Rebecca Giggs is a writer from Perth, Western Australia. Her work has been widely published, including in Best Australian Essays, Best Australian Science Writing, Best Australian Stories, Granta, Aeon, The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, and Griffith Review. Rebecca’s nonfiction focuses on how people feel about, and feel for, animals in a time of technological change and ecological crisis.
‘Fathoms is perhaps the finest book written about whales since Moby
Dick was published 170 years ago. It’s also one of the best
accounts I’ve ever read of the interaction, intended and
unintended, between humans and other species — a work of genuinely
literary imagination.’
*New York Review of Books*
‘Fathoms took my breath away. Every page is suffused with magic and
meaning. Humanity’s relationship with nature has never been more
important or vulnerable, and we are truly fortunate that at such a
pivotal moment, a writer of Rebecca Giggs’s calibre is here to
capture every beautiful detail, every aching nuance. She is in a
league of her own.’
*Ed Yong, author of I Contain Multitudes*
‘Fathoms is a magnificent book, as grand and profound in its sweep
as the whale itself. Rebecca Giggs is a brilliant writer - her
prose packed with wonders and glittering with ideas.’
*Philip Marsden, author of The Summer Isles*
‘Fathoms reads like a poem. Its virtuoso thinking is a revelation.
I can’t think of many books in which love for the world and
uncompromising, ever-deepening rigour come together in this way.
Time slows down. This book makes a permanent dent in the
reader.’
*Maria Tumarkin, author of Axiomatic*
‘Fathoms is a marvel: a glorious, prismatic, deeply affecting hymn
to the beauty, majesty, and extremity of whales and the human
imagining of them.’
*James Bradley, author of Clade*
‘[A] lyrical, wide-ranging meditation on whales and their complex
relationship with humanity … Meticulously researched and full of
fascinating information.’
*Books+Publishing*
‘In Fathoms, Rebecca Giggs rips the metaphors off whales and brings
us closer than we can usually get to the creatures themselves.
Along the way, she shows us how intimately whales are shaping our
lives, how they change air quality, and crime, and even our
conception of time. I can't stop thinking about the connections she
has unearthed, how a whale is connected to a meteor, a mother's
breast, a landfill. Under the spell of her deliciously evocative
prose, you get the sense that you are truly, finally, glimpsing a
whale in full glory. Like the busks she writes about—tiny missives
carved into whalebone corsets by sailors—this book leaves an
imprint.’
*Lulu Miller, author of Why Fish Don’t Exist and co-founder
of NPR’s Invisibilia*
‘Seafaring scrutiny of whales, their oceanic environment, and the
dangers to their survival … Giggs presents … scholarship in crisp,
creatively written chapters addressing the many layers of the whale
population’s unique physiology and evolutionary history, sociality,
above-water balletic athleticism, and enigmatic ‘biophony’ of their
vocalisations. Most importantly, she analyses how their behaviour
can be predictive for the Earth’s future … Giggs reiterates that
the whale and its life, legacy, and precarious environmental state
are reflective of the greater issues the Earth faces, from
ecological upheaval to overconsumption. Whether describing the
majesty of the blue whale or the human assault on sea ecology due
to paper and plastic pollution, the author’s prose is poetic,
beautifully smooth, urgently readable, and eloquently informative.
Her passion for whales leaps off the page, urging readers to care
and—even more so—become involved in their protection and
preservation. Throughout the book, the author’s debut, she
brilliantly exposes ‘how regular human life seeped into the
habitats of wildlife, and how wildlife returned back to us, the
evidence of our obliviousness.’ Refreshingly, she also reveals
glimmers of hope regarding what whales can teach the human race
about our capacity to ecologically coexist with the natural world.
