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Thousand Mile Song: Whale Music in a Sea of Sound | 
 enlarge | Author: David Rothenberg
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $27.50
Buy New: $6.90
You Save: $20.60 (75%)
New (40) Used (26) from $2.83
Avg. Customer Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 196243
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0465071287
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.51594
EAN: 9780465071289
ASIN: 0465071287
Publication Date: April 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Book and dust cover minor shelfwear. Ships quickly
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Product Description
Whale song is an astonishing world of sound whose existence no one suspected before the 1960s. Its discovery has forced us to confront the possibility of alien intelligence-not in outer space but right here on earth. Thoughtful, richly detailed, and deeply entertaining, Thousand Mile Song uses the enigma of whale sounds to open up whales’ underwater world of sonic mystery. In observing and talking with leading researchers from around the globe as they attempt to decipher undersea music, Rothenberg tells the story of scientists and musicians confronting an unknown as vast as the ocean. His search culminates in a grand attempt to make interspecies music the likes of which no one has ever heard (until, that is, they listen to the accompanying CD), by playing his clarinet with whales in their native habitats, from Russia to Canada to Hawaii.
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| Customer Reviews:
thousand mile song September 5, 2008
this was an interesting book , and CD coming from a unique and out of the box perspective!
Clarinet reeds and recording tape August 22, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
David Rothenberg is on a quest. He wants to communicate with other animals, and music is his medium. He's had some light success, recounted in his "Why Birds Sing". Here, he moves into the realm of mammals - our neighbours in the sea, the whales. With clear and undemanding prose, the author takes us through both the science of cetaceaology and his own efforts to record and perform with the great whales. He follows the whales around the world, reaching out with sound in bays, "sea-world" tanks and the open sea. Orcas off Vancouver Island, Belugas in the Chicago Aquarium, and, of course, the great Humpbacks, who produce the "Thousand Mile Song".
"Music hath charms . . . " goes the old cliche, but the author's purpose isn't to "charm", it's to establish some kind of link with those elusive creatures. Unlike those who rely on cliche and imagery, Rothenberg has electronics. And a clarinet. The electronics can record the voices of the singing whales, his squalling wind instrument and a computer to record both sets of sounds for comparison. The author's prompt was the release of thousands of recordings by the US Navy in their quest to separate submarines' sounds from that of living creatures - "biologics". Early results were released in a fabulously successful recording "Songs of the Humpback Whale". These, of course, were all just recordings, and nothing interactive was attempted.
The main trigger for Rothenberg was the variations that some species exhibited. "Songs" changed from season to season, and in some cases within the season. The author rightly reasoned that such variation was unlikely due to innate genetic characteristics. It must be due to something the whales determined consciously. Rothenberg's assessment is that the changes represent the whale equivalent to musical structure - themes, crescendos, and climaxes that must have some meaning, if not purpose. The "purpose", originally thought to be part of a courting ritual - all the whale singers are male - was quickly dismissed when no response on the part of females, even those close by, was observed. So, what is the purpose of "whale song"?
Rothenberg is careful not to get caught up in speculation. He's happy enough to goad a whale into responding to his clarinet. It only happens once, but a journey of a thousand kilometres . . . His desire to understand why the whales sing, or even what they're singing, is a meaningful quest. These are, after all, the planet's largest inhabitants, and they carry big brains that evolution has spent over 30 million years developing. Logically, those brains are capable of much more than just swimming, eating and finding mates. There must be an emotional element that we must learn to understand. A sour note regarding whale emotions is introduced when Rothenberg encounters a researcher who queries: "Who gave you the right to mess with these animals?" Rothenberg's response is to join an illegal "whale-watching" group to launch yet another concert. To the concerned reader, the episode resonates through the rest of the book.
Rothenberg's' efforts to communicate are a worthy idea, but hardly scientific. It's an interruption in some point in their life cycle and we don't yet know enough about whales to determine how much impact such "experiments" might have. Rothenberg presumes the whales might want to know something about us - unsurprising since our species has been slaughtering theirs for centuries. Perhaps they do, but a clarinet and a tape recorder are unlikely means of communication. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
A wonderful perspective July 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Thousand MIle Song is a wonderful perspective of Whales from their songs. The CD included in the book creates a great multimedia experience. The author writes with a loose style that is engaging throughout the book. I never got bored. For parts of the book I listened to the CD while reading. That was fun!
Satisfying Read July 7, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought this book after hearing it described on a radio program. I'm very satisfied. Lately, I have trouble finding anything to hold my interest, but that was not a problem with this book.
Overall, I found it a good blend of science, whimsy, and environmentalism.
 many thousands of miles for a song May 7, 2008
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
David has written a unique narrative of someone who is deeply and spiritually connected to nature and the animal world. His previous book on the songs of birds and why they sing as they do is one of the best in the literature on avian song, and this latest book goes beyond the scope of that book with a musical and mystical adventure into the obscure and mysterious world of the great whales. As one who has been fascinated with interspecies communication since reading John Lilly's books back in the 60's and 70's, I was impressed with David's approach to learning what it is to try and breach the void between the two most intelligent species on the planet.
He combines the best discoveries of science and technology with a musician's understanding of the primeval common ground that exists in rhythm and sound, across all cultures and extending into the animal kingdom as well. He was willing to take some risks and tick off some activist and naturalist allies to get where he wanted to go with his search, and I think it paid off handsomely in the results and insight we can all gain from his book. The individuals he sought out in his extensive researching are among the foremost authorities in the field of cetacean studies, and he was able to harvest a wealth of both fact and opinion from them. The audio CD included with the book is an outstanding compilation of his attempts to participate in the making of oceanic music and on its own worth the price of his book. I highly recommend The Thousand Mile Song to anyone who wants to further their own insights into the essential nature of music, sound, and whale culture.
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