Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator

by Jason M. Colby

Drawing on interviews, official records, private archives, and his own family history, Jason M. Colby tells the exhilarating and often heartbreaking story of how people came to love the ocean's greatest predator. Historically reviled as dangerous pests, killer whales were dying by the hundreds, even thousands, by the 1950s--the victims of whalers, fishermen, and even the U.S. military. In the Pacific Northwest, fishermen shot them, scientists harpooned them, and the Canadian government mounted a machine gun to eliminate them. But that all changed in 1965, when Seattle entrepreneur Ted Griffin became the first person to swim and perform with a captive killer whale. The show proved wildly popular, and he began capturing and selling others, including Sea World's first Shamu. Over the following decade, live display transformed views of Orcinus orca. The public embraced killer whales as charismatic and friendly, while scientists enjoyed their first access to live orcas. Yet even as Northwesterners taught the world to love whales, they came to oppose their captivity and to fight for the freedom of a marine predator that had become a regional icon.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Animals, History, Nature, Audiobook, Natural History

408 pages, Hardcover

Published June 1, 2018

Reviews

[... · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent history of human-orca relations in the Pacific Northwest and the evolution of human perception of killer whales - which is, as the author argues, largely due to the early years of captivity.


Further reading:

The Killer Whale Who Changed the World
Puget Sound Whales for Sale: The Fight to End Orca Hunting
Orca: The Whale Called Killer
Death at Seaworld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Orca: How We Came To Know and Love the Ocean’s Greatest Predator is an incredible book. It seemingly borders the divide between research tome and story, drawing upon well-written narrative to convey a thorough recall of the history of the interactions between humans and orca.

Like many, I have watched the documentary Blackfish. Like many others, I have been long enthralled with the awesome power and grace of the Orcinus Orca, starting from my childhood love of whales and dolphins. I have seen students complete assignments on the now-popular aforementioned documentary, but wondered what parts of the story might have been missing, what other truths there are to be revealed about the history of humans and orcas. It was with great pleasure that I discovered Orca. Not only could I satisfy my own curiosity, but I could add to our library’s collection and our students’ research a source that provides a thorough investigation of this history, and one that considers all sides of the story.

Orca is thorough. It starts with an introduction, citing the author’s own curiosity and history with the topic, and referencing his sources of information. Chapter one then takes readers back in time, all the way to Rome 50 CE, where Pliny records his encounter with an orca who had become trapped in the Roman harbour of Ostia. As the Romans were apt to do, the orca was fought and violently killed. Pliny’s records of the event and the creature reflected the tone for human interactions and observations for thousands of years to come. In the following chapters, Orca outlines the beliefs and attitudes held towards killer whales and how this governed people’s actions. Through the personal anecdotes of key players, both human and orca, key settings, and key social and political climates, Orca demonstrates the changes to these believes and how these changes were sparked.

I greatly enjoyed reading Orca. For such an information-rich text, it was surprisingly easy to read. It fact, I simply could not put it down, grabbing any spare moment to devour it once more. I read it from cover to cover, and I feel that this is the best way to enjoy this book, as well as get the most from the unfolding stories and information. The timeline of the text flows in a looping pattern, following the stories of individuals, taking the time to detour to explanations and other key related events before circling back around again. In this way the events and characters of the history come to life.

I enjoyed reading this book from the perspective of an interested amateur, someone who is passionate about these wondrous creatures, as well as from the perspective of acquisitions for our library. I can see the great value of the book for researchers. The research and evidence gathered for this text is immense and it is all clearly referenced, providing an extensive source of support for the provided information and links to further reading. However, I can also see the value for the general reader. Easily accessible, the importance of this story and the balance it gives to the presented ‘sides’ or arguments is so necessary, especially given past events and the renewed interest in captivity and protection of killer whales. And while the history might differ slightly, the resulting lessons hold true for any animal-human interactions.

The author’s own personal history has resulted in a text that could not have been produced without the connections and sources it provided. This arguably gives the author a particular bias, but he is upfront about this connection and it allows him to provide a unique perspective. The author’s argument that the way in which people view killer whales today and their desire to protect them sprung from the very thing they now protest - the capture and showing of orcas.

