The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World’s Most Coveted Fish

Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood

Taras Grescoe · 326 pages

Dividing his sensibilities between Epicureanism and ethics, Taras Grescoe set out on a nine-month, worldwide search for a delicious--and humane--plate of seafood. What he discovered shocked him. From North American Red Lobsters to fish farms and research centers in China, Bottomfeeder takes readers on an illuminating tour through the $55-billion-dollar-a-year seafood industry. Grescoe examines how

Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them

Donovan Hohn · 402 pages

When the writer Donovan Hohn heard of the mysterious loss of thousands of bath toys at sea, he figured he would interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, and read up on Arctic science and geography. But questions can be like ocean currents: wade in too far, and they carry you away. Hohn's accidental odyssey pulls him into the secretive world of shipping conglomerates, the daring

War of the Whales: A True Story

Joshua Horwitz · 448 pages

"The tale of a crusading attorney who stumbles on one of the U.S. Navy's best-kept secrets: a submarine detection system that floods entire ocean basins with high-intensity sound--and drives whales onto beaches. As Joel Reynolds launches a legal fight to expose and challenge the Navy program, marine biologist Ken Balcomb witnesses a mysterious mass stranding of whales near his research station in

The Log from the Sea of Cortez

John Steinbeck · 286 pages

This exciting day-by-day account of Steinbeck's trip to the Gulf of California with biologist Ed Ricketts, drawn from the longer Sea of Cortez, is a wonderful combination of science, philosophy, and high-spirited adventure.

Shark Drunk: The Art of Catching a Large Shark from a Tiny Rubber Dinghy in a Big Ocean

Morten A. Stroksnes · 307 pages

In the great depths surrounding the Lofoten islands in Norway lives the infamous Greenland shark. At twenty-six feet in length and weighing more than a ton, it is truly a beast to behold. But the shark is not just known for its size alone: its meat contains a toxin that, when consumed, has been known to make people drunk and hallucinatory. Shark Drunk is the true story of two friends, the author a

The Sea Inside

Philip Hoare · 374 pages

In this book the author sets out to rediscover the sea and its islands, birds, and beasts. Starting at his home on the shores of Britain's Southampton Water and moving in ever widening circles, like the migration patterns of whales, he explores London, the Isle of Wight, the Azores, Sri Lanka, Tasmania, and New Zealand. As he weaves together literary and natural history, we encounter memorable peo

The Silent World

Jacques-Yves Cousteau · 242 pages

The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery & Adventure, by the 1st Men to Swim at Record Depths w/the Freedom of Fish is a '53 book coauthored by Capt Jacques-Yves Cousteau & Frédéric Dumas, edited by James Dugan. Tho French, Cousteau wrote it in English. It's the basis of the '56 Academy Award winning The Silent World. As of its 50th anniversary it has been translated into 22 languages, sold

Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity

David Kirby · 469 pages

A scientific thriller that exposes the dark side of America's most beloved marine mammal park. It centers on the battle with the multimillion-dollar marine park industry over the controversial and even lethal ramifications of keeping killer whales in captivity. Following the story of marine biologist and animal advocate at the Humane Society of the United States, Naomi Rose, the author tells the s

Arctic Dreams

Barry Lopez · 464 pages

This is an account of the author's exploration of the Western Arctic region, between Bering Strait and Davis Strait. It is an account both of the natural history of the Arctic, and equally of how the Arctic grips the human spirit and imagination.\ The chapters are rich in their descriptions of the Arctic –of the physical land itself, the native peoples that the author met, the Arctic animals and

Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks

Juliet Eilperin · 295 pages

In this globe-spanning adventure, environmental journalist Juliet Eilperin investigates the ways different individuals and cultures relate to the ocean's top predator. Along the way, she reminds us why, after millions of years, sharks remain among nature's most awe-inspiring creatures. From Belize to South Africa, from Shanghai to Bimini, sharks are still the object of an obsession that may eventu

Kon-Tiki: Across The Pacific In A Raft

Thor Heyerdahl · 239 pages

Presents the Kon-Tiki expedition led by explorer Thor Heyerdahl as he and his crew travel from South America and Polynesia on a raft made from balsa wood.

Voices in the Ocean: A Journey into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins

Susan Casey · 302 pages

Through dolphins, we can see the best and worst of mankind. On average, seventy four dolphins wash up on the Gulf of Mexico's north shore every year. In the first half of 2012, there were eight hundred and ninety-one of them, with stillborn baby dolphins washing up at ten times the average yearly rate. The cause? BP's disastrous oil spill in 2010. For decades mankind's actions have led to the deat

The Sewing Circles of Herat: A Personal Voyage Through Afghanistan

Christina Lamb · 352 pages

The City of Falling Angels

John Berendt · 425 pages

The author of the record-breaking bestseller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil unveils the enigmatic Venice as only he canIt was twelve years ago that Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil achieved a record-breaking four-year run on the New York Times bestseller list. John Berendt's inimitable brand of nonfiction brought the dark mystique of Savannah so startlingly to life for millions of

Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women

Geraldine Brooks

Stringer: A Reporter's Journey in the Congo

Anjan Sundaram · 265 pages

A journalist who has reported from Africa and the Middle East presents a memoir about his life-threatening, disorienting year of self-discovery in one of the world's most conflicted nations in 2005-2006.

Black Earth: A Journey Through Russia After the Fall

Andrew Meier · 516 pages

"Andrew Meier stood witness to the tumultuous final years of the USSR. But when many other journalists had taken leave of this vexed and beguiling land, believing it drained of stories. Meier returned, covering Russia and the former Soviet states as a Moscow correspondent for Time magazine from 1996 to 2001. In all, Meier reported from the lands of the former Soviet Union longer than almost any ot

Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms & a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories

Simon Winchester · 495 pages

Into the Wild

Jon Krakauer · 207 pages

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose

Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion-Dollar Trash Trade

Adam Minter · 284 pages

"When you drop your Diet Coke can or yesterday's newspaper in the recycling bin, where does it go? Probably halfway around the world, to people and places that clean up what you don't want and turn it into something you can't wait to buy. In Junkyard Planet, Adam Minter-- veteran journalist and son of an American junkyard owner-- travels deeply into a vast, often hidden, multibillion-dollar indust

No Way Down: Life and Death on K2

Graham Bowley · 288 pages

"A dramatic account of the worst disaster in the history of mountain climbing on K2, the world's second highest peak"--

Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America's Strangest Jail

Rusty Young, Thomas McFadden · 400 pages

"Inspired by the description of San Pedro prison in La Paz, Bolivia, in the Lonely Planet Guidebook - and in particular by the 'English-speaking' tours it advertised -- Rusty Young decided to visit the notorious jail. The tour was given by inmate Thomas McFadden, a British citizen arrested for drug smuggling. They struck up a friendship, and Young ended up spending for months in San Pedro, listeni

The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World's Greatest Piece of Cheese

Michael Paterniti · 349 pages

In the picturesque village of Guzma n, Spain, in a cave on the edge of town, there is a cramped limestone chamber known as "the telling room." This is where villagers have gathered for centuries to share their stories and secrets--usually accompanied by copious amounts of wine. It was here, in the summer of 2000, that Michael Paterniti found himself listening to a Spanish cheesemaker as he spun an

Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism

Elizabeth Becker · 456 pages

Travel is no longer a past-time but a colossal industry, arguably one of the biggest in the world and second only to oil in importance for many poor countries. One out of twelve people in the world are employed by the tourism industry which contributes $6.5 trillion to the world's economy. To investigate the size and effect of this new industry, the author traveled the globe. She speaks to the Min