Dolphins [Paperback]

Tim Cahill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2003

Two hundred stunning full-color photographs, including IMAX images, complement a fascinating odyssey into the world of undersea mammals, which provides highlights of the work done by three leading scientists in the field of dolphin research. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

They're smart, they're playful, and they've fascinated humans from time immemorial. Dolphins are among the most mysterious and highly evolved creatures on Earth, boasting extraordinary intelligence, sophisticated communication, and intriguing, thought-provoking social and behavioral qualities. In this superbly illustrated and authoritative book, the dolphin's world comes to colorful life in all its engrossing diversity.

Featuring more than a hundred arresting full-color photographs and IMAX® camera images, and text by best-selling author Tim Cahill, Dolphins is both a portrait of these unique marine mammals with whom we share our planet and a vivid profile of a gifted team of scientists on the frontier of dolphin research, whose firsthand account of what they've learned captures the irresistible challenge of understanding the dolphin's complex world. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792233727
• ISBN-13: 978-0792233725
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 10.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,098,009 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book about beautiful animals, April 11, 2000

By 

Joel Mitchell (Silver Spring, MD, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dolphins (Imax) (Hardcover)

If you're a dolphin freak or a Tim Cahill freak (both of which I am),you're going to like this book. The photographs are just incredible, and as always, Cahill's breezy, sardonic style makes for enjoyable reading.

The book does a good job of not romanticizing the dolphins (If I see one more New Age painting of noble dolphins swimming among a sea of stars, I'll get nauseous) but still conveys an appreciation of these impressive creatures.

Cahill also does a good job of profiling a team of cetologists studying the dolphins.

This isn't hard biology, but there are some interesting sections authored by dolphin investigators, and references for more technical readings in the notes.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tim Cahill's newest book, Dolphins -- a must!, July 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Dolphins (Imax) (Hardcover)

This high quality hardbound book is a tome of sorts to state-of-the art wild dolphin scientific research and the personalities of some of their researchers. Spellbinding, graphic text replete with dozens of large format full color portraits -- captured primarily for its sister IMAX film -- Dolphins contains a pirate's treasure of newly-found knowledge to permeate the casual reader's grey matter. Intended primarily for lay audiences; but, with enough quantitative analysis to keep the most discerning scientist interested, Dolphins saturates the reader with a feeling that he's watching and researching the dolphins alongside the real scientists. Conservative in the Aldo Leopold sense of the word, Cahill provides the facts and lets the reader reach his/her own conclusions regarding the impacts of man on some dwindling dolphin populations.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Keeper!, April 13, 2000

By 

Phillip Crabtree - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dolphins (Imax) (Hardcover)

I found, after seeing MacGillivray Freeman's IMAX film Dolphins, that I wanted to know more. The book follows the basis of the film, but goes into much more detail. This book is a superb account of what it is like to study and be around dolphins in the WILD. Cahill's style of writing makes you feel as if you are with him each night as he recounts a day of activity and research. He doesn't "write down" to the reader, i.e., you feel as if you're right there with him, learning along the way. He conveys a true sense of real-life scientific adventure that is fun and intriguing. The incredible pictures alone, many from the IMAX film, are worth buying the book for. I'm a conservative and will not tolerate "tree-hugger" political agendas. This book, like the film, is far from being one that attempts to drill dolphin conservation into your head. Instead, it offers a refreshing angle that provides the reader the knowledge to draw his/her own conclusions about these fascinating animals. Even the lovely scientist, Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski, who Cahill makes the main subject of the book, lets the dolphins "sell themselves" vs. her preaching conservation. It is quite enlightening and is certainly one to keep on the coffee table.