What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins
- ISBN-10
- 0374714339
- ISBN-13
- 9780374714338
- Category
- Nature
- Pages
- 304
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2016-06-07
- Publisher
- Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Author
- Jonathan Balcombe
Description
A New York Times Bestseller Do fishes think? Do they really have three-second memories? And can they recognize the humans who peer back at them from above the surface of the water? In What a Fish Knows, the myth-busting ethologist Jonathan Balcombe addresses these questions and more, taking us under the sea, through streams and estuaries, and to the other side of the aquarium glass to reveal the surprising capabilities of fishes. Although there are more than thirty thousand species of fish—more than all mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians combined—we rarely consider how individual fishes think, feel, and behave. Balcombe upends our assumptions about fishes, portraying them not as unfeeling, dead-eyed feeding machines but as sentient, aware, social, and even Machiavellian—in other words, much like us. What a Fish Knows draws on the latest science to present a fresh look at these remarkable creatures in all their breathtaking diversity and beauty. Fishes conduct elaborate courtship rituals and develop lifelong bonds with shoalmates. They also plan, hunt cooperatively, use tools, curry favor, deceive one another, and punish wrongdoers. We may imagine that fishes lead simple, fleeting lives—a mode of existence that boils down to a place on the food chain, rote spawning, and lots of aimless swimming. But, as Balcombe demonstrates, the truth is far richer and more complex, worthy of the grandest social novel. Highlighting breakthrough discoveries from fish enthusiasts and scientists around the world and pondering his own encounters with fishes, Balcombe examines the fascinating means by which fishes gain knowledge of the places they inhabit, from shallow tide pools to the deepest reaches of the ocean. Teeming with insights and exciting discoveries, What a Fish Knows offers a thoughtful appraisal of our relationships with fishes and inspires us to take a more enlightened view of the planet’s increasingly imperiled marine life. What a Fish Knows will forever change how we see our aquatic cousins—the pet goldfish included.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2016-12-01
- 304 pages
- Paperback
- Simon and Schuster
Similar books
-
Gould's Book of Fish
By Richard FlanaganAcclaimed as a masterpiece around the world, Gould’s Book of Fish is at once a marvelously imagined epic of nineteenth-century Australia and a contemporary fable, a tale of horror, and a celebration of love, all transformed by a convict ...
-
Joe Knows Fish: Taking the Intimidation Out of Cooking Seafood
By Joe GurreraEnter JOE KNOWS FISH. This book is a roadmap for novices looking to learn the basics of sourcing and cooking fish. With his easy-to-follow recipes and experience-based tips, Joe takes the intimidation out of cooking seafood.
-
Fish in a Tree
By Lynda Mullaly Hunt"Ally's greatest fear is that everyone will find out she is as dumb as they think she is because she still doesn't know how to read"--
-
Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World's Most Successful Insects
By Jonathan BalcombeWinner of the National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History and a New York Times Editors Choice Pick "After reading Super Fly, you will never take a fly for granted again.
-
The Founding Fish
By John McPheeAfter Charles Dickens travelled by canal boat between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh in late March, 1842, he wrote in his “American Notes” that he was served “salmon, shad, liver, steaks, potatoes, pickles, ham, chops, black-puddings and ...
-
Wish for a Fish: All About Sea Creatures
By Bonnie WorthThe Cat in the Hat, Sally, and Dick take an undersea voyage aboard the S.S. Undersea Glubber!
-
Fish is Fish
By Leo LionniAfter his friend, the tadpole, becomes a frog and leaves the pond to explore the world, a little fish decides that maybe he should not remain in the pond either.
-
The Secret Life of Fish: The Astonishing Truth about Our Aquatic Cousins
By Doug Mackay-HopeAn exploration into the untold lives of 50 of the most compelling fish living in our oceans and waterways.
-
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
By Neil ShubinYour Inner Fish makes us look at ourselves and our world in an illuminating new light. This is science writing at its finest—enlightening, accessible and told with irresistible enthusiasm.
-
Aquarium
By David VannNow, in crystalline, chiseled yet graceful prose, Aquarium takes us into the heart of a brave young girl whose longing for love and capacity for forgiveness transforms the damaged people around her . . .