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How To Speak Whale

A Book Review By Sundial


Recently I read the book “How to Speak Whale” a nonfiction book by Tom Mustill and as the title suggests the book dives into the highly argued communication and language of whales and if they even have this. This has long been a topic that intrigued me when very early I read the book “Breakthrough” by Michel C Grumly, a science fiction book series focused on communication between dolphins and humans. Tom Mustill was knowledgeable going into this after majoring in biology at Cambridge but the writing was very easy to read, written more like a journalist would write a paper hinting at the fact that Tom Mustill worked as a documentary filmmaker before beginning this book.


The book follows a linear timeline starting with the event pushing Tom Mustill into writing this book. He also hints from the beginning at where he is going towards the end of the book but then delves into the research leading up to the idea of cetacean communication or possibly language with a focus on sound technologies that have allowed for the recording of the communication and looking into the complexities of these animals and their anatomy. After displaying all the facts he finally dives into what was hinted at at the beginning of the book, a look at the new technologies, new research, and what we could be looking at in the future as technologies and people come together to work to answer questions that could change what humans have for years thought impossible and only recently improbable. Finally, towards the end of the book observing the idea of past biases that have impacted the research that has been done into animal communications stemming from an anthropodenial and finally taking the book full circle.


I was astonished by how much we still haven't discovered about our oceans and our world and how much discovery is tied to technology. At the beginning of the book “How to Speak Whale,” it states “ In the last few years scientists have discovered new species of mammal hunting orca in Antarctica, a mysterious new Deep Sea Whale from New Zealand called Ramari’s Beaked Whale, and a massive new filter-feeding whale called Rice’s Whale in the gulf of Mexico.” All of these cetaceans were discovered within the last 35 years despite being some of the largest animals on the planet. This book also gives insight into how the past has influenced the study of biology and marine biology and how fast the study of marine biology has grown in the last 100 years in fact animal behavioral science only became a thing in the 20th century while before then the study of the anatomy of animals was the most prevalent.


Overall I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars. The author understood even his own bias in this book and tried to minimize it and you could certainly see that. The facts and experiences were well written out and kept me interested in the book the entire time. I think this is a good book for anyone interested in language, cetaceans and their behavior, or just want an interesting book to read. This book really gave me hope in science and it grew my knowledge of animal communication and the community of people who study marine biology and animal communication at large. I am very glad this book is here for people to read and learn from.




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