Orca does not include in its scope many of the events shown in the documentary Blackfish. Instead it clearly outlines the history of human-orca interactions, focusing on the general beliefs held and the individuals and their actions that shaped this history. Orca provides a unique and personalised relaying of an incredibly vast amount of facts, dates, and testimonies, and as such it is an invaluable source when considering the history between humans and orcas.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

Find more reviews, reading age guides, content advisory, and recommendations on my blog Madison's Library.

[Lis Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orcas are the most popular, profitable, and of course, controversial, animals on display in history. The controversy stems largely from the fact that captivity is objectively horrible for orcas. They're large, intelligent, and highly social. They live in large, matrilineal family groups, who live near other, related family groups whom they socially interact with. There's no way we can provide a truly appropriate habitat for orcas in captivity. When captured, they lose their entire families, their entire social group, they lose the auditory stimulation that's a normal part of their world, they're forced to change their diets to what we can feed them, and they are confined to what are rceally unbearably small spaces for orcas. The more people learn about this, the more people want no more orcas in captivity.

But why do we love orcas? Why do we care so much? Until the 1960s, orcas, far from beloved, were regarded as vicious animals, and as pests that ate the salmon, other fish species, and seals, that fishermen and other commercial industries depended on. Whaling was also still a large and uncontroversial industry, and if orcas weren't a major target species, they were considered a perfectly acceptable catch for some purposes. They were actively killed by fishermen, scientists, and the government.

Scientists studied orcas, but they only studied dead orcas. Everything they knew came from disecting orcas, and a major interest was what they ate, because that mattered to the fishing industry.

What changed?

In 1965, Seattle entrepreneur Ted Griffin became the first person to swim and perform with a captive orca. The show was wildly popular, and he began capturing and selling more orcas, including Sea World's first Shamu. Orcas performing with humans where the general public could see them. Orcas in captivity also allowed scientists to study live orcas, and increased interest in orcas in the wild, in their natural habitat and social groups.

Jason Colby gives us a loving, detailed, revelatory history of how captive orcas changed both popular and scientific understanding of orcas, their true natures, and their role in the environment. He draws this information from official records, private archives, interviews, and his own family history, and the result is informative and compelling.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

[Petra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book in a GR Giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

I like the tone of this book. It tells the history of Orcas in the Pacific Northwest and the story of their captivity. It's very detailed and dry or disinteresting. It's well written and organized.
The story of the Orcas is fascinating. The first chapters cover some history of the Pacific Northwest in conjunction with whaling, Orca mythology, resident beliefs about Orcas. It then moves into the first captures and continues through the history of whales in captivity and how our outlooks towards the Orcas changed and we saw them as the loving, gentle creatures they are.
The ending is a bit repetitive but that is my only down point of this book. It's a well documented, interesting read.

[Miki · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dry accounting of how capturing wild orcas led to the eventual protection of the species. The unspeakable actions of humans towards orcas are just that. Humans are disgusting.

[Ian Schmid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving book, that will change your view on the origins of orca captivity.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A balanced and well-reasoned look at the practice of "harvesting" Orca for aquariums and water parks. It is so easy to get caught up in the "either/or" viewpoint in ANY argument, and Colby does a good job of covering both sides. We truly would NOT have the understanding of killer whales, or the love for them, had they not first been a commercial commodity. On the flip side - at some point, as we DO recognize that these creatures are more than we've believed, we have a duty to find other ways to continue to teach about them that will not harm them. It's a fine line, and that line often gets trampled by the "either/or" crowd. I don't have all the answers - but Colby's book is a great example of learning from the past and moving forward with it.

[Nikki Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting book. It was very well written and held my attention throughout. I appreciate how informed I now feel after finishing it, so many good details and background. It formed and strongly held to a big question throughout the book... was Ted Griffin good or was he bad for killer whales? The author left me feeling content with not knowing, and not needing to know, the answer to that question. Honestly I got some peace from reading this, which is always good. Highly recommend for anyone who loves orcas!

[Sara Hiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good account of the history between humans and orcas. While I agree with the thesis of the book that people would not love Orcas today if they had not been captured originally, I do not believe modern society has room for whales or dolphins in captivity. We should learn from the past to be better not to just explain how we got here.

