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Title details for Spineless by Juli Berwald - Available

Spineless

The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone

by Juli Berwald
Juli Berwald
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
"A book full of wonders" —Helen Macdonald, author of H Is for Hawk
"Witty, insightful. . . .The story of jellyfish. . . is a significant part of the environmental story. Berwald's engaging account of these delicate, often ignored creatures shows how much they matter to our oceans' future." —New York Times Book Review 
Jellyfish have been swimming in our oceans for well over half a billion years, longer than any other animal that lives on the planet. They make a venom so toxic it can kill a human in three minutes. Their sting—microscopic spears that pierce with five million times the acceleration of gravity—is the fastest known motion in the animal kingdom. Made of roughly 95 percent water, some jellies are barely perceptible virtuosos of disguise, while others glow with a luminescence that has revolutionized biotechnology. Yet until recently, jellyfish were largely ignored by science, and they remain among the most poorly understood of ocean dwellers.
More than a decade ago, Juli Berwald left a career in ocean science to raise a family in landlocked Austin, Texas, but jellyfish drew her back to the sea. Recent, massive blooms of billions of jellyfish have clogged power plants, decimated fisheries, and caused millions of dollars of damage. Driven by questions about how overfishing, coastal development, and climate change were contributing to a jellyfish population explosion, Juli embarked on a scientific odyssey. She traveled the globe to meet the biologists who devote their careers to jellies, hitched rides on Japanese fishing boats to see giant jellyfish in the wild, raised jellyfish in her dining room, and throughout it all marveled at the complexity of these alluring and ominous biological wonders.
Gracefully blending personal memoir with crystal-clear distillations of science, Spineless is the story of how Juli learned to navigate and ultimately embrace her ambition, her curiosity, and her passion for the natural world. She discovers that jellyfish science is more than just a quest for answers. It’s a call to realize our collective responsibility for the planet we share.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 7, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780525498018
      • File size: 296290 KB
      • Duration: 10:17:16

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 1080
    • Text Difficulty: 7-9

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Juli Berwald's fascination with brainless blobs of seaborne gelatin and stinging tentacles makes 10 hours of stories about seeking and studying--and even eating--jellyfish a pleasure for armchair (or beach chair) naturalists. Berwald is not a professional audiobook narrator. Her delivery is a bit too frenetic at times, but she is telling her own story, and her emotions clearly enter into her vocal style, making this audiobook not only a scientific study but also the story of a personal life journey. Many characters from around the world, from fishermen to scientists, weave through the story, and to the narrator's credit, she does not attempt to duplicate their accents. Those who live in coastal communities will especially enjoy this audiobook. C.M.A. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from August 14, 2017
      Combining humor and passion, science textbook writer Berwald investigates the strange world of the jellyfish in this captivating and informative science memoir. She reveals the ways these seemingly simple creatures are far more complex than many people imagine, examining how they communicate, how some sense light without eyes, and how some are virtually immortal. Berwald interviews leading jellyfish scientists around the world while sharing some of her own experiences with the animals, including searching for blooms in the eastern Mediterranean and tasting some at home in Austin, Tex. Her message transcends jellyfish themselves: Berwald makes clear that researching jellyfish “is not just to look at a creature unfamiliar and bizarre to most, but to study the planet and our place in it.” As oceans acidify and fisheries crash from overuse, jellyfish populations appear to be expanding: clogging cooling systems of power plants, disrupting tourism, and further damaging fish stock. Yet Berwald makes clear that the oceans are incredibly complex ecosystems and scientists aren’t fully certain what role jellyfish play, only that they are a critical component of the environment. Berwald details how focusing on jellyfish expanded her own intellectual horizons and she tells some awfully good stories along the way. Agent: Mollie Glick, Creative Artists.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:1080
  • Text Difficulty:7-9

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