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The Undersea Discoveries of Jacques-Yves Cousteau
The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea
The author recounts his experiences observing sharks in the open seas, describes their characteristics, and discusses the safety precautions that should be taken around sharks.
273 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1970
6 people are currently reading
249 people want to read
About the author
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
204 books170 followersBorn in 1910, was a French naval officer, explorer, ecologist, and filmmaker, who studied the sea. Although he is most famous to us from his television programmes, he also co-developed the aqua-lung, and pioneered marine conservation as a political and scientific priority.
In the Calypso, an ex-Royal Navy minesweeper, Cousteau visited the most interesting waters of the planet. During these trips he produced many books and films. He gained three Oscars for; The Silent World, The Golden Fish, and World Without Sun, as well as many other top awards including the Palme d'Or in 1956 at the Cannes Film Festival.
Cousteau liked to call himself an "oceanographic technician". He was in reality a sophisticated lover of nature who found a way of communicating complex scientific and biological concepts to ordinary people. While he was criticised at the time by some academics for failing to express science 'properly', his work permitted many people to explore the resources of the "blue continent". As an example of his influence, in 1975, folk singer John Denver composed the song "Calypso" as a tribute to Cousteau and his research ship Calypso. The song reached the number one position on the Billboard 100 charts.
Cousteau's work did a great deal to popularize knowledge of underwater biology and was featured in the long-lived documentary television series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau which began in 1968. On January 11, 1996, the Calypso sank in Singapore harbour. Cousteau died on June 25, 1997 - his work is continued by his son Jean-Michel and his grandson Fabien, who studies sharks from a custom-built shark-shaped submarine.
In the Calypso, an ex-Royal Navy minesweeper, Cousteau visited the most interesting waters of the planet. During these trips he produced many books and films. He gained three Oscars for; The Silent World, The Golden Fish, and World Without Sun, as well as many other top awards including the Palme d'Or in 1956 at the Cannes Film Festival.
Cousteau liked to call himself an "oceanographic technician". He was in reality a sophisticated lover of nature who found a way of communicating complex scientific and biological concepts to ordinary people. While he was criticised at the time by some academics for failing to express science 'properly', his work permitted many people to explore the resources of the "blue continent". As an example of his influence, in 1975, folk singer John Denver composed the song "Calypso" as a tribute to Cousteau and his research ship Calypso. The song reached the number one position on the Billboard 100 charts.
Cousteau's work did a great deal to popularize knowledge of underwater biology and was featured in the long-lived documentary television series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau which began in 1968. On January 11, 1996, the Calypso sank in Singapore harbour. Cousteau died on June 25, 1997 - his work is continued by his son Jean-Michel and his grandson Fabien, who studies sharks from a custom-built shark-shaped submarine.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 30, 2020
Šo grāmatu ieguvu no izstādes Grāmata 2019 apmaiņas galda... jā, 2019., es nepārrakstījos. Un tiešām arī lasīju aptuveni gadu.
Man ļoti patīk haizivis, uzzināju daudz interesantu faktu par pašām haizivīm, citu valstu tradīcijām, jūras un okeāna pētniecību. Bet pati lasīšana man sagādāju daudz dusmu un bezspēcības sajūtu, par to, kas tika nodarīts dzīvniekiem pētniecības, baiļu un neziņas dēļ. Un izrādās delfīni ir vieni bīstami radījumi!! It īpaši grupā!
Man ļoti patīk haizivis, uzzināju daudz interesantu faktu par pašām haizivīm, citu valstu tradīcijām, jūras un okeāna pētniecību. Bet pati lasīšana man sagādāju daudz dusmu un bezspēcības sajūtu, par to, kas tika nodarīts dzīvniekiem pētniecības, baiļu un neziņas dēļ. Un izrādās delfīni ir vieni bīstami radījumi!! It īpaši grupā!
