Sing Like Fish

How Sound Rules Life Under Water

By: Amorina Kingdon

Narrated by: Angelina Rocca

A captivating exploration of how underwater animals tap into sound to survive, and a clarion call for humans to address the ways we invade these critical soundscapes—from an award-winning science writer

“Sing Like Fish is that rare book that makes you see the world differently.”—Mark Kurlansky, New York Times bestselling author of Salt and Cod

LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION

For centuries, humans ignored sound in the “silent world” of the ocean, assuming that what we couldn’t perceive, didn’t exist. But we couldn’t have been more wrong. Marine scientists now have the technology to record and study the complex interplay of the myriad sounds in the sea. Finally, we can trace how sounds travel with the currents, bounce from the seafloor and surface, bend with the temperature and even saltiness; how sounds help marine life survive; and how human noise can transform entire marine ecosystems.

In Sing Like Fish, award-winning science journalist Amorina Kingdon synthesizes historical discoveries with the latest scientific research in a clear and compelling portrait of this sonic undersea world. From plainfin midshipman fish, whose swim-bladder drumming is loud enough to keep houseboat-dwellers awake, to the syntax of whalesong; from the deafening crackle of snapping shrimp, to the seismic resonance of underwater earthquakes and volcanoes; sound plays a vital role in feeding, mating, parenting, navigating, and warning—even in animals that we never suspected of acoustic ability.

Meanwhile, we jump in our motorboats and cruise ships, oblivious to the impact below us. Our lifestyle is fueled by oil in growling tankers and furnished by goods that travel in massive container ships. Our seas echo with human-made sound, but we are just learning of the repercussions of anthropogenic noise on the marine world’s delicate acoustic ecosystems—masking mating calls, chasing animals from their food, and even wounding creatures, from plankton to lobsters.

With intimate and artful prose, Sing Like Fish tells a uniquely complete story of ocean animals’ submerged sounds, envisions a quieter future, and offers a profound new understanding of the world below the surface.

Good solid science mixed with storytelling.

The author did a laudable job breaking down the basic science elements of acoustics both in air and aqueous environments. Without dumbing it down overmuch, she did a good job explaining why cruise ships, boat/ship traffic, percussion pilings and other elements are a risk to the quiet of the sea. Well done.

title a little misleading

Book was fine, but I was hoping for more info on fish (and invertebrates) and less on mammals. Still a worthwhile listen

Great book marred by poor choice of narrator.

Sing Like Fish is a fascinating journey through biology, physics, history, and environmental conservation that maintains a taut line of interest across its disparate chapters. Being friends with several marine biologists, I was familiar with some of the ideas presented here, but nevertheless learned a great deal, including about the anatomical function of the inner ear, and scientific analysis of the phonemes that make up whale song. Sadly, the audiobook presentation is heavily marred by the poor choice of narrators. The narrator's breathless delivery seems better-suited to a romance novel than a scientific work (no matter how poetic that work might frequently be), with an annoying tendency to swallow the ends of sentences making them nigh-unintelligible. Furthermore, I got the frequent impression that she didn't understand the sentences she was reading, as she constantly emphasized the wrong words in sentences (most grating was her reading of "marine mammals" as "MARINE mammals," as if a book about the ocean could be referring to any other kind, rather than comprehending that the author was contrasting mammal behavior with that of fish and marine invertebrates), and (most damning) regularly obfuscated the flow of sentences by pausing longer for commas than for periods (and sometimes, especially near the end of the book, pausing in the middle of sentences for no apparent reason at all).

In short, this is a fabulous book, but save your sanity and buy the print version.

Anything mankind does affect ecology

I was hoping for an insightful book like Forest Walking by Peter Wohilliben, but no a book about everything man does causes harm. Let’s go back to the Stone Age. Sorry, this book was painful to get through, but I did. Those Amazon Audible sales got me. Also much harder to return books now.