I never feared water since I was a child. My 4 older brothers, all of them strong swimmers taught me how to swim pretty damn well. But since the age gap was too far from my brothers as I am menopausal baby, I grew up learning about so many things in the ocean life among friends and strangers.
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| Photo by Neil Hammerschlag for the book, Demon Fish |
Jaws... I used to watch the movie in the 80's just before a horrible thing unfolded right before my eyes in one scuba diving adventure as a teen. For many years, I haven't been open about this. I kept silent. I had countless nightmares witnessing a shark attack of a scuba diving buddy who taught me the basics... one of the many unaccounted for shark attacks in the Philippines. In my belief, shark attacks are a rare occurrence in my country but what I have witnessed indeed when I was young, was perhaps, one from a ferocious creature which I think was a bull shark.
It took me a long time to recover but my love for water is just undeniable and although I stopped watching Jaws movies and its' sequels, I still love water and now I'm back to exploring them soon again. I think I am ready.
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| Me... contemplating about exploring the deep. |
Just a few minutes ago, my attention was caught by a news from The Huffington Post ... Demon Fish: New Book Explores The Hidden World of Sharks by Juliet Eilperin. It is a new book that explores the way humans and cultures around the world interact with the ocean's top predators.
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| The cover of the book, Demon Fish by Juliet Eilperin |
This national environment report for The Washington Post written by Juliet Eilperin, the book gives us an up-close look at understanding both the mystery and power behind these creatures and the large imprint they have cemented in the human mind long before "Jaws" came on the scene. This is the shark book for the person who wants to understand both what sharks are, and what sharks mean. I bit into it and just bought the book from Amazon right away after watching this video...
Here's a summary of the book:
“Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks” provides a global look at the often surprising and inexplicable ways people and cultures relate to, and engage with, the ocean’s top predator. Juliet Eilperin begins her journey in Papua New Guinea, where sharks play a unique role in creation myths, and where the practice of shark calling-summoning sharks by magic-still flourishes. She takes us to Hong Kong and mainland China, where we glimpse the gruesome finning practices that supply the prime ingredient for status-imbuing shark fin soup. In Miami, we meet Mark “The Shark” Quartiano, shark-fishing guide to the stars. And wherever she travels-from Japan to the Yucatan peninsula, from Indonesia to Cape Town South Africa- Eilperin illuminates the ways in which the mythological significance attributed to these animals has made them objects of reverence, fear, and fascination, and of misperceptions that may eventually lead to their extinction.
With a reporter’s instinct for a good story and a scientist’s curiosity, she offers us an up-close and in-depth understanding of these extraordinary, mysterious creatures, in the most entertaining and illuminating shark encounter you’re likely to find outside a steel cage.
I can't wait for the delivery of Juliet Eilperin's book. This will be the first book that I will read page after page in so many years for sure. I was stuck to reading about things online for far too long that I believe this book will take me to a magnificent journey offline to find me some answers. Pick up a copy of "Demon Fish" here to learn more. I'm sure you will enjoy it as I will when my delivery comes.