Customer Reviews

Orca: Visions of the Killer Whale

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A few months ago National Geographic had an article on orcas that basically persuaded me that this was an animal I wanted to learn a lot more about. I shopped around on Amazon, and decided that this would be the best book for starters. Now that I've read it, I think I was probably right: and if your situation is similar, I recommend it.

Now the text is not for kids. I shared it with a young orca enthusiast, and we couldn't even get through the picture captions. But for adults without degrees in biology, this is probably the most informative and descriptive text available. For a good sample, look at the description of seal hunting technique on pages 73 and 75.

(Another one to check out is "Cetacean Societies." The text is a step heavier, the subject broader; yet it just might be what the curious scientifically-literate adult ordered. This book may actually be a bit simple if you've read many science books. For instance, check out the history of evolution on p. 22. Compare that to another pop-sci book, Carl Zimmer's "Fish with Fingers.")

The pictures are great for everyone. I was a little wary after reading about the "haunting" photo on the cover, which I judge as actually very ordinary. But inside the book it gets better.

On page 25, there's a great view of the mouth and teeth of an orca, as close as you'd probably ever like to get; on 59, a picture of a birth taking place; on 60, a picture of a mother petting her calf; on 87, a picture of a calf nursing; on 92, a picture of a whale playing with kelp. Those are great shots, IMO; illustrating the life of an orca, rather than merely arial acrobatics (pictures of which are included plentifully).

Some people will care a lot about the quality of the photos, which are varied: the surface photos are uniformly excellent, but underwater, I guess you take what you can get, especially in the wild.

(David Suzuki's foreward argues against having orcas captive in small pools; that evidently upset a previous reviewer. Well, it's just an opinion, and a reasonable one at least.)

I was very dissapointed by David Suzuki and his biased view-points about killer whales and society. However the rest of the book, makes up for a sour start

I reckon it's the best i've ever seen, MAD