read, fabulous writing. What grabbed when reading a review of Oracas and Men, was the author's argument for empathy being an "evolutionary advantage" for orcas, "perhaps making them more than human." WOW. You will not be disappointed.
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Format: Hardcover
This is a compelling book, written with passion and understanding. It is partly written in first-person, as Neiwert is a kind of participant observer, living in the same area where the orca pods he describes live. This is primarily about several groups of orcas in the Puget Sound up through British Columbia coastal and island waters. These orcas bore the brunt of a decade or so of capture of orcas for aquariums such as Sea World--they suffered a sizable chunk of their populations lost to these captures, and have not yet recovered. Part of the point to the book is an exploration of whether and how these animals can live in such close proximity to several million people.

One thing for readers to note is the small populations, something like 300 orcas in this sizable area. Also important to note is that the population is comprised of "residents" who eat salmon and other groups that travel widely, and eat sea mammals; these are essentially subspecies that do not interbreed. The latest studies indicate that there are perhaps ten subspecies in the killer whale complex, with different prey, that do not interbreed and socialize with their own kind. This book focuses mostly on the resident population, which has been closely studied for several decades now; interviews with the people who do the studies is an important part of the book, studies of behaviors, diet, vocalizations. The book does have a short section detailing the differing orca subpopulations.

Niewert's book combines natural history, biology and most particularly, relationships with humans, which range from a New Age sensibility through hard science, politics and environmentalism, environmental ethics and a growingly popular whale watching industry that clogs the seaways.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful By Frank L. Urbano on August 24, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
'Of Orcas and Men' is a beautiful book which details the relationship between the beautiful killer whale and humanity. It does this through the lens of culture, history, religion, anthropology, and science, and because of that balanced approach, this is a wonderful book. I cannot say enough about how good it is.

There have been a great deal of books about the plight of killer whales, including "Death at Seaworld" and "Beneath the Surface", and there has been a great documentary, "Blackfish". What this book does is takes much of what was covered in the other books and film and combines it with other materials to make for an enjoyable story. Some have accused the other books about killer whales of being 'preachy', because their main focus is to eliminate the captivity of killer whales (a noble, but difficult position to take). This book does that, but to a much lesser degree. It doesn't have to prove its point like the other books, because its commentary promoting improvement of the lives of killer whales is entwined with other things to make the book more balanced.

One of the more striking things in the book is when the author discusses the anthropomorphism of the whales, whereby he actually questions if they are persons. He lists the characteristics of persons and the whales seem to fit those criteria, and he makes a good argument in favor of this point. He also discusses some of the behavioral characteristics of the whales and how they differ from humans. He says:

"While we are at it, it is worth comparing human culture to orca culture, because the contrast is deeply revealing.
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