Gone Whaling: A Search for Orcas in Northwest Waters [Paperback]

Douglas Hand (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1996

After seeing a sensual, weathered cedar carving of an orca (killer whale) intertwined with a human being, Douglas Hand sets off for the Pacific Northwest, traveling from aquariums to the wind-blown straits of the Queen Charlotte Islands. He encounters scientists and mystics, and from each perspective gleans insight into the essence of the orca and our relationship to the natural world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

His interest sparked by an exhibit at Manhattan's American Museum of Natural History, the author set out for the Pacific northwest in pursuit of orcas, which are also known as killer whales. Freelance-writer Hand here takes us on a splendid whale-watching journey. After beginning with captive orcas at the Vancouver, B.C., aquarium, he moved to the Center for Whale research in the San Juan Islands, where marine biologists count and identify individual animals. Hand notes that the life expectancy for female orcas is 70 years; for males, 50 years. He next called on Paul Spong, who led the Save the Whales campaign for Greenpeace. Spong's lab on northern Vancouver Island uses hydrophones to record whale sounds. Hand also spent time in the Queen Charlotte Islands looking for orca totems and observing native craftsmen at work. This account will appeal to readers interested in whales and/or northwest folk art. Illustrations. Rodale's Nature Book Society alternate.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

That Hand is a writer, not a scientist, is evident in Gone Whaling, which he wrote almost as a personal journal. Unlike Hal Whitehead's Voyage to the Whales (LJ 5/ 15/90), which explained for a general audience the nonintrusive research techniques the author used for studying the sperm whale, Hand lyrically recounts his travels to the Pacific Northwest to see orcas. He gives these gentle animals, often incorrectly referred to as killer whales, loving treatment. While his book lacks the beautiful color photography of the orca section of Bruce Ebee's Guardians of the Whales (LJ 11/1/92), it does include line drawings. For popular natural history collections. (Illustrations not seen.)-Jean E. Crampon, Hancock Biology & Oceanography Lib., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 223 pages
• Publisher: Sasquatch Books (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570610703
• ISBN-13: 978-1570610707
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,901,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This Author Deserves a Better Editor, September 23, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Gone Whaling: A Search for Orcas in Northwest Waters (Hardcover)

I read this book a few years ago, and I remember thinking that the ideas were extremely interesting, and that the book was reasonably well written. However, the editing was absolutely terrible. It was quite distracting at times, and made the author look bad (but something convinced me at the time that the majority of problems really were editorial ones). Very frustrating. Anyhow, if you're willing to wade through those errors, or if there has been a second edition published, I recommend it. This is a fascinating read for anyone with an interest in a mammal found in every ocean in the world, whether you know more about orcas than the author, or whether you are as new to orca legend as he.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, December 28, 2001

By 

"honsaej" (Hudson, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gone Whaling: A Search for Orcas in Northwest Waters (Hardcover)

This book is spell binding. I haven't even finished it yet, but I have enjoyed every word thus far. The author paints a watery world of murky human-orca relations, and lets the reader accompany him on his quest. If you are at all interested in orcas, their history with humans, native american totems, etc., this book is well worth the price. I have found it to be both spiritual and educational.