[The Inquisitive Biologist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meticulously researched, this nuanced book reveals the troubled history that shaped our love of orcas and other marine mammals. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2018...

[Callie Wolsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cool interesting read. Conservation is existent because captivity was… I especially feel connected to it because it’s all about the orcas of the Salish Sea aka home 🏡

[Kyle Duggan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate the book's premise, and I think there's a good amount of truth in it, but it often slips too far into being apologia for the captive whale industry. It's not totally unfair, but engages in some off-putting what-aboutism when presenting the opinions of critics of captivity. It also fails to address any parallels between other species that have been reviled, hunted, and eventually rehabilitated, such as wolves or sharks. I sometimes got the impression that the entire book existed to make the author feel better about his dad, who caught killer whales for a living. The melodramatic passage at the end where he imagines a whale offering its forgiveness seems to confirm that hypothesis.

[Jennifer Coffey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author has a ridiculous hypothesis that he seeks to drive home throughout that the capture, torture in enclosed spaces, early death, unintended death of orca during capture is what saved them because human opinion changed about them. There may be a role for this explanation in our complicated history, but it's not the main thrust. The author makes the outrageous claim that indigenous people didn't have positive relationships with orca until the mainstream population became more sympathetic at whixh time only then did they start including orca in totems. He equates scientists who observed and mapped whale biology while witnessing fishery kills as killers themselves. He fails to understand human relationships with all whales have been tortured one. Grey whales were called devil whales. He literally gives ONE dismissive sentence to the Friday Harbor whale museum saying it's for sympathetic wealthy people when in actuality it does a fantastic job of documenting the first nation's peoples relationships and slaughter and capture of orca that sea world funded. This book is a monotone, somewhat boring account of how white males captured orca for money, which is what changed their view of them from pest to profit. It is a good history of how whales were brought into captivity. It includes very little knowledge about orca themselves. The book ends with the tale of free willy the movie as if that's absolution. It's a tomb seeking to assuage guilt.

[Caitlyn Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love orcas and i love this book. it explains the history of orca captivity in the Pacific Northwest region, which hits very close to home as someone who lives in the seattle area. it’s very interesting and keeps you hooked. it has unique perspectives and things to say, which can sometimes be uncommon in this genre. it does a good job of laying down the facts while also including analysis and personal connection from the author.

[Sheila · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise of this depressing book is that many orcas have been martyred, yes, but the presence of these short-lived, miserable money-magnets at Sea World caused us all to know and love them. And this love changed the hearts and minds of the public who used to fear them and the fishermen who used to shoot orcas (because they were eating up salmon). The fishermen had an epiphany: orcas are worth big bucks, if you can catch one, or big bucks if you take tourists out in a boat to watch orcas frolic in the ocean. And this LOVE is how we will SAVE them! The writer uses a cheap trick, a fake dialectic of "look how good only came about _because_ of the bad."

The book has surprisingly little information about orcas (and the barest mention of the Indigenous point of view) - mostly it's a blow-by-blow of how tough white men abused orcas for money but, sob, sob, really loved them. The book literally ends with an anthropomorphic fantasy - an orca looks at one of his/her tormentors and says, "I forgive you!" (Barf, barf.)

There are two major flaws in the book's premise. 1. That sentimental consumers can change the world with their wallets and vote-power, and 2. That you can save orcas - or any species - without saving ALL of us and the planet.

Let's start with #2. It's the popular approach of the animal welfare industry. Give money to save your favorite animal. The Lakota philosopher Tiokasin Ghosthorse said, "If you saw your relatives drowning, would you only save one? Or would you save them all?" The author purposely narrows his focus and only gives lip service to the real problems faced by orcas and all endangered species (which includes humans). Read the mind-blowing book, "Cadillac Desert" by Marc Reisner, to get the full picture of how water management under capitalism (huge dams, etc) has doomed the US and the salmon that fishermen and orcas fight over. How about capitalism's insatiable depletion (thanks to technology) of ALL the fish in the ocean? Species are disappearing by the hundreds, every day. But they are not "charismatic" like orcas and tigers or smart like elephants and apes. Read "The Sixth Extinction" by Elizabeth Kolbert if you think we can survive with only farmed animals, French fries and spring mix. There IS a tipping point - and we are at it.

