I’m in the middle of reading an intriguing book about sharks and a group of biologists living on a remote island off of San Fransisco. It’s called “The Devil’s Teeth” and so far it is a book I can’t put down. It is incredibly well written and paints a vivid picture of these magnificent creatues and the extreme environment of the islands. If you dig informative sea\survival\nature stories you should pick it up.
When you’re done with that, read this one …
The true story of “Jaws,” c. 1916.
“Combining rich historical detail and a harrowing, pulse-pounding narrative, Close to Shore brilliantly re-creates the summer of 1916, when a rogue Great White shark attacked swimmers along the New Jersey shore, triggering mass hysteria and launching the most extensive shark hunt in history”
Being a Jersey surfer, I HAD TO, HAD TO read it.
That does look very interesting.
When you’re done with that, read this one …
The true story of “Jaws,” c. 1916.
“Combining rich historical detail and a harrowing, pulse-pounding narrative, Close to Shore brilliantly re-creates the summer of 1916, when a rogue Great White shark attacked swimmers along the New Jersey shore, triggering mass hysteria and launching the most extensive shark hunt in history”
Being a Jersey surfer, I HAD TO, HAD TO read it.
Then you HAVE TO, HAVE TO read this from today’s Asbury Park Press:
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050608/NEWS02/506080441/1070
I love it. It’s an “alleged” shark bite. “'You need more than a kid and two physicians saying it was a shark bite,” Stokes said. “Before you can say it’s a shark bite, you need a shark expert, a marine biologist, to declare it a shark bite.”
And even if it was a shark bite, it isn’t the shark’s fault. The shark is just misunderstood. “If it was a shark, maybe it was a lost or injured shark that got freaked out.”
That poor, alleged shark is a victim of society.
Sports Illustrated had an excerpt from this book a few weeks (months??) back. The article was fascinating so I’m sure the book is a good read!
I love it. It’s an “alleged” shark bite. “'You need more than a kid and two physicians saying it was a shark bite,” Stokes said. “Before you can say it’s a shark bite, you need a shark expert, a marine biologist, to declare it a shark bite.”
And even if it was a shark bite, it isn’t the shark’s fault. The shark is just misunderstood. “If it was a shark, maybe it was a lost or injured shark that got freaked out.”
That poor, alleged shark is a victim of society.
How about this guy:
“George Burgess, curator of the International Shark Attack File, also confirmed it was a shark bite after seeing photographs of Horton’s wound.”
That bastard is just out to ruin the Jersey economy. He must be silenced.
“Before you can say it’s a shark bite, you need a shark expert, a marine biologist, to declare it a shark bite.”
“Is anyone here a marine biologist?”
“The sea was angry that day my friend … angry like an old man trying to return soup in a deli.”
No, but I played one on TV once
.
Just ordered this book, Assault on Lake Casitas, and YOU: The Owner’s Manual. Few things make me happier than knowing good books are on the way.
Looks like a great read. I used to be in a sea kayak club in San Fransico and we invited one of the biologists from the Farralons to give a slide show and lecture. The lecturer brought a section of a zodiac inflatable boat with a two foot diameter bite taken out of the side. It was bitten while tied to the dock by a 22foot great white. In prior years we had a kayak race out to the Farralon islands but later decided that perhaps wasn’t such a good idea. We canceled the annual trip to the elephant seal breeding ground after my friend’s kayak was picked up shaken like a dog shakes a bone.
Without giving too much away, it is a lot like Gorillas in the Mist. The biologists have lived on the island for over 10 years and have managed to tag and follow *individual *sharks for that length of time. Entire books on shark theory is being rewritten as a result of this achievment.
Yahoo news reports, it is a confirmed Great White attack.
I read a couple years ago (I forget the exact title) a book that recounted every single recorded and presumed shark attack in the last 150+ years. Fascinating, and only about 300 pages long (in paperback.)
Some freaky reports, but not very many of them. Your safe in the water.
From the book:
“In any given year more than a thousand people will be maimed by toilet bowl cleaning products or killed by cattle. Fewer than a dozen will be attacked by a great white shark. In this neighbohood, howerver, those odds do not count. At the Farrallon Islands, during the months of September through November, your chance of meeting a great white face to face is better than even money, should you be crazy enough or unlucky enough to end up in the water.”