The Whale Warriors: The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet's Largest Mammals

Prices for book: The Whale Warriors: The Battle at the Bottom of the World to Save the Planet's Largest Mammals

Book ISBN: 9781416532460

Author(s): Peter Heller

Document type: Trade Cloth

Publisher: Unknown

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Reviews

Whale Hunting is Illegal, and Stupid

Rating: 100%

Hunting whales for food violates international law. So the Japanese claim to be conducting scientific experiments on the whales then eating the subjects of the experiments. Eating whale meat violates common sense. Whale flesh, according to Heller and Watson, is so full of mercury, DDT, PCB's and other toxins, known to cause brain damage, liver, kidney, and endocrine failure, that it is unsafe to eat. So the Japanese feed their children. Are they nuts?

Are "science experiments" in butchering whales or creating different recipes allowed by the treaty?

Is the real experiment that the Japanese are conducting "What will happen first, epidemic Parkinsons among Japanese or extinction of whales?"

These latter questions are not answered by Heller's book. However, regarding "Are the Japanese nuts?" the answer is "Yes."

LJFurman (Amazon.com)

The real story behind the whale wars

Rating: 100%

I really enjoy the Animal Planet Whale Wars series and this book is really the "true story" of the adventures of the crew of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society who are on a mission to stop Japanese whaling vessels in Antarctica.

Not only a riveting tale of the crew and its passion for saving whales (they will stop at nothing and essentially are real-life pirates), it is also a ray of light shining on the importance of conserving our most precious resource - the oceans and those who inhabit them.

SBradley (Amazon.com)

Something that matters

Rating: 100%

I echo many of the sentiments already expressed in the reviews here. I feel changed after reading this book. I finished it feeling angry, incredibly sad, frustrated and totally inspired all at once. I return to my day job fixating on how much I'd rather be doing something that actually matters and saving the oceans like these guys. My heart is absolutely out there with the Sea Shepherds. In this messed up world, with the impending threat of a total collapse of life in the oceans, everything else just pales in significance.

Go check out the "Whale Wars" DVD series too. Compelling stuff.

Pam (Amazon.com)

A heap of hard choices

Rating: 80%

I ordered this book for my Kindle 2 and have been engrossed in it since the first page.

This book isn't the love-fest one supposes. The author, while not understanding the rationalization for whaling, does express mutilple concerns with regard to the safety of the crew and others on the Oceans with them. And he's got valid points.

Let me start by saying that the mammals of the water have been my favorite animals since childhood. I abhor their mistreatment and celebrate their majesty. As a woman of Christian faith, I am of the mindset that the animals of the ocean are in tune with the miracle of Creation and the Creator, as are all other animals. I'm of the opinion that hunting should not be a sport, but for sustenance needs. If you kill it, you eat it, or wear it because there was nothing else around to wear. Period. And any hunting should be a fair fight. If you're bringing a high tech weapon to fight an animal who is pretty much defenseless against it, you haven't got the skills to go sustenance hunting anyway.

Therefore, the current position on whaling doesn't make much sense to me when we have so many resources for food in the 21st century. This isn't indigenous sustenance (which I don't really have a problem with). This is several big buck countries continuing a tradition that doesn't even seem cost effective.

Having said that, I love biographies about charismatic leaders and the people who give up everything to follow them. This book is an interesting psychological study of one man with a history of a troubled childhood on a mission to punish a group of humans for their violence against defenseless animals. One cannot tell if he's at war with the whalers or the past.

And that's why this book is so frightening in so many parts. Seeing graphic descriptions of how the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society harbors some volunteers who openly verbally HATE humanity on every level puts new perspective on their actions. Some of the crew seems not to be coming from a place of love of nature, but from a hatred of humans, for whatever reason. How are you going to protect the human next to you on the Sea Shepherd boat if you really just hate all humans?

It's creepy to read the quotes in so many parts of the book wishing that all humans would be killed, all meat eaters shot, etc. The crew on this ship are reminding me a little too much of the guy from Grizzly Man. There are folks in this book who would hate me just for having had two children. It's almost a little culty.

Captain Watson and his crew have been called racists by whaling proponents, namely, Japanese and Native population whalers. To be sure, there is an air of superiority in their conversations, but it seems to be equal opportunity condescension. The dialogue attacks many groups and elevates animals to almost benevolent deity status; a status that I cannot understand as animals are complex enough to have their own social issues and mores, some of which aren't that nice. Just like human animals.

This book has raised more questions for me than answers. Namely, I'm really concerned about the Sea Shepherd tactics with regard to what they do to other boats. My concern isn't just for the other boats, but for the whales. If a Japanese whaling boat goes down in the Ocean after having propellers messed with, or having been rammed by another boat; what happens to the fuel it was carrying? Yes, they aren't whaling then, but what are the pollutants doing? What happens to the things on the boat that are toxic for the Oceans? What happens to the wildlife in the area? What happens if the Sea Shepherd boat goes down? And what are we doing about the pushing of marine mammals to extinction? Don't they deserve earth as well?

The book is a study in contradictions, written masterfully by someone who knows he's in over his head as soon as they're on the open ocean. I still don't have any answers about this problem. The book recently allowed me to open up a meaningful dialogue with a co-worker who is an active animal rights activist and vegan. Surpise, we had more in common with regard to animal rights than we had opposed. It prompts conversation, which is a wonderful thing.

Grown woman (Amazon.com)

The World Needs to Know

Rating: 80%

Whales and politics - who would have thought they'd ever come together the way they have? National ideologies make for unfortunate entanglements that have led to the continuation of the hunt of globally endangered species.

So, when nations disregard the signs of pending extinction, who is supposed to act to save the world's whales? Those folks who care most. There are different methods of response, of course, from passive to violent. Heller focuses on the latter, the active resistance to human indifference to the disappearance of our biggest creatures.

The book focuses on the Sea Shepherd Society, its founder, its rocky relationship with Greenpeace, and the war it's fighting off Antarctica against Japanese whaling ships. Their tactics will surprise you, but then, in their minds, they can't not act.

John Galluzzo (Amazon.com)

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