On to premise #1: the love-sick consumer: We've got Whole Foods and Fair Trade chocolate that sells for 7 bucks. So how come agrarian and Indigenous organizers are still being murdered in Latin America, and child slave labor still sweats in Cote d'Ivoire for Hershey's and Nestle's, and Godiva, and millions have died in the Congo in proxy wars over the coltan needed tor tiny cell phones? And why are orcas still being captured? Because consumer campaigns only comfort the consciences of people who can afford to shop at Whole Foods, and do not solve the source of these problems.

The world needs massive organizing - more than we have ever seen - that will remove the profit motive that turns animals and humans into commodities. We need to take power away from the 1/10th of 1% who controls the world and who are fiddling while California burns up from global warming. Don't save one animal. It won't work. Don't choose between saving animals and saving people. You don't have to. Philosophically, look to Indigenous peoples who see animals, plants, water, mountains as our equals, not as charity cases. Politically, look left and study the rich history of people's movements, and get involved! (And don't buy this book! Instead, go to your public library and check out "The Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and "The People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn, and "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate" by Naomi Klein.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have ever watched the 2013 documentary "Blackfish" (I've watched it several times) or just want to know how the fascination with Killer Whales in captivity all got started, I recommend this book. No matter what side you are on in the on-going Captivity Debate, you will find this book to be very informative and interesting. From the early days of whaling, to military target-practice and shooting this majestic mammals for sport, to the first accidental capture, the gentle-giant Orcinus Orca has grabbed our attention and has not let it go. Like most vacationing youngsters, my parents took me to SeaWorld to see the dolphins & whales that have haunted my dreams. But, it felt a little too "staged" for me. The dolphins would not come near me at the Petting Pool unless I had fish in my hand, then they would quickly snatch it and swim away. And "The Big Show" at Shamu Stadium felt like watching a circus. Sure, it made me cry in awe of these large beautiful sea-creatures, but I would've been content just to watch them swim and interact all day. They didn't have to do a bunch of tricks to make me happy. But, entertainment has meant Dollar Signs for places like SeaWorld, MarineLand, and Six Flags SeaLand, and ever since the first Killer Whale "Moby Doll" was captured by mistake and displayed to the public, the money has continued to flow. A few years after my visit to SeaWorld, I had the privilege to go on a Whale Watching tour boat-ride outside of San Francisco while the Humpback Whales were migrating through the area. Although they are many times bigger than orcas, there was NOTHING like seeing whales in their natural element. Eventhough these passing Humpbacks didn't have to put on a show for us humans, they still splashed the boat with huge breeches, along with tail & fin-slaps. We all left the experience thoroughly drenched and totally amazed. My husband and I are hoping to cruise to Alaska in the next 5 years, and were are hoping to fit in a Killer Whale Watching tour along the coastline. We don't have to visit unhappy captive whales when we can observe them up close in their natural environment. I feel this is how we are meant to experience nature. NATURALLY.

[Alyssa Trinkl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean’s Greatest Predator is a moving story of our relationships with orcas. It is a great follow up (but deep in the weeds) if your only touch point has been Blackfish and a welcome addition to your knowledge base if you’re an orca lover like myself. I was already intimately familiar with the orcas who started it all, as well as fairly familiar with the men behind the captures. I enjoyed recognizing names, reading anecdotes, but this book made my heart ache.

I honestly didn’t expect this book to focus so much on the captures, but this truly takes you through the saga and legacy of captures, starting from the 60s and ending in the early 80s. (At least in North America.)

The book really makes the reader ask themselves: when do orcas deserve our empathy? Not affection, not kindness — those are given easily and freely. But empathy for these creatures who used to be shot at, abused, slaughtered without care. As they were torn from their families, as they are quartered alone in tanks, as they lose podmates in captivity that they never would’ve encountered in the wild — can we ever give them enough? Can we care for them enough to make up for what we’ve taken from them?

And what’s worse, if we *hadn’t* taken them into captivity, humankind would’ve slaughtered them. Colby spells that out rather clearly. Where you find orcas, you find fishermen and ruthless people who hated them. Captivity made us love them, but it also stripped members away from their pods, hurt populations and brought into question how much we hurt them as creatures — mentally, emotionally and physically in captivity, when they would normally thrive for 40-80 years in the wild.

