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Summary
Summary
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.
Author Notes
Jonathan Balcombe is the director of animal sentience at the Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy and the author of four books, including Second Nature and Pleasurable Kingdom . A popular commentator, he has appeared on The Diane Rehm Show , the BBC, and the National Geographic Channel, and in several documentaries, and is a contributor of features and opinions to The New York Times , The Washington Post , The Wall Street Journal , Nature , and other publications. He lives in Maryland. Find him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter, and visit his website.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this entertaining study, ethologist Balcombe (The Exultant Ark) points out that fish are some 60% of all vertebrates on earth, yet they receive little regard outside of being a source of food or object of sport. With the vivacious energy of a cracking good storyteller, Balcombe draws deeply from scientific studies and his own experience with fish to introduce readers to them as sentient creatures that live full lives governed by cognition and perception. He illustrates a piscine capacity for joy and pleasure in the case of a Midas cichlid that returns again and again to a trusted human to be stroked and sometimes held out of the water. Balcombe cites instances of alteration in one fish's behavior when a traumatic event occurs to another fish in the same tank, concluding that the two are emotionally attuned to each other. Fish, he observes, also actively play with other creatures, and he offers examples that illustrate awareness and intention coupled with a sense of amusement. Balcombe makes a convincing case that fish possess minds and memories, are capable of planning and organizing, and cooperate with one another in webs of social relationships. Agent: Stacey Glick, Dystel & Goderich. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Balcombe (The Exultant Ark, 2011) cites Finding Nemo several times in this sparkling exposition on our underwater cousins. That may seem odd in a science book, but it's entirely appropriate to its central thrust, which is that fish are sentient, social, and individuated, like their Disney-animated avatars. As humans' fellow vertebrates, they've developed from the same blueprint, so to speak, though for hundreds of millions of years longer time enough to hone the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, orientation, touch, and more to be capable of the superhuman achievements Balcombe reports in the early parts of the book. The really big news here arrives in the central sections on emotions (From Stress to Joy); thinking (using tools, planning); knowledge (memory); and sociality (shoaling-schooling, cooperation, peacekeeping) in fish. Although a little of the research that discovered the gamut of fish capabilities hails from the early twentieth century, the preponderance of it is quite recent, reflecting, Balcombe concludes (in a compelling pitch for greatly expanding fish conservation), growing awareness of our i.e., human interdependence with all life. --Olson, Ray Copyright 2016 Booklist
Library Journal Review
A fish isn't just a fish. Fish life is complex and interesting. Jonathan Balcombe, an expert in ethology, reveals the surprising abilities among the thousands of varieties of fish. Their intelligence, diversity, and variety are astonishing; there are fish that have better vision than humans and see a wider range of light and more colors; there are fish that can hear at ranges above and below the human hearing range; there are fish that hunt in groups and use simple tools, revealing a social aspect to their underwater lives. Balcombe also discusses the ability of fish to feel emotion and urges reconsideration of human practices and policies related to fish. Balcombe is informative and passionate but also provides an edge of whimsy to his fish story. It is unfortunate that a PDF of the illustrations is not included. Michael Page, an AudioFile Earphones winner, has a crisp tone that enhances the material. VERDICT Drawing on the latest discoveries and research, this audiobook is a solid addition to most science collections. ["A lively and surprising work that makes a strong argument for sport and food fishing reform": LJ 6/1/16 review of the Farrar hc.]-Cynthia Jensen, Plano P.L. Syst., TX © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.