A thoughtful, ambitiously crafted appeal for the preservation of
marine mammals.’ STARRED REVIEW
*Kirkus Reviews*
‘Astonishing ... utterly original ... Fathomsis an attempt to
interpret our contemporary moment – and in particular our
relationship with the non-human world – through the glistening
figure of the whale in all its myriad aspects ... The language
of Fathoms has a remarkable, almost gothic intensity. The
style is vivid and estranging and luridly compelling, full of weird
lights and unexpected textures ... A remarkable literary event
because it is a new and hugely ambitious kind of nature writing,
verging on poetry. It is itself a whale cure, thrusting us into the
dark intestine of the whale, among the indigestible plastics and
other pollutants, the better to hear the conscience of
tomorrow.’
*The Monthly*
‘In Fathoms, Rebecca Giggs unravels a powerful nonfiction
narrative, masterfully blending history, philosophy and
science.’
*Happy Magazine*
‘This book is nothing less than a small masterpiece. … Rebecca
Giggs’ Fathoms – the world in the whale is a remarkable
meditation on, nominally, whales, but through them the delicacy and
intricacy of human relationships with the environment, and the
history and legacy of our intimate and devastating impact upon
ecosystems … The book is a striking piece of narrative nonfiction,
philosophical and personal at once wrestling with liminal
vulnerabilities, fantasies, conceits and projections, and it
deserves global attention.’ 4.5 STARS
*ArtsHub*
‘Fathoms is horrific, poetic and profound; a morbid dirge shot
through with celestial light. As well as being an extensively
researched and deeply considered study, the book is also a
wunderkammer of tales that illustrate the hot mess of human
aggression, obliviousness and folly … Fathoms is a vast book,
the scale of which brings to mind the blue whale, anatomically
mysterious and the largest creature to have lived. Giggs weaves
together cosmological phenomena with their deep-sea reverberations
to give us a book that feels universal.’
*The Saturday Paper*
‘With remarkable detective work, author Rebecca Giggs explores the
habitats and migratory patterns of whales to reveal a great deal
about them, and even more about us. It is a hauntingly beautiful
examination of the moral force of animals, offering hope as well as
despair.’
*Herald Sun*
‘A work of bright and careful genius. Equal parts Rebecca Solnit
and Annie Dillard, Giggs masterfully combines lush prose with
conscientious history and boots-on-the-beach reporting. With Giggs
leading us gently by the hand we dive down, and down, and down,
into the dark core of the whale, which, she convincingly reveals,
is also the guts of the world.’
*Robert Moor, New York Times bestselling author of On
Trails: an exploration*
‘Rebecca Giggs’ Fathoms is a triumph, a deliciously rich work of
art that, as if by magic, combines exquisite prose that floats off
the page and into your heart with scientific accuracy and epic
scope. This is by far the best book about whales I have ever read.
What an achievement!’
*Wendy Williams, author of The Language of Butterflies and
New York Times bestseller The Horse: the epic history of
our noble companion*
‘One of the most beautifully written nonfiction books I have read
in a long time. It's so hard to do justice to the immense
importance of whales and the lessons they have for us all. Rebecca
Giggs does an extraordinary job of bringing together the science,
the history, and the brilliance and fragility of whales.’
*Christine Kenneally, author of The Invisible History of the
Human Race*
‘Fathoms is a work of profound insight and wonder.’
*X-Press Magazine*
‘The book is a masterpiece. I am astonished that it is Giggs’s
first, for it reads like the work of a far more experienced author
... Giggs’s exquisite prose is so striking as to be almost poetic,
pulling the reader up constantly, either to savour a particularly
apposite phrase, or to ponder a deep, unexpected connection. If a
whale warrants a pause, then Fathoms warrants many.’
*The Australian*
‘Lyrical, meditative and deeply researched, this gorgeous book by
WA writer Rebecca Giggs is one to linger over.’
*The Weekend West*
‘This is a heavy read, but a fascinating and vital one.’
*Kill Your Darlings*
‘Fathoms is beautifully written, always aiming for the bigger
picture: what it means to live in the world; and what it means to
be enthralled by the world we live in and destroying it … Fathoms
is a glorious, beautiful and deeply important book.’
*Compulsive Reader*
‘Truly remarkable … Each page is full of wonder and
revelation.’
*Talking Heads Magazine*
‘This is an unforgettable, meticulously researched work that
examines the ways that we’re all connected — with whales, with the,
environment and each other.’