I struggled with this one. Orca populations have risen and fallen. They now suffer because of depleted prey and pollution; captures now having been banned except for in Russia (which this book doesn’t even address). Captivity did good for orcas, but can it erase the injury it did to those 100s of whales that suffered? I can’t imagine how those men carry the burden of it. I can see why men like Ted Griffen have shrunk from view.

Orcas are the greatest predator in the ocean, but humankind is their predator; we are destroying them, and that still hurts.

[Kate Schwarz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am lucky enough to have found a lovely home that sits right on the Puget Sound, where, every so often, we can watch orcas swim by. They are majestic creatures, no doubt. I didn't grow up here, though I did come of age in the 1980s when places like SeaWorld had captive orcas who performed for crowds before individuals and groups began to protest about how inhumane it was to keep a giant creature in such a small tank to make millions for a few humans.

But I really didn't know more than that, until this book. Colby researches the history of orcas in captivity--how in the 1960s orcas were seen as nuisances and pests. Fishermen and passers by shot at them, and it was legal to do so. Until Ted Griffin began to catch orcas and sell them for captivity, no one really cared much. Colby does an excellent job of explaining how captivity--despite how horrible it was for all those orcas who died while being caught or transported or in tanks that were way too small for them--actually helped turn the tide of public opinion for orcas and against capturing them. It's a complicated argument, but one that I think is true.

The epilogue of his book contains a powerful reminder to us: "Hindsight can blind us to the process of change." As we look at today's world, sometimes we've got to reach further back into history than we first expected to find where the story actually begins, not to just the part we know about or think has the answers. This was a wise, well-written book, and I highly suggest reading it if you live anywhere near orcas.

[AJ Waters · Rating 5 out of 5]

My interest in Orcas was sparked the day I saw the Ad for Free Willy on the babysitters television shortly after my 7th birthday. I was immediately fasciated and in love with this beautiful creature and that love and fascination still lives on. An interest I was shamed for often as a child has becoming increasingly common over the decades. I can go to San Juan Island and explore the Salish Sea and answer questions about animals for other visitors instead of being shamed for my knowledge and passionate talk and this seemingly narrow subject.

All that is to say that I felt like this book was written for me and the other "Dorkas" like myself. Much of the history contained in this book I knew in a cursory way, but the interviews and depth of research preformed by Jason bring a whole new depth to this drama. The characters become the real multi-demsional people they are and not the simple heroes and villains so many other tellings of these tales make them out to be. Credit is given where it is due. Though we may now look on the capture industry with disdain, it was within that industry that most of us had our first contact with these incredible animals.

This is book is a deep and in depth look at the first captures of Killer Whales and how they changed both those closely involved and the culture at large. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in these incredible animals or the changing culture and history of the Pacific Northwest.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up

This is another book that has been on my to-read shelf for several years. I need O books for spelling challenges, so picking it up was a no-brainer :)

It was a little hard to follow the timeline because the sections kept jumping around - instead of following the timeline from start to finish, the author followed one thread, then went back to pick up another, with the events at the beginning of one section occurring sometimes decades before the last events of the previous section. For me at least, a more cohesive, chronological order would have made much more sense.

As expected, there was a *lot of information presented about orcas, but the facts I was most interested in seemed to get lost in some of the stories of the chase. I was heartened to learn that not all of the (mostly) men attempting to capture whales in the early days were heartless and chasing the almighty dollar, but it seems that most of them were.

Admittedly, you need to capture animals to be able to study them and learn their habits, etc., but many more whales were captured than could possibly be studied, and many were sent to places that weren't even set up for studies. Maybe my 21st-century sentimentalities are coming into play here - I might have felt differently 'back in the day' - but I'm glad I took the time to listen to this book.

[Erica (EricaEreads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did I ever in a million years think a book could change my mind about the folks that captured Northern and Southern Residents in the 60s and 70s? No. Did Colby? Shockingly...yes.

