The Devil's Teeth

A True Story of Survival and Obsession Among America's Great White Sharks

By: Susan Casey

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Travel 30 miles north, south, or east of San Francisco city hall and you'll be engulfed in a landscape of thick traffic, fast enterprise, and $6 cappuccinos. Venture 30 miles due west, however, and you will find yourself on what is virtually another planet: a spooky cluster of rocky islands called the Farallones.

Journalist Susan Casey was in her living room when she first glimpsed this strange place and its resident sharks, their dark fins swirling around a tiny boat in a documentary. These great whites were the alphas among alphas, the narrator said, some of them topping 18 feet in length, and each fall they congregated here off the northern California coast. That so many of these magnificent and elusive animals lived in the 415 area code, crisscrossing each other under the surface like jets stacked in a holding pattern, seemed stunningly improbable and irresistible. Casey knew she had to see them for herself.

Within a matter of months she was in a 17-foot Boston Whaler, being hoisted up a cliff to face onto the barren surface of Southeast Farallon Island, part of the group known to 19th-century sailors as the "Devil's Teeth". There she joined the two biologists who study the sharks, bunking down in the island's one habitable building, a haunted, 120-year-old house spackled with lichen and gull guano. Less than 48 hours later she had her first encounter with the famous, terrifying jaws and was instantly hooked. Curiosity yielded to obsession, and when the opportunity arose to return for a longer stay she jumped at it. But as Casey readied herself for shark season, she had no way of preparing for what she would find among the dangerous, forgotten islands.

The Devil's Teeth offers a rare glimpse into the lives of nature's most mysterious predators, and of those who follow them. Here is a vivid dispatch from an otherworldly outpost, a story of crossing the boundary between society and an untamed place where humans are neither wanted nor needed.

©2005 Susan Casey (P)2005 Books on Tape, Inc.

Not Enough about the Main Characters (The Sharks)

Being a huge shark fan (DVR has stopped the rolled eyes during Shark Week from my wife), I thought this would be a great experience of the author learning about the sharks and guiding the reader through that learning. But it was more of her experience on the islands, while I do appreciate, just let me down. I wanted more shark knowledge, more notes of what the researchers did on the island about the sharks and I really didn't get that. So, to you reading this review, not bad, but it needed more for us Shark Fans.

Mystery,adventure and discovery

This is an excellent author ,and prior to this I read the book the Wave, about the ocean and the giant waves that sometimes swell in the murky depths.The ocean is a very powerful and sometimes deadly place.The author has a great style and although she is a great swimmer in her own right,she delivers a fresh perspective from a layman's point of view in both volumes.The thing that impressed me most was that even as much as we have studied many things extensively in this world the ocean and its creatures,the sharks in this case,are still not fully understood.Sharks live a long time and don't suffer from cancer.There isn't much money going into the research of these magnificent lions of the ocean.This particular area off the coast of San Fransisco is chock full of these wonders of nature.The study while on board a small yacht was very austere.The author often had trouble getting her land legs back after being tossed about in the rough seas.The island where the researchers studied the sharks was very remote despite its proximity to civilization.Very few people have been granted the privilege that Susan was granted and she describes the whole experience very clearly for those of us not as lucky as she was.

Authentic Characters and Story line

Great story by a thoughtful and authentic writer. We are drawn in to ride along on the writers journey to "re-wild" and be awestruck by the wonder, power, and majesty of the natural world. The characters we meet are admirable, and likeable for their commitment and endurance to pay the price to pursue knowledge & understanding of these fascinating creatures of the deep.

I was loving it until...

Would you consider the audio edition of The Devil's Teeth to be better than the print version?

Wouldn't know, I haven't read the book.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I liked it very much.

What about Kimberly Farr’s performance did you like?

Wonderful!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me wonder about a lot of things. I spent day dreaming about the Farallon Islands while I wasn't listening. Until...

Any additional comments?

I gave it three stars, because it states that the "Cousteaus" were near the Islands just waisting time and lounging on their boat. This was Jean Michelle Cousteau, which is NOT Captain Jaques Ives Cousteau, the icon of underwater filming and investigation. Captain Cousteau died during a terrible legal battle with his son Jean Michelle over the dispute of using the "Cousteau" name for a Resort in Fiji. Captain Cousteau spent his life innovating diving and underwater investigation and documentation on film, protecting the oceans and it's inhabitants, getting laws to pass for protection of the environment and basically giving us the beginning of all knowledge of undersea exploration, not to mention the Aqualung (S.C.U.B.A., Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus), and all of sport diving. Although Jean Michelle is his son, he was, and never will be similar to his father.

It was almost a five star... almost...

surprisingly riveting and wildly educational

after listening to her book, underworld, I was piqued to read an earlier book, even though I would normally not have read about great white sharks. I'm so happy to have learned about them, and of course, her story of her learning.

An eye-opening tale

The Devil's Teeth is an amazing and fascinating look at one of nature's most fearsome predators -- the great white shark. After reading the excerpt of this book in a recent issue of Sports Illustrated, I knew this would be a captivating listen. A very well-written book that is filled with lots of information and anecdotes that may have been known in the California diving community (and maybe in certain segments of the scientific community), but certainly were not widely known elsewhere. Readers may have nightmares about sharks for weeks after hearing this book ... and they certainly will think twice about scuba diving off the Northern California coast.

Wonderful

Didn't want to put it down. Entertaining and informative. Reader has a great voice.

Passionate Read - Provacative

This has to be one of the best non-fiction books I have listened to. The Devil's Teeth by Susan Casey is a story of unexplicable passion of a writer for her subject - great white sharks. Casey provides insight into her passion as well into the mysterious lives of the earth's largest carnivore. Her story is full of science and passion. Less than 100 miles off of the coast of San Francisco lie The Farallones - rocky crags that jut from the Pacific. These devil's teeth are the home to a breed of biologists whose passions are what most humans would consider evil - killer sharks. Kimberly Farr does a great job in reading, although sometimes a little too much emphasis is placed on some corney attempts at humor. What a subject (sharks). What a setting (the Farallones). What a read!

An excellent book all around

Great book if you are interested in marine biology. The story is very interesting. I rarely ever give an audiobook 5 stars but this one is exceptional. Thank you Audibles

Susan Casey is truly inspiring and fearless!

Susan Casey is passionate and inspiring. Her work show a fearlessness that so many people lack these days.