August 29, 2019
National Geographic tərzi, sənədli film və kitabların həvəskarı deyiləm. Amma bu kitabda Tur Heyerdalın kitablarında olduğu kimi insanların həvəsinə, öyrənmək maraqlarına heyran qaldığımdam mənuniyyətlə oxuyuram. Köpəkbalıqları, onların təbiəti, davranışları barədə olan müşahidələrdən agah olacaqsınız. Əsər 20 illik dəniz səyahətlərinin, təcrübələrinin nəticəsidir. Ümumiyyətlə kitab çoxsaylı dəniz canlılarından bəhs edən seriyanın bir hissəsidir. Balinalar, skatlar, delfinlər və başqa canlılardan bəhs edən daha 7 əsər var. Şəxsən mən bu seriyanın üzərində qalacağıma inanmıram. Buradakı həyəcan bəs oldu.
May 30, 2024
Quite an interesting narrative about observations of sharks and their behaviour, which is rich with both factual information about these fish and stories of interactions between the Cousteau crew and sharks in open sea / ocean.
March 22, 2021
Outdated but interesting
March 19, 2018
This was just a little too dry for my tastes, and though the events described were certainly interesting, the writing didn't convey the kind of wonder that I was expecting.
January 13, 2022
If this is the first book you ever read about sharks you will not learn much about sharks. That's not a knock on the book itself, but a reflection on just how much the world has learned about sharks in the years since the Cousteaus wrote this book. And part of the reason the world knows so much more about sharks is because of the pioneering undersea work of Jacques Cousteau and his associates, so this work is a great historical record.
The prose is weird and lyrical. The narrative changes perspective from Jacques to his son Philippe throughout the book.
A lot of their research involves killing sharks, mostly accidentally.
There is an emphasis throughout the book on the presumption that humans will be colonizing the sea and building underwater housing and communities.
Much of the book is really a long and detailed narrative about the expeditions with a lot less consistent information about the sharks themselves. There is an appendix with some handy information about relative shark sizes as well as a nice diagram of the Calypso.
I have to say I enjoyed this book partly because it is detailed in a way that I don't think any contemporary book would bother to be with so much information about the crew of the ship itself (lavishly illustrated) and the expedition they took.
In terms of sharks, we get a lot of looks at Blue Sharks, Oceanic White Tips and Black Tip Sharks as well as varieties of Reef Sharks and a spectacular look at Whale Sharks.
The prose is weird and lyrical. The narrative changes perspective from Jacques to his son Philippe throughout the book.
A lot of their research involves killing sharks, mostly accidentally.
There is an emphasis throughout the book on the presumption that humans will be colonizing the sea and building underwater housing and communities.
Much of the book is really a long and detailed narrative about the expeditions with a lot less consistent information about the sharks themselves. There is an appendix with some handy information about relative shark sizes as well as a nice diagram of the Calypso.
I have to say I enjoyed this book partly because it is detailed in a way that I don't think any contemporary book would bother to be with so much information about the crew of the ship itself (lavishly illustrated) and the expedition they took.
In terms of sharks, we get a lot of looks at Blue Sharks, Oceanic White Tips and Black Tip Sharks as well as varieties of Reef Sharks and a spectacular look at Whale Sharks.
May 9, 2024
Similarly to Cousteau's The Silent World, The Shark dances a fine line between bluntly observational prose regarding the activity of the sharks Cousteau and Co. encounter over the course of the text, and deeply poetic musings on life in and upon the ocean. Though JYC gets top billing here, much of the text is actually written by his son Philippe, and it is Philippe's prose that often drifts deeper into these poetic waters.
The Shark is a fascinating bit of documentation of the animal kingdom, despite its lack of any truly meaningful revelations. Published in 1970 and written about several years of prior explorations of the world's oceans, now that we're more than 50 years on from the events and observations described in the text, it is almost comical - for how genuinely revelatory a book like this would have been in 1970 - how little it actually is able to say about the true behavior of sharks. And JYC admits as much in the conclusory passages of the book, saying that, because of the sheer difficulty of the task of studying shark behavior, "...it is impossible to give this book very many conclusions, [but] it is possible to express some personal opinions."
