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| Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us | 
| Author: Alexandra Morton
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $8.90
You Save: $6.05 (40%)
New (26) from $8.90
Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 174938
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0345442881
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.5092
EAN: 9780345442888
ASIN: 0345442881
Publication Date: June 1, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW
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Product Description
In Listening to Whales, Alexandra Morton shares spellbinding stories about her career in whale and dolphin research and what she has learned from and about these magnificent mammals. In the late 1970s, while working at Marineland in California, Alexandra pioneered the recording of orca sounds by dropping a hydrophone into the tank of two killer whales. She recorded the varied language of mating, childbirth, and even grief after the birth of a stillborn calf. At the same time she made the startling observation that the whales were inventing wonderful synchronized movements, a behavior that was soon recognized as a defining characteristic of orca society.
In 1984, Alexandra moved to a remote bay in British Columbia to continue her research with wild orcas. Her recordings of the whales have led her to a deeper understanding of the mystery of whale echolocation, the vocal communication that enables the mammals to find their way in the dark sea. A fascinating study of the profound communion between humans and whales, this book will open your eyes anew to the wonders of the natural world.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Listening to Whales By: Alexandra Morton November 30, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
'Listening to Whales' was a touching story of how a women's life was enchanted through her passion for marine life. We follow the author, Alexandra Morton, through her life and career- which often go hand in hand- as she evolved as a marine scientist and a woman devoted to her love: the orcas. We are taken from her first job as an acoustics expert in Marineland to her more profound passion which is to examine the killer whales in their natural habitat; the open ocean. This book was not only captivating, but as I read through it I learned so many fun facts about orcas and dolphins and the life of a marine enthusiast.
My favorite aspect of the book was the way she explained how her extreme passion for orcas came to be. I loved learning about how her love for marine life evolved from her love of frogs and grew from there. I find it so fascinating that as a small child something like loving frogs has evolved for decades and turned into her fulltime career. It proved how dedicated she has been to her work for so long and how there is constantly so much more to learn. I loved how she dedicated her young life to follow her dream, and this story showed how far you can come if you are persistent and dedicated.
There wasn't any specific part of the book I didn't like. It was a story of this brilliant woman's dreams and stories, I don't think anyone is to say there was something wrong with it; it's an unedited, unchangeable story of her life. I think she had a good balance of her life-stories and experiences and her knowledge and history of her life with the whales. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in marine life or anyone who has a passion that they want to persue. It's a very inspiring story, which makes the book good for almost anyone.
learning about whales November 30, 2005
Alexandra Morton's book, "Listening to Whales" is a fantastic story of how she came to study and love dolphins and killer whales. Morton grabs the reader's attention from the beginning by telling of her childhood and how she came to love animals and research. She was first intrerested in frogs, then snakes, then moved onto dolphins and eventually to killer whales. Morton's story of how she started her career was fascinating, and all about meeting the right people at the right times. She started slow but her passion willingness to learn kept her going. After years of tedious work, Morton finally landed a job at Marineland where her first job was to study the sounds that dolphins make. By using a hydrophone, Morton was able to listen to the dolphins, but there were many problems in her studies. One problem was that the dolphins were too fast for her to write cooresponding notes, and also, she wasn't able to figure out which dolphin was making which noise. Two killer whales that also happened to be in Marineland started Morton's true interest on killer whales.
Morton's career has let her listen to these killer whales, witness a birth, and uncover habits of these creatures that no one at first believed. Morton then goes into the wild to listen to and observe these beauties in their natural habitats. Morton continues to study killer whales in the wild and learns a lot from listening to these whales communicate.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought it was interesting that Morton gave a lot of information on her personal life and background and told the readers of how she started her career. I thought the way she opened the book got the reader's attention from the start and built up her ethos. The only weakness to the book I'd say is that it is a little slow at the beginning. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about killer whales, or anyone who wants to hear the story of how a young, animal loving girl, grew up to be a wonderful scientist. This is story is one of "following your dreams". Morton did what she loved and knew she wanted to do, even when discouraged by others. Aspiring scientists and whale lovers would love this book.
Listening to Whales November 29, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The novel "Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us" tells Alexandra Morton's story of how she dedicated her life to studying marine mammals, in particular killer whales, in captivity and in the wild. In addition, it describes the struggles she encountered along the way, such as caring for her young son on her own. After finishing this novel, the reader feels like she is an expert on killer whales, due to the clear descriptions Morton gives on the lifestyle, habits, and traits of the species. I felt that for the parts of the novel when Morton described her life aside from the whales, though, that she skipped over details, making it seem like events occurring over a long period of time were instead occurring over a matter of a few days. I would definitely recommend this book, especially to anyone interested in learning about killer whales and how important it is for people to protect their species.
A researcher's life study of the complex marine mammal, the killer whale November 29, 2005
The book, Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us, is a spellbinding story of a woman's stuggle through life as she relentlessly studies killer whales. She brings us with her through her life's work of note taking and photo identification of the whales as she raises children, survives as a single mom in the wilderness, and falls in love. Alexandra Morton also teaches us of our human errors and our insensitive treatment of nature, as we do whatever is needed to fill our own pockets with more money, acting naive to how it is affecting the world around us. I especially enjoyed the peace and serenity of the novel. The setting and the whales themselves calms the nerves. I think it makes us all somewhat jealous of life outside of busy streets and many people. However, like with all autobiographies, the author can not control what has already happened, which makes the story move slow at the times when not a lot happened in the author's life. I would definitely recommend this novel, especially to anyone wishing to learn about whales and to anyone who loves reading about the serene and complexity of nature.
 amazing November 29, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Listening to Whales is a wonderful story of a woman's life in the wild and the beautiful creatures she has devoted her life to. This auto-biography of the life of Alex Morten follows her journey through studying dolphin noises to captive dolphins to captive orcas and finally spending 25 years in the wilderness off the western coast of Canada studying killer whales in the wild. This story is so powerful and definitely shows us how important and intelligent these creatures are. Aside from retelling the moving story of how the whales thrived in those empty waters to completely leaving the same land with the coming of fish farms, this novel teaches the reader so much about this whale species, their culture and their environment. This is a must read for anyone interested in the preservation of the once pristine waters that are home to the killer whales and other marine animals--such as dolphins, porpoises, salmon, seals and otters--and for anyone who finds these beautiful and smart animals at all intriguing. Morton will make any reader fall in love with orcas as she takes the readers out on the waters in her boat, watching the whales live, play, love, and die. The end of the novel becomes more of a commentary on the industries--fish farming in particular--that destroy natural ecosystems. Morton leaves the touching story of her whales as they leave the once peaceful waters near her home, and throws a lot of political jargon at the reader. Though what she has to say is quite shocking, and definitely will leave the reader understanding the terrible effects of such an industry, the constant barrage of numbers and statistics that Morton uses to get her point across can become quite tiresome. However, it makes the final beautiful pages of this novel all the more emotionally touching. This book is amazing, and will definitely leave any reader feeling the same love that Morton does towards killer whales.
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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