*Organic Gardener Magazine*
‘Meticulous research and stunning prose … unique, introspective and
poetic.’
*Canberra Times*
‘[A] moving homage to the whale … A book that begins with obsequies
for a whale ends by enlarging our knowledge of, and sense of wonder
about, this magnificent species. It is non-fiction told with the
vivacity and moral authority that was once reserved for
fiction.’
*Australian Financial Review*
‘Giggs’ meticulous research is itself awesome. Every page has its
breathtaking revelations … For all this wondrous detail, the whale
remains a lens through which to consider humanity’s relationship
with the environment … Fathoms’ exhilarating poetic language is
richly allusive and orchestrated … this marvellous work of haunted
wonder ends with a fiercely unabashed vision of humanity moved
'from indecision to action', for whales, for love, for the
world.’
*Sydney Morning Herald*
‘[A] delving, haunted and poetic debut. Giggs is worth reading for
her spotlight observations and lyricism alone, but she also has an
important message to deliver … [S]he uses whales as invitations to
consider everything else: the selfie-isation of environmentalism,
the inherent worth of parasites, Jungian psychoanalysis, solar
storms, whale songs records going multiplatinum and so much more.
In the cascade of mini-essays that results, Giggs comes off as much
as a cultural critic as a naturalist.’
*The New York Times Book Review*
‘There is much to marvel at here … Deeply researched and deeply
felt, Giggs’ intricate investigation, beautifully revelatory and
haunting, urges us to save the whales once again, and the oceans,
and ourselves.’ STARRED REVIEW
*Booklist*
‘In the whale, Giggs truly does find the world. She finds clues
that unlock how humans have engaged nature — tales of greed,
aggression, wonder, desperation, longing, nostalgia, love,
curiosity and obsession. Her prose is luminous … tracing
humankind’s continuing intersection with these alluring creatures,
Giggs ultimately uncovers seeds of hope and, planting them in her
fertile mind, cultivates a lush landscape that offers remarkable
views of nature, humanity and how we might find a way forward
together.’ STARRED REVIEW
*BookPage*
‘Fathoms immediately earns its place in the pantheon of classics of
the new golden age of environmental writing.’
*Literary Hub*
‘A profound meditation … Giggs explores how whales have permeated
our lives and the many ways we have invaded and transformed theirs.
Each chapter orbits a different aspect of this long and fraught
relationship — commodification, pollution, voyeurism, adoration,
mythology — swerving wherever Giggs’s extensive research and
fervent curiosity take her … Giggs’s prose is fluid, sensuous, and
lyrical. She has a poet’s gift for startling and original imagery …
The lushness of her sentences and the intensity of her vision
inspire frequent rereading — not for clarity, but for sheer
pleasure and depth of meaning.’
*Los Angeles Review of Books*
‘[W]idens the aperture of our attention with a literary style so
stunning that the reader may forget to blink ... In a story that
extends across several continents, Ms. Giggs marshals lapidary
language to give the crisis a compelling voice. Her prose, like the
oceans in which her subjects roam, is immersive; her sentences
submerge us in a sea of sensations … [M]ore descriptive than
prescriptive concerning the plight of whales and, by implication,
the health of the Earth. But as with George Orwell’s Shooting an
Elephant and E.B. White’s Death of a Pig, Ms. Giggs, tending the
final hours of a humpback on an Australian beach, reminds us that
paying attention to the close of another creature’s life can be its
own form of moral instruction.’
*The Wall Street Journal*
‘Immersive … Illustrating the interconnectedness of all life and
the ways man's depredations travel from the smallest creatures to
this largest of Earth's animals … In lyrical language, Giggs leads
readers on a journey through underwater cultures and the place of
whales in the chain of life. Recommended for readers interested in
nature, ecology, and environmentalism.’
*Library Journal*
‘A searching debut … Giggs displays a keen awareness of what it
means to write about a creature whose future is just as uncertain
as our own.’
