Customer Reviews

Dolphin Mysteries: Unlocking the Secrets of Communication

5 star:		(6)
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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Marc Bekoff wrote the forward - Bonus! When one of the reviewers wrote, "Hallelujah-this is the book I''ve been waiting for. Everyone who loves dolphins, everyone interested in the science of animal behavior, everyone who cares about preserving the life of the seas must get this riveting book", I had to agree.

I am particular about books that try to cover science and entertain the reader at the same time and admittedly, often don't think they're done well. But Dudzinski & Frohoff get it right and kept me enthralled in the mystery of dolphins; in sharing their pioneering work in dolphin communication as well as dolphin-human communication. Their combined forty years of underwater research takes you where the dolphins actually live underwater - not just where other most other researchers just get peeks of them from the surface. This book establishes them as pioneers in dolphin research.

I found this most helpful to my own research as a wolf biologist and conservationist. How can we learn how to protect wolves from what we learn about their societies, their minds, personalities, emotions, and even their cultures?

If you want to know what its like to communicate with dolphins, or at least try to, you'll love this book. Like me, you'll likely be immersed!

I am a master's student in biology and I have been trying to read every current book about dolphins I can get my hands on for my thesis. I want to know about these incredible animals not just below skin, deep but about where they live, under the sea. Few books address this and the authors are on the cutting edge of such research. Pioneering scientific information, yet really well written. Whoever the reviewer was who said it was hard to follow with the two voices of the two authors must really want something very simple and impersonal. This first-hand written experience enhanced the book to me and gave me a better idea of what it is like to be a dolphin scientist. I have learned so much about dolphin communication, emotion, and even interspecies dolphin-human communication (all very tightly documented and studied by the authors themselves). My #1 dolphin book (for now, anyway!).

This book grips you right from the start, not unlike dolphins. A truly fascinating look at how dolphins communicate written in a very easy to understand and entertaining way by people who clearly have tremendous experience in this field. The book takes you into the world of dolphins in their environment and reveals the extraordinary and sophistocated way they relate to each other. I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys reading and learning about marine mammals or animals in general.

Absorbing everything informative about cetaceans may have hindered my enjoyment of this book. I didn't find any mysteries revealed
There was no mention of the dolphins ability to stun prey with their sonar, nor any information disproving it.

The style of interweaving comments was more distracting and not helpful, since even the photograph had no means of distinguishing them as indiviuals.

Overall this book was a disappointment. No mystery--except--, perhaps some of the more bizarre doings of Lilly and why was it published with that title?

Anyone interested in dolphins simply MUST read DOLPHIN MYSTERIES.
In it, the latest science on dolphin behavior and discoveries regarding dolphin intelligence are explored and updated, along with marvelous anecdotes from professionals with years of valuable experience in the field. The insights gleaned are at once fresh and reliable, making this a fine and informative read, furnished with fabulous photographs. Dolphin Mysteries is a must have for the personal library of anyone fascinated with these incredible and complex creatures.

--Leah Lemieux, author of REKINDLING THE WATERS:The Truth About Swimming with Dolphins.

I was really looking forward to this book, but after reading it, I feel I really haven't learned much about dolphin cognition and communication. First, the book is extremely repetitive. For example, in the first two chapters, the authors says that dolphins are "egregious" animals, again and again and again. And then in the middle of the book they say how they touch with pectoral fins and how this can mean different things in different contexts, again and again and again. And in the last chapter they say how loud noises can adversely affect dolphins, again and again and again. The book could have been shortened by a factor of a few without any loss of information. Second, the style is really annoying: the book was obviously written by two people as it is a bit incoherent at times and they often say things like "I (Toni) observed this and that" and then Kathleen thinks this and that and then we are served a thick dose of emotional stuff about how they love dolphins and oceans. I bought this book to learn about dolphins and not about Toni and Kathleen, so passive voice with some information might be more helpful. Finally, when they come to the really interesting stuff, they don't go into any detail. For example, they explain the false belief task challenge and then they say that there is some reason to believe that dolphins have passed this task, without any elaboration whatsoever. Sure, I could go and find the source paper, but I bought the book precisely because I don't have time to do things like that...

A wonderful guide to the most up to date and collective scientific data on dolphin intelligence, behavior and the field of dolphin emotions.

Both Authors give us an in depth analysis of how understanding the behaviors of dolphins helps us understand what they may be thinking and feeling and how we as humans can better respect them knowing this information.

The book goes into challenging the myth of dolphin happiness, where dolphins are perceived as always being "happy go lucky" and how this perceptual lens masks what data and evidence tells us is not always so.
1) Authors present convincing evidence that dolphins do not always want our company around them.
2) dolphins have behaved aggressively with human swimmers when stressed
3) and our constant presence in the water disturbs their natural activities leading some dolphins to even avoid areas where human presence has been too much.

The book goes into wonderful detail about those amazing "solitary, social dolphins" that seem to only want human attention, negative and positive human impacts on dolphin species in and out of their natural environment, and we as humans now understanding more about dolphins should respect them.

As a student of wildlife and in particular marine mammals I have accumulated a lot of information on dolphins and through reading this book I have encountered some things I already knew, but learned FAR MORE what I didn't know and understand.

Finally, a book that helps me understand what dolphins may be saying to each other and to us. Changed my perception of these animals so I appreciate them even more. I would like to see more video about what these authors have documented here. However, the illustrations are superb.

This book is lame, a mere regurgitation of what was said before countless times, no original studies, nothing. Boring! Author fails to arouse any interest in this subject. Here you get another "Pop psychology" aka "pop animal behavior" book. Half-baked, half-interesting...spare yourself time and money; watch clips on youtube, much more entertaining and educational!