Customer Reviews

Among Whales

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I am astonished that this book is out of print. How can this be? Why aren't people using it as a textbook in writing, psychology, ethics and marine biology classes? Why aren't high schools and universities clamouring to have Roger Payne speak at their commencement exercises? Why isn't he being interviewed by Oprah and Good Morning America? Why isn't the name Roger Payne as familiar to us as Jacques Cousteau or Keiko the whale? Believe me, it should be.

Roger Payne is a cetacean scientist - that is to say he studies whales - however that doesn't begin to tell you about what he really does or who he really is. You see, Roger Payne swims up to Right Whales and looks them in the eye. He hangs upside down next to Humpback whales in order to experience their bone shaking songs up close. He spends hundredsd of hours a year on boats watching and recording the movements, behaviors and songs of whales. Best of all, Roger Payne has stories to tell about another world that exists beyond land. He knows and can prove, for example, that Humpback whales sing. Yes sing. Not simply make sounds but create rhythm, patterns and notes in sequences that put some of our greatest composers to shame. He has stories to tell of his encounters with whales that make it abundantly clear that they think, feel and communicate. In short Roger Payne has something to teach us about our relationship to another species on this planet, and we should be listening.

But if you're not the sort to read a book just because it would be good for you, read it because Payne is a fine writer whose stories are well told and fascinating, and whose scientific explanations are so clear that even the most scientifically-challenged person can follow. Read it because it will enchant you with its descriptions of whales at play and captivate you with its studies of why whales do what they do. Read it because it will challenge your mind and touch your heart. It's that good.

This book explains many theories about whale behavior, communications, etc. in great detail. It is fairly complicated in its analysis and does not have any pictures. Definately a must read.

If you have wondered about the beauty of these mammals, then you must read this book. Roger Payne shares the wonders of the graceful aminals. If you care for them at all, then you are foolish not to read this book. It has really bought me closer to who they really are.

My favorite parts of the book are the chapters in Patagonia, the descriptions of the wind, the culture of the Patagonian people, and of course, the behavior of the whales who lie in the shallow ocean beneath the cliffs. The mother whales and their calves sleep in the shallows, just below the observation center that Payne established. His delight in having found these elusive whales is infectious.

This was a marvelous read although its flaws were sometimes predictable. I will try to minimize references to the flaws because the book was generally a joy to read. Payne has spent his passion on whales and presents a treasure trove of information, about the behavior, history, plight, and politics of the great cetaceans. Where he sticks to empirical science (which fortunately is most of the book), the eminent whale biologist takes the reader along on a wonder-filled journey beneath the waves. Accounts of his personal life fit nicely with accounts of his work. The reader comes to feel that, in some sense, he knows right whales and humpbacks, and knows Mr. Payne. The insights into the psychology, economics and politics of whaling are fascinating and troubling and are issues with which more people should have some familiarity.
The book is so good that I almost hate to offer any detracting comments, but in the interest of truth I must: (1.) Payne assigns a kind of well-intended and hopeful 'happy face' to zoological and marine parks. Yes, zoos and marine parks do educate the public, but that education is primarily this -- that wild animals make excellent and profitable corporate merchandise. For compelling counterpoint read Jack Turner's The Abstract Wild. (2.) Payne's metaphysical musings are too typical of a large number of biologists. Gaia is not science; it is a philosophy of aesthetics similar to aboriginal pantheism. The concept of "collectively immortal" biology presents the conclusion that, as Payne says, Life is god. It makes for a pleasant enough concept until it is subjected to critical analysis. Some priests of biology should (collectively?) think a little deeper. One needn't adopt a Star Trek religion or a form of shamanism to respect bio-diversity. Assailing Christianity because it was the claimed practice of "God fearing" and blood thirsty sea captains is as logically dubious as attacking biological science because it was the claimed practice of a Dr. Josef Mengele, is the claimed practice of the Japanese "scientific" whaling industry, and is in fact the practice of developers of biological warfare agents. The evil besetting nature is not theism, it is holy capitalism, saint self-interest, a god called greed, and hard-hearted indifference. In short, small minded selfishness. Most scientists, including Payne, are at their best when they stick with science (although the mathematical sciences have lent the world some excellent philosophers).
All nay-saying aside, this is a book well worth reading.

Roger Payne brings up issuses that this world is going to have to deal with in the years to come. His passion for cetaceans shows through in every page, I encourage everyone to read this masterpeice!

Satisfy your literary and scientific interest in whales--and it is a select few who have both--with Payne's fantastic and sadly out-of-print book.

By way of a deeper wrinkle, it should also be pointed out that Payne is (allegedly) a good friend of Cormac McCarthy, whose novel "Blood Meridian" has been characterized as the twentieth century's answer to "Moby Dick." At some point in the last twenty-five years, McCarthy wrote a (still unpublished) screenplay called "Whales and Men," which includes a character believed to be based on Payne. (McCarthy is credited in "Among Whales.") So, two literary strands, Melville and McCarthy, and one scientific one, cetology, are smoothly wound in Payne's book. Used copies abound.

Roger Payne takes you along while he swims with whales and studies whales. If that were all the book did, it would be a pretty good book. But Payne soars into theology and further -- while still being a hard-headed scientist. An incredible book. A great read even if you don't care about whales.