*The Nation*
‘As well as being dazzlingly well researched and conveyed, the
language in Fathoms is wonderful in that it never becomes
sentimental and yet is thoroughly moving. Combining reportage,
cultural criticism and poem as a call to action in the spirit of
Rachel Carson, Giggs is an assured new voice in narrative
nonfiction … Gloriously, she presents whales as poets … We need to
be moved – therein the particular power of literature to expand the
parameters of our compassion … More prescient for its time than the
author could have imagined.’
*The Irish Times*
‘Fathoms is brilliantly full of wonder.’
*The Economist*
‘Masterly.’
*The New Yorker*
‘Glorious and astounding.’
*Robbie Arnott*
‘With distinctive prose, as philosophical as it is scientific, this
is a challenging and illuminating portrait of the oceans’ great
cetaceans and what they mean to people.’
*BBC Wildlife Magazine*
‘Beautiful and insightful.’
*Sunday Independent*
‘By looking at the largest of our mammalian cousins Rebecca Giggs
returns us to ourselves. This vital and urgent book awakens our
wonder and our fear. In dense language, rich in poetry and science,
it fathoms a deep empathy for the living world.’
*Antony Gormley*
‘Some of the most alive, inventive writing on the planet is nature
writing, and Giggs’ Fathoms is glorious proof. Ostentatious, mythic
and strange, this is the kind of book that swallows you whole.
Entirely fitting for its subject.’
*The Guardian*
‘Fathoms is the result of years of research and contemplation: a
cultural, historical and ecological exploration of whales and their
place in human life and thought … It is simply one of the most
miraculous and illuminating accounts of animality I’ve come across.
Read it, read the whole magnificent tome: you’ll leave it filled
with renewed awe for cetacean existence.’
*The Australian*
‘A poetic and surprisingly wide-ranging blend of natural history,
science and philosophy.’
*The Weekend West Australian*
‘This remarkable study of whales examines much more than the
magnificent creatures of the deep. Through brilliant detective
work, Giggs explores the habitats and migratory patterns of whales
to reveal a great deal about them, and even more about the human
impact on the oceans.’
*The Chronicle*
‘Giggs’s style is all the more impactful for its sparseness … Her
journey encompasses everything from whale-hunting ships in Japan to
Loch Ness monster conspiracy theories in Scotland, with all of the
disparate subjects deftly woven together by clipped, polished
prose.’
*The Mail on Sunday*
‘Wonder pours out of every page of this gorgeously written and
daringly imagined book.’
*Slate*
‘Extraordinary.’
*Australian Geographic*
‘A book like this shows the best of what reflective, creative
non-fiction can do.’
*ABC Radio*
‘Rebecca Giggs’ enthralling Fathoms: the world in the whale
presents whales as immense, enigmatic, intelligent and majestic sea
creatures, but also vividly describes the intricate ecosystem of
the vast oceans in which they live and die. Drawing from science,
history, literature, art and mythology, Fathoms is both epic in
scale and rich in detail about the life cycle of whales, their
behaviours and sociality.’
*The Conversation*
‘Lyrical … Facts like these are eye-opening. But the book shines
most brightly in its poetry … Giggs’s writing has an old-fashioned
lushness and elaborateness of thought … its finest passages — and
they are many — awaken a sense of wonder. That other lives as
marvellous and mysterious as these still exist is, for the moment
at least, a reason to celebrate.’
*The Washington Post*
‘Like fine tapestry, strands unite into a coherent work of great
beauty. Yes, this is a book about what whales mean to us, but it’s
also about how to interweave and admire cultural and biological
stories, metaphors, and meanings.’
*Geographical Magazine*
'An incredibly wonderful book ... [Giggs] is a fabulous writer'
*Brian Eno*
‘Giggs' work [Fathoms] … on whales, climate change and pollution
has been one of the most affecting [books] I've read in a
while.’
*The Courier-Mail*
‘It’s rare for whales to get what they deserve from our species,
but Giggs’ fascinating and poetic natural history starts to pay
back a portion of an impossible debt.’
*Geographical Magazine*
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