Customer Reviews

The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Survival and Obsession Among America's Great White Sharks

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Susan Casey, a journalist, becomes intrigued by white sharks and the Farallon Islands some thirty miles from San Francisco. After fighting through restrictions and barriers, she manages to get onto the island and observe a group of scientists studying predation by great white sharks within the so-called red triangle. Her description of the islands flora and fauna are very good. Detailed descriptions of shark attacks also give the story some excitement. She doesn't provide much scientific detail about the research she observed; however, she's a journalist, not a biologist. She's a story-teller and does a good job.

If your a shark junkie who enjoys scientific detail about the behavior and biology of sharks, you'll most certainly be disappointed. On the other hand, if you enjoy tales of natural adventures and the hardships endured along the way, you'll be entertained.

The whole premise of the book sounds interesting, as I am also interested in great whites and I looked forward to reading it. I was enjoying it until the more I read I realized it was merely about the obsession of the writer than it is about the sharks and the research project she is researching. Yes, she focuses on the scientists and the island in great detail, which in itself makes it worthwhile reading. However, in the end, her desire to see the sharks up close actually causes the termination of the entire shark research project, and the termination of employment for the knowledgeable, caring scientist in charge that assisted her in trying to realize her dream. Her dream became his nightmare. She should have stayed home and let the sharks and their researchers be. If you read it for the sharks, you'll enjoy it, but you'll quickly discover what an selfish idiot Susan Casey is. The writing is average, but with a keen eye you'll appreciate. The "True story of obsession and survival among America's Great white sharks" is about her and not the project, which is what I thought the book was about. My mistake. Not only can you not judge a book by its cover, you can no longer judge a book by its title either.
Another reviewer stated succinctly, "The author and her persistence to observe activities on the island leads the the demise of the entire shark research project."

THE DEVILS TEETH is an exceptionally well-written account of the Farallon Islands and, in particular, the white shark research project that has been based there over the past several decades. Susan Casey profiles Peter Pyle and Scot Anderson, two biologists who have been leading shark research at the islands which are located just 27 miles due west of San Francisco. She also documents her own (ultimately disastrous) experiences gaining access to the islands which are largely prohibited to the public. The stars of the story are the sharks themselves, who turn out to be far more individualistic and personable than you would probably ever imagine.

The white sharks of the Farallon Islands are perhaps the best studied in the world in their natural state. The circus atmosphere which surrounds white shark research in places like Australia and South Africa have largely compromised the sharks natural habitat making it difficult to observe sharks behaving naturally. The Farallon Islands, known to 19th-century mariners as "The Devil's Teeth," are a dangerous and foreboding locale, but one that lends itself well to scientific investigations. Casey takes us through the history of exploitation, inhabitation, and research that has taken place on the islands over the past 150 years, and she includes a healthy amount of information about the other wildlife in evidence on and around the islands. But she clearly (and admittedly) developed an obsession with the sharks, and the narrative of the book is continually steered back toward them.

The thing that struck me the most in THE DEVIL'S TEETH was the description of the individual white sharks' strong personalities. I would never have thought that a white shark could be described in terms of being "gentle and maternal" (Whiteslash) or "happy-go-lucky and somewhat goofy" (Half Fin). Other individual sharks, of course, had more sinister reputations. Still, one can come away from reading this book with the impression that the great white shark is truly a likeable animal, if not exactly huggable. Another revelation (to me, at least) was the evidence that at least some white sharks, like whales, apparently have fixed migratory routes that can take them thousands of miles through the course of a year. Some (the females) appear to have two-year migrations since they only show up every other year in the Farallones.

Susan Casey takes us into an exclusive place, to be sure: a world where cage divers and eco-tourists are looked down upon with disdain. In a way, it hardly seems fair that the experience of witnessing the thrill of a white shark kill should be so restricted. As Peter Pyle himself said, "I feel sorry for anyone who hasn't seen one." Of course, it is understandable. As in nearly other place in the world where white sharks congregate, the delicate ecosystem of the Farallon Islands would suffer tragically and research effort would be compromised from increased human intrusion. THE DEVIL'S TEETH is a glimpse into the world of two committed biologists and the truly majestic animals they study.

Jeremy W. Forstadt

This was a very exciting story. Susan Casey writes well, giving us an inside view of the events in a natural prose style. The Farallons never seemed so close, even when I visited San Francisco and toured them by boat. Casey writes a compelling story of the scientists and naturalists living in hellish conditions because they love the sharks, their--to my mind--unusual behavior, individually and in groups. Who knew sharks had such personalities? My only wish is that she'd concentrated more on the sharks, kept the whole sailboat incident out of it, and I couldn't read about Peter losing his job--his life up to this point!--without a little anger. It's a very quick read and worth it if you like sharks and roughing it.