We all can agree that orcas do not belong in captivity; but Colby deftly argues here that those who participated in and led whale captures shouldn't be seen as one dimensional villains. Rather, they are on the whole people who, through the process of whale capture, also fell in love with this amazing species and have complex feelings about the display industry and their role in it. And, as Colby emphasizes, without the display industry orcas may never have become the beloved species we know today.

On a craft note the framework was difficult to navigate at times with its back-and-forth discussion of different events at different times and extensive list of individuals with little to distinguish them on the page. I also would have liked a bit more authorial presence in the narrative: what was it like interviewing these folks and what is it like being a descendant of such a politically and emotionally charged legacy? For this its a 4 star read.

[Serena Mccoard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a story that everyone needs to hear. Heartbreaking and thrilling all at the same time. I recommend this to anyone looking to further their knowledge of this fantastic species. But I give a warning, this book does not sugar coat the treatment of this species and the devastation that has been done to them. Once again, Orcinus orca has become a hot topic in many circles of conversation and this book provides a much needed background to everything that has happened between man and Orca. As someone that has been wonder-struck by these animals since I was a very young child and I hope to one day study them as they roam the seas. This book did nothing but inspire me to fight harder for better treatment of not only the majestic Killer Whales but of all life on this planet.

[John Geary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another one of those books that probably deserves better than three stars – but for me, not quite four. It was well written, well researched, covered a lot of material. A very complex and informative book…
So why just three stars?
It just didn’t really grab me - and that’s not a reflection of the author or the book contents so much as it is my interest in the subject matter.
It details the history of the relationship between orcas and people and how it evolved from the days when they were feared monsters to nuisance competitors for fish stocks to captive marvels to wild treasures that are cherished as part of the natural environment.
if you are really interested in the history of orcas in the Pacific Northwest, this is a book you’ll probably want to read.

[Emily Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book through the Goodreads Giveaway program in exchange for an honest review. This was such an eye-opening, moving account of the orca whale industry over the past decades, and Colby did an incredible job of animating the creatures in his book - I was brought to tears by multiple accounts and found myself Googling orca whales.

My only (minor) complaint is that I found that many characters hard to keep straight at some point, although I realize it is a non-fiction account and therefore the author really couldn't have cut down on the key players. Just a note for interested readers to be awake while reading so you don't get stuck backtracking!

[Gene Helfman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this book from the author after attending one of his excellent presentations. I'd read many of the natural history books about orcas and Jason Colby's is by far the best. It's accurate, informative, personal yet objective, gives a thorough and enthralling account of the history of orca-human interactions. Colby makes a convincing argument about why the initial, "ambassador" captive orcas were instrumental in our coming to appreciate how complex and intelligent these fascinating animals are and why we should never, ever again keep them in captivity.

[ems · Rating 4 out of 5]

i have to say that however well written & interesting this book was, i do disagree with the underlying premise that the PNW's love of orcas is a result of the capture programs in previous eras. there are many beloved charasmatic megafauna that have not been hunted and displayed in the same way. the capture/killing of so many of the southern resident orcas basically led to the genetic bottleneck that the species in is now, which means they are almost certainly going to go extinct.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A close eye view of the changes in popular understanding of Orcas tied to captivity. It's hard to imagine a time when Orcas were vilified to the point that people shot them on sight in the Pacific Northwest. The book was well researched, with a journalistic eye. I noticed some bias in the events that he chose to document, avoiding the killing of a trainer by Tilikum. Overall, I'm glad I read it. It also reinforced the need to explore all viewpoints of a complex history and reality.

[Leah K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book goes over the history of the Orca, most prominently its interaction with humans. It goes over captivity (and even has a rare interview by the first to start capturing them live an their reasoning), research, perceptions (and how they've changed). It was quite fascinating and well researched.

[Foggygirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and eye opening read about our total and utter cluelessness when it comes to animals, orcas in particular. I found myself feeling extremely aggravated even though I know that most of those poor animals have been dead and gone for over 50 years but there are still over 50 orcas being held in captivity by company’s whose only concern is their bottom line.

[Hector Segura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. For the pretender of loving orcas and for the genuine orcaholic alike. Blackfish doesn't even scratch the surface, and the author does a fantastic job balancing the tension of his thesis. We wouldn't love or even care about orcas had it not been for the capture and display industry. A sobering balance missing from "activists"