Eels

Zusatztext The 50-million-year-old species wouldn't seem a likely subject for a riveting natural history bookit is covered in slime, after allbut Prosek pulls it off, thanks mostly to the rabid eel aficionados he digs up. Informationen zum Autor James Prosek is a writer and artist. Dubbed the Audubon of the fishing world by the New York Times , his books include Trout , The Complete Angler , and Fly-Fishing the 41st . He lives in Easton, Connecticut. Klappentext They spawn in the middle of the ocean but spend their adult lives in freshwater. They can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and even cross over land. They are revered as guardians and monster-seducers by New Zealand's Maori, yet are often viewed with disgust in the West. They are a multibillion-dollar business in the Asian food market. They are often mistaken for snakes. They are eelsone of the world's most amazing and least understood fish. ( Yes, fish. ) James Prosek offers a fascinating tour through the life history and cultural associations of the freshwater eel, exploring its biology, its myth and lore, its mystery and beauty. Eels is a mesmerizing biography of an intriguing and mysterious creature, as well as a telling look at humanity, the will to persist, and the ever-changing relationship between man and the natural world. Zusammenfassung Eels [is] more than a fish book. It is an impassioned defense of nature itself. . . . [Prosek] passes on the truth that the often disdained eel, like all migratory fish, is vital and mysterious and worthy of our full effort to bring it back. New York Times Book Review A wonderful account of far-flung travels in pursuit of the secrets of the earth's most mysterious fish. . . . Fascinating and beautifully rendered. Peter Matthiessen Famous for his deeply informed, compulsively readable books on trout, James Prosek (whom the New York Times has called the Audubon of the fishing world) takes on nature's quirkiest and most enigmatic fish: the eel. Fans of Mark Kurlansky's Cod and The Big Oyster or Trevor Corson's The Secret Life of Lobsters will love Prosek's probing exploration of the hidden deep-water dwellers. With characteristically captivating prose and lavish illustrations, Prosek demystifies the eel's unique biology and bizarre mating routines, and illuminates the animal's varied roles in the folklore, cuisine, and commerce of a variety of cultures. ...

“The 50-million-year-old species wouldn’t seem a likely subject for a riveting natural history book—it is covered in slime, after all—but Prosek pulls it off, thanks mostly to the rabid eel aficionados he digs up.”

Autorentext

James Prosek is a writer and artist. Dubbed “the Audubon of the fishing world” by the New York Times, his books include Trout, The Complete Angler, and Fly-Fishing the 41st. He lives in Easton, Connecticut.

Klappentext

They spawn in the middle of the ocean but spend their adult lives in freshwater. They can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and even cross over land. They are revered as guardians and monster-seducers by New Zealand’s Maori, yet are often viewed with disgust in the West. They are a multibillion-dollar business in the Asian food market. They are often mistaken for snakes. They are eels—one of the world’s most amazing and least understood fish. (Yes, fish.)

James Prosek offers a fascinating tour through the life history and cultural associations of the freshwater eel, exploring its biology, its myth and lore, its mystery and beauty. Eels is a mesmerizing biography of an intriguing and mysterious creature, as well as a telling look at humanity, the will to persist, and the ever-changing relationship between man and the natural world.

Zusammenfassung

“Eels [is] more than a fish book. It is an impassioned defense of nature itself. . . . [Prosek] passes on the truth that the often disdained eel, like all migratory fish, is vital and mysterious and worthy of our full effort to bring it back.”   — New York Times Book Review

“A wonderful account of far-flung travels in pursuit of the secrets of the earth’s most mysterious fish. . . . Fascinating and beautifully rendered.” — Peter Matthiessen

Famous for his deeply informed, compulsively readable books on trout, James Prosek (whom the New York Times has called “the Audubon of the fishing world”) takes on nature’s quirkiest and most enigmatic fish: the eel. Fans of Mark Kurlansky’s Cod and The Big Oyster or Trevor Corson’s The Secret Life of Lobsters will love Prosek’s probing exploration of the hidden deep-water dwellers. With characteristically captivating prose and lavish illustrations, Prosek demystifies the eel’s unique biology and bizarre mating routines, and illuminates the animal’s varied roles in the folklore, cuisine, and commerce of a variety of cultures.