I've just finished reading this book and have to agree, I was also upset and angry that Peter Pyle lost his job and didn't get to be the first to ride the 'perfect wave' in shark alley - all because of Susan Casey. After reading the Q&A given to the author on this site and seeing that she 'blagged' her way into various summer jobs - I have to wonder if she didn't 'blag' Peter that she could handle a yacht at sea.
Maybe it would have been better for the Farallones Great White Shark project, if she'd just left them alone.
Having said this, I did enjoy the first 2/3 of the book. The last part is just Casey talking about her experiences on the yacht. You're not given any scientific answers as to why the huge 'sister' sharks, haven't been seen at the Farallones in three years. There was no real conclusion about the conservation of the sharks, what the biologist think or what we could do to help. The only thing we're told is that they might be extinct by the next decade. Casey's description of the Islands and wildlife, are detailed and magnificent enough to make me schedule a ride on the 'superfish'. But in the end it just seems a shame that Peter lost is job, over a book that didn't really do the plight & fragility of the Great Whites' existence enough justice.

The book is more accurately subtitled a true story of obsession and survival on the Farallon Islands. While the principal obsession of the biologists and the author was the Great White Sharks that frequent the island, the book is not exclusively shark-centric. Obviously, the readers are likely to be most interested in learning about the sharks of the Farallon Islands. However, the author makes the island, its history, its birds, and the political struggles over access to the island interesting for any reader. There is a good mix of adventure, history, marine biology, oceanography and personalities to keep the reader interested in the author's adventure.

However, the other characters (biologists) are never really developed in any depth. They all tend to blend together--leaving the reader wondering--which biologist is this? While it is abundantly clear that the author did not have the necessary marine skills to attempt her feat, her struggle to live aboard the boat to satisfy her seemingly foolish obsession to witness shark attacks is a page-turning adventure with an easily predictable outcome. Unfortunately, the study of Great White Sharks and the passion of a shark biologist were detrimentally affected by the city-slicker journalist's failed attempt to masquerade as a wanna-be biologist/wanna-be seaman. After reading 291 pages about sharks and life on the Farallon islands, one is left with the conclusion that the author's (mis)adventure created more harm than good for the study of sharks and life on the Farallon islands.

To set the stage for this, I have been to the farallones, I think they are amazing. I picked this book off a friend's shelf, because I needed something to read.

The book starts innocent enough, a story of a woman reporting on biologists, and their relationships with sharks, and the sharks themselves. The story rapidly morphs into her own personal story of how she singlehandedly lost a 60 foot sailboat which had been loaned to the shark project, how she ruined the credibility and validity of the shark research, and got at least one scientist banned from the island.

Disappointingly early, the scientists turn from honest characters into one-dimensional scenery, repetitively described as incarnations of Patagonia advertisements, which might make sense to the editor of Outside magazine, but is rather a thin description for the casual reader. I honestly was surprised when seeing the pictures of the scientists in the book, I could not recognize them from the written description, which for some reason I found seriously disappointing, because no matter how I tried, the scientists were faceless, interchangeable scenery in the same way that women were treated in early 90's pulp Sci-Fi. Was it that she saw them as sex objects? Was she hiding a relationship? What were their motives in letting her on the island ILLEGALLY, in such a way that they knew could both ruin their relationships with PRBO, as well as ruin their research?

Others have stated this, and I'd like to re-iterate this. Susan saw less than a dozen actual attacks first hand and close-up. The vast majority of the attacks are rendered in second or third person accounts, for instance, the incident of Swizzle, a California Sea Lion that was rehabilitated at the Marine Mammal Center, and released at the Farallones because of his perceived human habituation is described in highly judgmental and insulting tones, no less than three times. It is an interesting anecdote, but she misrepresents many facts (I have a friend who was on the boat, I've seen pictures, it happened, but not the way she describes it), and just seems to relish in insulting anyone who approaches the farallones with anything but absolute obsession with the white sharks.

Also, need I mention that she turned her back on people shooting sea lions and potentially endangered Northern Fur Seals or Stellar's Sea Lions... which would be at minimum a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Plus her flagrant violations of the Farallones rules? She seems to relish in breaking the rules just to follow her own selfish quest, which she gives no clear closure to, and seems perfectly happy to stick other people to collect the tab for her own screwups.

"The Devil's Teeth" is a vastly entertaining, very well-written account of one woman's experience out on The Farallon Islands.

Those islands are a particularly inhospitable group of rocks ("rock designed by a cubist on peyote" as she says) sitting off of San Francisco. A small hardy band of researchers study sharks out there, and she went to go check it out.

I'm a "Jaws" freak. I thought I knew everything about sharks. I didn't know ANY of this.

First of all, they are not simply studying "sharks". We're talking about great whites. The big bad ones.The depictions of those fish are unlike any you've read before. You will change the way you think and feel about them.

If possible, you will become even more freaked out about them. They're genuinely scary creatures.

She writes like an impossibly gifted dinner guest, telling stories that have every one at the table mesmerized.
She's colloquial; there are lots of italics and capitalizations and fragments and such. She writes like a real good talker.

