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The Shark Chronicles: A Scientist Tracks the Consummate Predator [Paperback]

John Musick (Author), Beverly McMillan (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)


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Book Description

0805073590 978-0805073591 June 1, 2003
“Hands-down . . . the most entertaining and informative shark book I’ve ever read. Written with insight, humor, and great authority.” —Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue Ocean

Few animals elicit the same mythical terror as sharks, and yet we know little about these elusive, ancient creatures. Internationally renowned shark researcher John A. Musick and science writer Beverly McMillan bring us along on a thrilling adventure as they track sharks from fossil quarries in Bear Gulch, Montana, to a nurse shark mating lagoon in the Dry Tortugas. By way of Alaska, Japan, the Bimini islands, and the world’s leading shark-research labs, we discover how sharks navigate using electromagnetic signals, have a bloodhound’s sense of smell, are both cold- and warm-blooded, and possess biochemical weapons that someday might help us fend off tumors and microbes.

Excavating the secret lives of sharks from the dark recesses of the oceans, this captivating scientific exploration challenges us to rethink our relationship with sharks, leaving us with the question: Are humans the prey, or the predator?

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Reading Musick, a Virginia Institute of Marine Science professor, and McMillan (Titanic: Fortune and Fate) is like watching a nature documentary: you're consumed not so much by storytelling as by factoids: sharks have taste buds, have been around for more than 400 million years and can be warm-blooded. Shark stomachs have turned up "license plates, carcasses of dogs, birds, and horses, and sides of rotten beef jettisoned by cruise ships. The navy occasionally finds evidence of shark bites on its submarines." This comprehensive look at the much-feared creatures takes readers from Montana to Mexico to Malaysia, tracing the fish's development from ancient ur-shark to sea king. Musick and McMillan discuss fossil excavations and evolutionary biology, debunk the myth that shark cartilage is a cancer cure and show how the shark became a favorite media scapegoat, all while narrating their own research travels across the globe. These on-the-spot reports can seem somewhat gratuitous and, along with cheeky chapter titles like "The Carnivore Cafe" and "Sex, Sharks, and Videotape," they start to feel like a panicked and unnecessary attempt to compensate for the book's hard-science tilt. Nonetheless, Jaws junkies will eat up the fascinating shark facts sprinkled liberally through the book, and armchair naturalists will enjoy both the evolutionary perspective and the authors' look at the environmental threats facing the shark, a victim of overfishing and "recreation." It seems that even the "consummate predator" is no match for human industry.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

At last! A shark book whose basic premise is that sharks are fascinating and valuable animals to be studied, protected, and preserved. Musick, a shark researcher at Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, and McMillan, his wife and a science writer, have given us a well-written, informative tome that covers all aspects of this greatly misunderstood group of fish, including evolution, reproductive behavior, physiology, and feeding behavior. The authors also discuss the media-hyped frenzy of 2001's "Summer of the Shark" and the very real harm this type of hysteria does to efforts to protect endangered species of sharks, including some of those that get the worst press. While the book is loaded with information, there are just enough anecdotes to capture and hold the reader's interest. Scientific terms are used, but explained, so that the reader is challenged but not discouraged by too much jargon. Unlike the recent Shark: Stories of Life and Death from the World's Most Dangerous Waters, this one is a definite keeper. Highly recommended for all public, college, and high school libraries. Margaret A. Rioux, MBL/WHOI Lib., Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst., MA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (June 1, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0805073590
  • ISBN-13: 978-0805073591
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,542,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Look into the World of the Shark, April 21, 2003
By 
Nick Nalepa (Greenville, SC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
The tales of a shark researcher and his colleagues and friends serve as the vehicle for instructing the reader on the fascinating world of the Shark. This narrative trick works in this book much better than I had anticipated, since the vignettes presented quickly depart from the story of the researchers involved and delve into the secrets of the shark they uncovered instead. And the secrets are fascinating. Shark fossils, shark senses, shark sex, shark behavior, shark attack (of course), threats to sharks and surprising data on shark intelligence are all presented in a book that breezes by too quickly. Well worth the price of admission!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Every shark aficionado should have this book, April 20, 2008
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This review is from: The Shark Chronicles: A Scientist Tracks the Consummate Predator (Paperback)
I'm fascinated by sharks, and so glad I bought this book. It provides an interesting account of sharks and their evolution, and highlights how little we still know of them through first-hand accounts. It can get slightly bogged down in science for a purely casual reader, but provides a wealth of interesting information all the same. It also goes a long way toward dispelling media myths, and recognizing sharks -- with reverence and respect rather than condemnation -- for what they are: apex predators par excellence. Buy this book!
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5.0 out of 5 stars shark, August 29, 2011
This book has a ton of great information, is an easy read, and the delivery is enjoyable. If you want to get some basic and advanced information on the past, present, and future of sharks this is the book to read.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Montana state route 87 heads north from Billings across a great, rolling prairie spotted with gray-green sagebrush. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
shark evolution, shark researchers, other elasmobranchs, sandbar sharks, sand tigers, salmon sharks, shark senses, fin trade, living sharks, female sharks, modern sharks, shark behavior, placoid scales, shark species, shark populations, fossil shark teeth, lemon sharks, mating event, shark dives, bull sharks, angel sharks, most sharks, apex predators, spiral valve, spiny dogfish
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bear Gulch, United States, Sonny Gruber, Carl Luer, George Burgess, North Atlantic, Chesapeake Bay, Ken Goldman, South Africa, Cape Hatteras, Dick Lund, Jeff Carrier, Sea of Cortez, Shelley Applegate, Anthony Anne, Dean Grubbs, North Carolina, Virginia Beach, Wes Pratt, Gulf of Mexico, Hong Kong, Shark Board, Bill Raschi, New England, New York
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