Shark: A Visual History

by Richard Ellis

“The sharks, ancient or modern, real or imaginary, have always been with us, and will probably remain with us forever. They appear not only in movies and literature, but in countless permutations of size, shape, and materials, permeating our daily lives with their silent menace. In a sense, humans live in a world replete with sharks, not vice-versa.”   Thus Richard Ellis sets about chronicling and debunking the myths of sharks throughout history. From 18th century art to the phenomena of JAWS , “the shark” has remained the indomitable aggressor of the deep, the last demon of humankind. The image of the shark and the fear it inspires infiltrates our daily lives with its mythical power and strength.  But it is not man who should fear the shark. Our need to dominate these predators is destroying them and their habitat. Through hundreds of full-color images Ellis proves the necessity of preserving these majestic creatures. As curator of the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art’s exhibition entitled “Shark”, debuting May 2012, Ellis adeptly turns these sleek, efficient hunters from monsters of the deep into rare, beautiful forces of nature.    

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 17, 2012

About the author

Richard Ellis is a celebrated authority on marine biology and America’s foremost marine life artist whose work has been exhibited worldwide. His nine books include The Search for the Giant Squid (a Publishers Weekly 1998 Best Book of the Year), Great White Shark, Encyclopedia of the Sea, Men and Whales, Monsters of the Sea, Deep Atlantic The Book of Whales, and Imagining Atlantis.

Reviews

[RKanimalkingdom · Rating 3 out of 5]

While not exactly what I was looking for this book wasn't entirely bad.

It looks at the history of sharks from a more cultural perspective over biological. The history of sharks in history, art, literature, entertainment, food, products, etc.

It wasn't a very long book as most of the pages were photographs or art pieces but the bits that contained information was adequate, however, it was obvious that this book was more intended to ignorant, misinformed, stubborn audiences who posses a misguided negative view on sharks. All lot of the information while correctly sourced was very elementary and as someone who knows a lot about animals, nothing I read was new. Still it was nice to read this book as a refresher.

My only complaint is that a huge amount of time was spent on the history of sharks in cinema (hint hint, Jaws) and there was a lot of repeated information.

[H. Givens · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the art history and the images from the art exhibition that prompted the book. However, it seems there's not much to say about sharks in art, so a lot of the text is either about Jaws or about shark conservation, and as interesting and/or important as those might potentially be, here it just gets very repetitive.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fell in love with this book as soon as I saw the cover (just look at that cover!), and the rest of the book did not disappoint. Richard Ellis gives a thorough history of humanity's relationship with sharks. The book includes the first early encounters with sailors and artists' first attempts at visualizing sharks, the rise of shark photography and filmmaking, the rise of shark hunters, the world pre and post-Jaws, and the attempts of science to finally break through the centuries old myths. Plus there are photos and other pieces of art dispersed throughout the book.

I can't give the book five stars, though, for I just didn't care for Richard Ellis' writing style. It was a bit scattered and repetitive at times and didn't flow well. Other than that, I thought it was a fun book to read and recommend it to anyone else who's obsessed with sharks.