Jaws author Peter Benchley claims to have read much of the then-current academic work on sharks in preparation for writing his 1974 debut, and it would not surprise me at all if the Cousteaus' The Shark was amongst that body of research. For as much reverence as is shown to sharks in The Shark, shadows of fear dance at the edge of every encounter; and for every claim that Cousteau wishes not to anthropomorphize the actions of the sharks, we still get captions like this one, remarking on a photograph of a white-tipped reef shark: "From a full-face angle, you can see that the shark has lost most of his grace and beauty. He is just a mean-looking, dangerous killer."
Perhaps the most outdated of the Cousteau's observations is one made by Philippe early in the text. Upon considering mankind's keen ability to destroy natural life, Philippe deploys for us this passage: "The majority of the races of squali, to which sharks belong, are perfectly adapted to their mode of life and their enormous numbers makes their extermination extremely difficult, if not impossible." We know, from our modern perspective, that this prophecy by Philippe Cousteau has been revealed to be some of the most wishful thinking imaginable.
The Shark is a fascinating bit of documentation of the animal kingdom, despite its lack of any truly meaningful revelations. Published in 1970 and written about several years of prior explorations of the world's oceans, now that we're more than 50 years on from the events and observations described in the text, it is almost comical - for how genuinely revelatory a book like this would have been in 1970 - how little it actually is able to say about the true behavior of sharks. And JYC admits as much in the conclusory passages of the book, saying that, because of the sheer difficulty of the task of studying shark behavior, "...it is impossible to give this book very many conclusions, [but] it is possible to express some personal opinions."
Jaws author Peter Benchley claims to have read much of the then-current academic work on sharks in preparation for writing his 1974 debut, and it would not surprise me at all if the Cousteaus' The Shark was amongst that body of research. For as much reverence as is shown to sharks in The Shark, shadows of fear dance at the edge of every encounter; and for every claim that Cousteau wishes not to anthropomorphize the actions of the sharks, we still get captions like this one, remarking on a photograph of a white-tipped reef shark: "From a full-face angle, you can see that the shark has lost most of his grace and beauty. He is just a mean-looking, dangerous killer."
Perhaps the most outdated of the Cousteau's observations is one made by Philippe early in the text. Upon considering mankind's keen ability to destroy natural life, Philippe deploys for us this passage: "The majority of the races of squali, to which sharks belong, are perfectly adapted to their mode of life and their enormous numbers makes their extermination extremely difficult, if not impossible." We know, from our modern perspective, that this prophecy by Philippe Cousteau has been revealed to be some of the most wishful thinking imaginable.
Want to read
May 23, 2016#
NC
Own in hardback.
FS: "His entire form is fluid, weaving from side to side; his head moves slowly from left to right, right to left, times to the rhythm of his motion through the water."
LS: "When their formidable silhouette glides along the populated coral cliffs, fish do not panic; they quietly clear the lord's path, and keep an eye on him. So do we."
NC
Own in hardback.
FS: "His entire form is fluid, weaving from side to side; his head moves slowly from left to right, right to left, times to the rhythm of his motion through the water."
LS: "When their formidable silhouette glides along the populated coral cliffs, fish do not panic; they quietly clear the lord's path, and keep an eye on him. So do we."
April 22, 2023
Not surprisingly, this is a bit dated, but I still really enjoyed it. Especially after reading that some of the research done in the book was in conjunction with Dr. Eugenie Clark, one of my heroes! Great old photos in the book, too.
January 6, 2013
One of the first books I ever read, back in 1980, still have it. Cemented a lifelong love of the ocean.
November 13, 2015
My very first book. Still have it. The information pretty outdated, but still one of my favorites.
April 22, 2017
Ļoti interesanta grāmata par haizivīm. Nav tikai vispārīgi apraksti, bet ir arī ļoti detalizēti izskaidrotas dažādas uzbūves īpatnības, lielāks akcents gan ir uz tikšanās brīžu aprakstiem, bet kopumā lasīju ar tiešām lielu ieinteresētību.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews