Customer Reviews

Great White Shark

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the most refreshing things about this wonderful book on great white sharks is its unfashionable lack of sentimentality. Ever since the popularity of the movie "Jaws," shark experts have felt obligated to point out to the general public that great whites do not prey on people with any frequency, and that sharks have far more to fear from people than people do from sharks. There are perhaps only a hundred shark attacks on humans recorded every year, with just thirty of those fatal. What's more, these same experts often also claim that many shark attacks may be just a case of mistaken identity -- the shark presumably ripping into what it thinks is a seal or turtle only to discover a foul-tasting diver or surfer, and letting go. There is just enough evidence to make this theory plausible.

Both Richard Ellis and John McCosker are clearly sympathetic to sharks, and they do not sensationalize their subject. But they are also dedicated scientists who want to introduce what is known about the shark to the general public; they realize that the allure and interest surrounding the largest and most famous shark of all - the great white -- is precisely because it is dangerous. There are bigger sharks (whale shark, basking shark). There are bigger predators (sperm whale, killer whale). But there are no larger predators known to initiate unprovoked attacks on humans. Killer whales have never been known to attack humans in the wild. Sperm whales only attack men if they are attacked first. But a handful of species of sharks - the most infamous of which is the great white - will attack and, on rare occasions, eat people. This capability inspires both man's fear and interest in the creature

An incident in Australia (and described in this book) illustrates the potential horror of such attacks. In 1985, in southern Australia, a 33-year-old mother of four, Shirley Durdin, was snorkeling in seven feet of water with two companions, one of whom was her husband. They had been diving in the bay for scallops, when they decided to head to shore. At that moment, a 20-foot white pointer (the great white shark's name in Australia) suddenly attacked Durdin and, in a vicious froth of blood and foam, she was bitten in half. By the time the boats from shore were launched by fishermen trying to rescue her, all they could see was her headless torso, which the shark came back up to snatch and make off with as they watched. It was first confirmed attack in Australia where the great white actually could be seen eating its victim.

This is not just a book about great white shark attacks (although those attacks are comprehensively covered in a very long chapter). Anything you could possibly want to know about the great white is here - morphology, biology, its known habitat, prey, fishing for great whites, the great white in captivity, and its place in literature and cinema. As a result, interesting details abound on all facets of the shark. The largest great white shark ever caught, for example, is probably no longer than 23 feet and most likely no longer than 21 feet. Numerous accounts to the contrary -- including one great white reported to be 36 feet long -- are almost certainly exaggerated accounts, mistaken measurements, or complete fiction. Some researchers believe the great white is oophagous, meaning that baby great whites in the mother's uterus eat each other until only the stronger survive. When born, they measure an astounding four feet long. When fully grown, female great whites sharks are larger than males. More great white shark attacks have been recorded in the central California section between Monterey Bay and just north of San Francisco than anywhere else in the world, including Australia. Great whites can be found in nearly all types of coastal waters, except extreme tropical and extreme artic seas. Finally, they are the only sharks known to attack boats.

Like all of Ellis's work, this is a very well-written book. Just as Ellis is likely to refer to "Moby Dick", when writing about sperm whales, and "Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea", when writing about giant squids, so he discusses American artist John Singleton Copley's "Watson and the Shark" and Winslow Homer's "Gulf Stream" when writing about the great white shark. (Ellis's says that the shark in Copley's painting is definitely not a great white.) He also goes over the plot in "Jaws", pointing out that while the plot is exciting, the science in the story is lacking and the resulting popularity of the film was devastating for the shark. This detailed look at the most fascinating of predators makes for a marvelous book, the best of the nearly dozen on sharks I've read.

Richard Ellis does a wonderful job treating his subject with respect, revealing the Great White Shark as a predator whose reputation is largely undeserved. The book reveals many facets to a powerful animal that can be extremely dangerous to people who intrude upon its domain. But there is no malice toward humans on the shark's behalf, and the book tells it like it is with text that is comprehensive and fun to read. Great White Shark biology is featured in detail, and shark attacks and the reasons behind them (they aren't what most people would think!) are researched with great attention to detail.

The photographs and paintings (done by the author) are superb. Two of the most fascinating sections of the book feature the study of the extinct Charcaradon Megalodon (a massive relative to the Great White whose only earthly remains are fossilized teeth) and the thus-far unsuccessful attempts to keep Great Whites in captivity. The story of "Sandy," a female Great White who was released following an ill-fated tenure in a public aquarium, is actually very touching. It shows how many in the public wished to see the shark's best interests served, while others spoke out against it, seeing only an evil monster.

A wonderful volume on one of nature's most beautiful and infamous creatures.

This is the pefect book if you have an avid interest in the magnificent animal known as the Great White and want a little more to nibble on than what the Discovery Channel provides. The book gives an in depth view of every aspect of the Great White's life, from birth, reproduction, feeding, size, and interactions with humans. It is written on a level which can be enjoyed by the casual reader or devoured by an informed student. The book is full of impressive photos and interesting sidebars. I cannot recomend this book enough. Pick it up, and dive right in!

Ellis, McCosker, and Giddings have produced an informative and entertaining book on the Great White shark. While the book does provide scientific information it does not require that you hold a degree in marine biology or physiology to comprehend the information being presented. Adding to the text are an abundance of quality photographs. I read this book several years ago, but still open it up again and again to re-read passages and look at the photographs. One of the best shark books I have ever read.

I found GREAT WHITE SHARK BY RICHARD ELLIS to be one of the best shark books I have ever read. It's imformative and interesting there's soo much information about GREAT WHITES that you don't want to put the book down. I never knew all that much about GREAT WHITE SHARKS, but after I read this book I felt that I could understand them a lot more and ther'e not what the movies make them out to be. This book is a must read for shark lovers don't miss it!!

Stereotypically, the Shark is portrayed as the very epitome of evil in a manner never applied to terrestrial hunter-killers. None of the big cats or even-bigger bears (and the Polar Bear will actively hunt man!) are as feared as the Shark and none more so than the Great White. Part of the myth may be attributed to their being underwater and, therefore, largely unseen. Nevertheless, people do not go in search of Lions and Bears with raw meat and blood smeared over their clothes in order to attract them to the camera. So why people should react with horror and revulsion when the marine environment's apex predator responds - just as any other hungry creature would respond!, to such freely distributed blood and guts is beyond my understanding.

This book is just about as complete a study of a single species of fish as one might hope to find. Comparisons with other Sharks are included but only serve to complete the work. Before considering the content, however, I do have two criticisms. Richard Ellis is clearly a talented artist but the head-to-body dimensions of his painting of a Great White which appears on the cover are at odds with the dimensions shown in the many of the photographs used throughout the book. Not quite the equivalent of a ponies head on the body of a Shire horse but close.

My other criticism is that Ron and Valerie Taylor are mentioned on 22 pages of this book which would have been much improved had they been absent altogether. In one photograph, Valerie Taylor seeks to portray herself as the female equivalent of medallion man by leaning forward to show maximum cleavage and deliberately reveal the fact that she wears the tooth of a Great White around her neck. Wow! How hard is that! Her questionable antics of attracting sharks to her arm - over which is fitted a chain mail suit covered in bits of fish, blood and gore has done more to demonise the Shark than anything else apart from, perhaps, the film Jaws. As I have commented before, pity she never graduated to using a tin hat! For me, these antics place a large question mark over the Taylor's overall objectivity and one gets the feeling they would do just about anything to promote themselves and the Shark is simply a means to this end.

But, don't let this "below par" contribution spoil an otherwise good product. Simply ignore those pages on which the Taylors are mentioned and move on. It does not detract from an overall appreciation of the product.

The historic detail was particularly refreshing with material I had not previously seen. The section on close relatives and a comparison with the Megalodon were first rate and very instructive. The biology and morphology of the creature also combine to provide the reader with equal measures of educational and technical detail whilst retaining the book's overall readable quality. Shark attacks then takes up a whole 50 pages and, although those well-known and over-used, photos of Henri Bource and Rodney Fox make an obligatory reappearance, the remainder is both fascinating and informative. There then follows items about fishing, the Great White in captivity and comment about the film Jaws.

In a contradictory ending, we find the heading "Can we save the Great White Shark?" On that subject, I would have expected to find a Taylor-free zone but instead, this well-past-their-sell-by-date, shark-fighting, less-than-dynamic, diving duo from down under are there with the female half looking like Barbie Doll at eighty. A photograph on page 246 shows a young boy wearing a T-shirt. The caption reads "Andrew Guest wearing a "Save the Shark" t-shirt; a gift from Valerie Taylor." Bit late don't you think?

Overall, I was tempted to remove a second star for contradiction, but the fact remains this is a pretty good offering. All the technical, background information is here and for that I am grateful.

NM

"The Great White Shark" has enough science babble to keep people like me happy yet is very user friendly in that the prose never gets overly dense. I've been a shark buff since my early youth -when "Jaws" was first on television- and I was able to identify several species by tooth fragments by the time I entered first grade. This is the book I have been waiting for all that time. Ellis' own "The Book Of Sharks" remains, IMHO, *THE* definative work on shark biology/behavior for the non-scientific reader. What TBOS was in a general sense, TGWS is all that and more for this much-maligned species.

The Great White Shark is by far the best investment I have made to date. I picked up the book while working on a Co-op work term from school and could not put the book down. Every aspect of the oceans most respected predator is covered with many dynamic pictures and illustrations (done by Ellis). From learning about it's biology to investigating why we can't keep white pointers in captivity, this book is a must for anyone interested in reading about the king of the sea.

This book was awesome! It was purchased as a gift for my 13-year-old son who loved it. It was full of interesting pictures, facts, and stories about the great white shark. He considers it one of the best books in his "shark library".

The book is great with its info. I could not believe the horror of the picture of the beautiful woman Shirley Anne Durdin and when they describe her being eaten alive...what it must have felt like. The people who watched the shark swim away from their boat said they could see tattered wads of her once-beautiful flesh dangling from its teeth and her arm sticking out. Worse than any scene in "Jaws."