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Product Description
Product Description
Master storyteller Peter Benchley combines high adventure with practical information in Shark Trouble, a book that is at once a thriller and a valuable guide to being safe in, on, under, and around the sea. The bestselling author of Jaws, The Deep, and other works draws on more than three decades of experience to share information about sharks and other marine animals.
“Shark attacks on human beings generate a tremendous amount of media coverage,” Benchley writes, “partly because they occur so rarely, but mostly, I think, because people are, and always have been, simultaneously intrigued and terrified by sharks. Sharks come from a wing of the dark castle where our nightmares live—deep water beyond our sight and understanding—and so they stimulate our fears and fantasies and imaginations.”
Benchley describes the many types of sharks (including the ones that pose a genuine threat to man), what is and isn’t known about shark behavior, the odds against an attack and how to reduce them even further—all reinforced with the lessons he has learned, the mistakes he has made, and the personal perils he has encountered while producing television documentaries, bestselling novels, and articles about the sea and its inhabitants. He tells how to swim safely in the ocean, how to read the tides and currents, what behavior to avoid, and how to survive when danger suddenly strikes. He discusses how to tell children about sharks and the sea and how to develop, in young and old alike, a healthy respect for the ocean.
As Benchley says, “The ocean is the only alien and potentially hostile environment on the planet into which we tend to venture without thinking about the animals that live there, how they behave, how they support themselves, and how they perceive us. I know of no one who would set off into the jungles of Malaysia armed only with a bathing suit, a tube of suntan cream, and a book, and yet that’s precisely how we approach the oceans.”
No longer. Not after you’ve read Shark Trouble.
From the Hardcover edition.
“Shark attacks on human beings generate a tremendous amount of media coverage,” Benchley writes, “partly because they occur so rarely, but mostly, I think, because people are, and always have been, simultaneously intrigued and terrified by sharks. Sharks come from a wing of the dark castle where our nightmares live—deep water beyond our sight and understanding—and so they stimulate our fears and fantasies and imaginations.”
Benchley describes the many types of sharks (including the ones that pose a genuine threat to man), what is and isn’t known about shark behavior, the odds against an attack and how to reduce them even further—all reinforced with the lessons he has learned, the mistakes he has made, and the personal perils he has encountered while producing television documentaries, bestselling novels, and articles about the sea and its inhabitants. He tells how to swim safely in the ocean, how to read the tides and currents, what behavior to avoid, and how to survive when danger suddenly strikes. He discusses how to tell children about sharks and the sea and how to develop, in young and old alike, a healthy respect for the ocean.
As Benchley says, “The ocean is the only alien and potentially hostile environment on the planet into which we tend to venture without thinking about the animals that live there, how they behave, how they support themselves, and how they perceive us. I know of no one who would set off into the jungles of Malaysia armed only with a bathing suit, a tube of suntan cream, and a book, and yet that’s precisely how we approach the oceans.”
No longer. Not after you’ve read Shark Trouble.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Being addicted to increasing my knowlledge in sharks, I picked this book randomly and was not disapointed. Peter Benchley structures this book extremely well, combining personal experiences with worldwide fishing issues. As a writer, this man has more dives behind him than most people and tells his stories of interaction with marine life from Great Whites to Baracudda, from Killer Wales to Tiger Sharks. In each story he tells, the topic is a potential human threat (that makes the book as thrilling as it is) ie sharks, currents, jellyfish. Benchley, explains his experience in great detail and then in some cases offers a guide in how to counteract these "threats." The icing on the cake for me was the beautifully written fictional story 3/4 of the way through that illustrates the sharks role in nature and how marine life and human life changes for the worse when the sharks are removed. It is evident that the message Benchley is putting across is one of awarness concerning the overfishing and future extinction of sharks. Ironic from the man who wrote Jaws! Fantastic read, if only the fictional story could be portrayed in to a Universal blockbuster to reverse the public opinion on sharks that Jaws created).
Format:Paperback
Anyone who has enjoyed any of Benchleys numerous fictional novels will enjoy this fact filled book.
Although the title suggests the contents will just deal with sharks, all manner of dangerous marine life is explored and brought to life using the authors many many experiences and various pictures.
Also included are the encounters that inspired his best selling works and the authors reactions to the media and mans attitude to the planet.
The only reason i failed to give this book 5 stars is that after being told a few time that man is the biggest danger etc etc etc... it got slightly tiresome.
Although the title suggests the contents will just deal with sharks, all manner of dangerous marine life is explored and brought to life using the authors many many experiences and various pictures.
Also included are the encounters that inspired his best selling works and the authors reactions to the media and mans attitude to the planet.
The only reason i failed to give this book 5 stars is that after being told a few time that man is the biggest danger etc etc etc... it got slightly tiresome.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
18 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Enjoyable listening, but...
15 April 2003
Format:Audio CD
Peter Benchley makes a good, light, and accomplished reading of his own book. This is easily accessible and not bogged down with science, though depending on what you want, that could be a drawback also. There are some good personal anecdotes. I liked the story of Peter's swim (flight?) on the back of a Manta Ray, and the time he nearly got his family eaten by Hammerheads.
It should be said that the book seems a little disjointed at times, and there are chapters that actually have nothing to do with sharks, but instead talk about safety in the water and other sea creatures. The author takes a strong environmental attitude throughout with regard to shark conservation, and is critical of the bad press sharks get in the media (but Peter, didn't you.. er.. have just a little to do with that?)
A good book for light reading or listening, but don't expect too much in the way of serious information.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Benchley's Act of Contrition Works!
22 April 2003
Format:Hardcover
Peter Benchley seeks to atone for his unparalleled contribution to shark hysteria in Shark Trouble, a much more factual account of the Shark than his earlier works. Having achieved shark fame through "Jaws", Mr. Benchley was subsequently invited over the next several years to come play in the sea with the fearsome critters by numerous people looking to hype their own shark agendas with an appearance by the creator of "Jaws". After many years of diving and rubbing shoulders with shark legends, actual sharks and researchers in the field of shark behavior, Peter Benchly writes this memoir to philosophically reflect on the experience of his personal shark odyssey while touching from time to time on the emerging scientific understanding of the shark. I found it to be an excellent read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Super book!
14 July 2002
Format:Hardcover
Highly recommended for the armchair adventurer: entertaining, engrossing, informative, well written. Peter Benchley describes some of his personal shark-adventures with intelligence, modesty and wit. Interwoven with the extraordinary episodes he describes are both general ecological observations and specific, practical advice for seashore swimmers.
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