Her prose is vivid. The appearance of these sharks, of the researchers, of the islands themselves...all are artfully described. Imagine a shark as wide as "Yao Ming is tall."
Her perspective will make you laugh. When she tries to ram home that sharks have been around for quite some time, she says they "predate trees." Not 'a' tree, but trees in general. When sharks first appeared, plants hadn't yet figured out how to become trees.
When describing the sensation of walking through a gauntlet of kamikaze gulls, she thanks "Alfred Hitchcock" for her "state of mind."
A cormorant becomes someone from "Flintstones central casting." I can't tell you how many times I laughed out loud while reading this book.

And read it I did. As fast as I could. I was fascinated by these relatively new discoveries on "shark character". They don't act like we thought they did (and in general, we don't know that much about them...) and some of the basic fundamentals of shark physiology and behavior are frankly disproven.

These buggers can see just fine. They'll stick their head out of the water to check you out. They have personalities. Different sharks "act" differently. They are not simply the cold killing machines we all thought they were.

They're worse. Really. They're cold CALCULATING killing machines, who have an ability to learn things.

I digress...I could have read volumes more about these sharks, the Sisterhood (the giant, ethereal murderesses) and the Rat Pack (the smaller, more visible but somehow less sinister male cohort)...about Cal Ripfin, Stumpy, Whiteslash. It's like the psychopathic oceanic version of "Watership Down."

Casey also conveys the "lunar isolation" of the colorful folks who "live" out there on those islands. She gives us a taste of the political bureaucracy involved in maintaining that precious environment, and also the delicate nature of those island's own biosphere (in direct contrast to the harsh living conditions).
There is an extended segment of the author trying to live on a sailboat (she's not allowed on the island for technical reasons) just off shore during a harrowing storm. I couldn't imagine trying to row a rowboat between an out-of-control sailboat that has lost her anchor in twenty-foot waves, and a coastline that looks like the place where Darth Vader got his face melted off. And oh yeah, huge sharks circling around, checking out your little boat, wondering how much you look like a fat elephant seal.

There are passages on the history of the islands, on shark research in general...but it's mostly about living on this rock, watching sharks eat seals. And by the way she writes, you will happily go along with her obsession. You yourself will need to know more about these sharks. Her desire is infectious.

I'm going to recommend this book to just about everybody I know...it's a terrific read!

Wow. This author was given the chance of a life-time, to be able to explore the leading edge of scientific research. I imagine that there are many devoted students of biology who would give their right arm for such an opportunity ...

... and she completely blows it, apparently almost single-handedly shutting down a shark research project, having a friend get fired from a job he has worked at for over a decade, and losing a sailboat in the process.

If I had done half the things this author did, I would have been too embarrassed to have a book about my behavior published.

Apparently, this doesn't trouble the author.

Further, the objectification of the male scientists in this book was very disturbing (who care's that one can see every muscle of a male scientist's forearm?!?). Every new male intern who arrived on the island while the author was there seemed to be worthy of objectification. And several references were made about the rugged good looks of the lead scientists (I'm guessing there would have been much more screaming in the reviews had the gender roles been reversed.).

I have no information about the author beyond this book. I have no idea what her personal life is like. But sometimes the author's writing came across as predatory as the sharks she was near. Listening to this audio book, I became so creeped out by the objectification of males that I found myself more guessing which of the scientists the author may have been sleeping with than about the unfolding of the soap opera (that had very little to do with sharks) that the author wrote about.

A better title for this book would have been:

"A Great Opportunity: Squandered"

Finally, a comment about the audio book. Usually, I love when authors read their books. Not this time. The author's reading of her book came across as flat and lifeless. There was hardly any inflection in her voice, as she would describe shark attacks in the same tone she would describe packing her bags.

Recommendation: Skip this book.

I almost bought this book last summer and thought better of it after reading a randomly selected page or two while waiting in line to get a number for the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince release for my then 8-year-old. This last Saturday, I was at the book store again, saw it in paperback, at 20% off, and decided to give it a go.

While it is easy to fault Casey for being selfish in her pursuit of all things toothy and sharky, it is also important to note that this story - not dry, unbiased, scientific facts documenting shark behavior - is the story of her awe and desire driven by 15 foot beasts that the rest of us shark addicts will never have the opportunity to experience in person. I, for one, admire her dedication to discomfort for the small reward of bearing witness to one of nature's most mysterious creatures. Despite her being a bit of a Park Avenue Princess-type, or Bergdorf Blonde - if you will, I found that I respected her more for her shock at which things did not go her way and her bravado with which she faced it head-on. I don't think I'd have stayed on that boat as long as she did, and I live in Nebraska.

That said, this book does provide quite a bit of new knowledge that everyone could do with - though it doesn't seem to focus on just one topic - ranges from Great Whites, to elephant seals, to oceanic avian menaces, to whales, to historically valid information about the Farallon Islands significant role - past and present. Heck, she even touches on pollution. I felt like I was there, on the Farallones, and that was all that mattered to me.

Great read. A bit arrogant, but who cares?