Shark Drunk: The Art of Catching a Large Shark from a Tiny Rubber Dinghy in a Big Ocean - Rilegato

Strøksnes, Morten

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 1910702994 ISBN 13: 9781910702994

Casa editrice: Jonathan Cape, 2017

Riassunto

** BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week **

Shark Drunk is, in part, the tale of two men in a very small boat on the trail of a very big fish. It is also a story of obsession, enchantment and adventure. A love song to the sea, in all its mystery, hardship, wonder and life-giving majesty.

In the great depths surrounding the remote Lofoten islands in Norway lives the Greenland shark. Twenty-six feet in length and weighing more than a tonne, it can live for 200 years. Its fluorescent green, parasite-covered eyes are said to hypnotise its prey, and its meat is so riddled with poison that, when consumed, it sends people into a hallucinatory trance.

Armed with little more than their wits and a tiny rubber boat, Morten Strøksnes and his friend Hugo set out in pursuit of this enigmatic creature. Together, they tackle existential questions, experience the best and worst nature can throw at them, and explore the astonishing life teeming at the ocean’s depths.

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Recensione

"Full of personal anecdotes, facts on marine life and life in general along coastal Norway, and about the hunt for a big fish ... So, the book is much like fishing I guess ― it’s not about the catch, it’s about just being there." (Jo Nesbo New York Times)

"A description of what happens to dead whales gives way to an impressively thorough history of the Aasjord family’s cos-liver-oil business... Shark Drunk does contain plenty of interesting stuff." (James Walton Daily Telegraph)

"Stroksnes’s sidelong approach to science is beguiling... There are moments of adventure... but the triumph of this book is it descriptions... Its beauty, undemanding science and soothing, musing qualities have made the book a bestseller in Norway and beyond." (Horatio Clare Observer)

"A fine book. A hymn of love to the sea. The story of a friendship. And a sad chronicle of so much that is wrong about our relationship with the oceans. Deserves to be read widely." (James Rebanks, author of THE SHEPHERD'S LIFE)

"Mr Stroksnes beautifully describes the midnight sun, majestic fjords and moody stretches of sea, the changing light and the peaks that rise up out of the water, as well as the Moskstraumen, a system of whirlpools long feared by sailors... Putting "shark-drunk" man into perspective as the real threat to the ocean is one of the many threads Mr Stroksnes has pulled together in a narrative that takes in history and philosophy, mythology and folklore, from Norway's fishing past to science and the cosmos. Rather than an account of two men trying to catch a shark, it is really a homage to the sea and a call to arms to protect the ecosystem that humans treat so abysmally yet rely on so much." (Economist)

"Stroksnes weaves his tale from a dense wool of close observation, fishing yarns, erudition lightly worn, and a helpless, consuming love of the ocean." (William Finnegan, author of BARBARIAN DAYS)

"You sink into the deep waters alongside the hunters and live for a time in the alien world which covers most of our planet, among ancient sharks and vampire squid. It is brutal, scholarly, thoughtful, fascinating and often very beautiful: just like the nature it so wonderfully brings alive. You taste the sea on every page." (Michael Pye, author of THE EDGE OF THE WORLD)

"Morten Strøksnes has enriched the world with a book of highly unusual originality... As a reader I took the bait and got firmly stuck to the hook." (Fredrik Sjöberg, author of THE FLY TRAP)

"With the open-minded inquisitiveness of Charles Darwin and the obsession of Captain Ahab, Morten Strøksnes heads out to sea, chasing a monster of the deep known as the Greenland shark. Every page of Shark Drunk feels like a cabinet of curiosities, filled with head-scratching surprises, nuggets of wisdom, and wondrous insights. Gorgeously written and thoroughly addictive." (Michael Finkel, author of THE STRANGER IN THE WOODS)

"Part of the joy of this strange but utterly engrossing book is that we never quite learn what drives the central thread... It is not a fishing drama, but a work of meditation and wonder with a horizon as wide and open as the Nordic coastlines that he so beautifully evokes." (Mark Cocker Spectator)

L'autore

Morten Strøksnes is an award-winning Norwegian writer. After studying in Oslo and Cambridge, Strøksnes embarked on a career as a journalist. He has published eight critically acclaimed books of reportage, essays and literary non-fiction. Shark Drunk was awarded five prizes in Norway when it was first published, including the prestigious Brage Prize for non-fiction.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Jonathan Cape
• Data di pubblicazione: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1910702994
• ISBN 13: 9781910702994
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 320