How to Speak Whale

July 18, 2022
Filmmaker Mustill dives deep into the world of animal communication in this colorful survey. Prompted by a near-death experience—a breaching humpback whale rising above and landing on his kayak in Monterey Bay—Mustill became obsessed with figuring out “what, if anything at all” the whale was “trying to say.” In his quest for answers, he describes the dismal history of human-whale relations (due in large part to hunting); whale anatomy that enables the creatures’ communication; and recent breakthroughs in the field of animal communication, in which researchers are employing artificial intelligence to interpret animal songs. Mustill’s survey is shot through with fascinating characters, among them Roger Payne, whose 1970s recordings of whale songs went multiplatinum and helped bring attention to the animals’ declining numbers. While there’s still a long way to go before “we will be able to speak to animals,” Mustill concludes, scientists are hard at work at making the possibility a reality. Alongside his quest to understand whale songs, Mustill stresses the importance of humans shaking their sense of exceptionalism: “When we see ourselves as above or outside the rest of the living world and don’t value other ecosystems and life-forms, we take them for granted and use them up.” Thoughtful and curious, this study sings.

July 15, 2022
The science behind animal communication, with an emphasis on whales. Mustill, a biologist and filmmaker who has collaborated with Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough, among others, opens with a bracing scene: In 2015, while kayaking with a friend in Monterey Bay, off the California coast, a breaching whale "punched the kayak beneath the water," nearly drowning him and his friend. Filmed by neighboring whale watchers, the video went viral and stimulated the author's already intense interest in these immense mammals. He writes that the plight of whales first attracted popular attention during the Cold War, when U.S. Navy hydrophones placed on the sea floor to eavesdrop on Soviet submarines detected strange musical sounds from passing whales. The 1970 album Songs of the Humpback Whale became a blockbuster environmental milestone and marked the beginning of the end of widespread commercial whaling. So what are the whales saying? No one denies that animals exchange signals, but discussing the concept of "animal language" with some scientists was like "waving a red cape in front of a bull." Though no specific "words" are revealed, Mustill uncovers numerous intriguing avenues as he recounts his travels around the world interviewing the growing number of scientists trying to make sense of an overwhelming stream of recordings from cetaceans (whales and closely related dolphins and porpoises), with contributions from other chatty animals, especially birds. After the 1950s, oscilloscopes produced permanent pictures, but it was only in the past decade that big data and artificial intelligence enabled researchers to identify individual whales, each with an individual speech pattern, and follow them across the globe. They learned that cetaceans live long lives in complex societies, with clans and cultures delineated by the way they speak, a fascinating world brought to life by Mustill. Despite the absence of a primer on whale language, readers will savor this expert exploration of animal communication.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2022

Following a close encounter with a breaching humpback whale, biologist-turned filmmaker Mustill sets about answering the question of whether humans and whales will one day be able to communicate with each other. While the book's focus is on cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), broader issues of the possibility of interspecies communication are addressed from anatomical, neurological, social, technological, and even philosophical perspectives. Not only does Mustill connect with scientists around the world who consider the differing mechanics of how people and whales produce and receive sounds and gestures, but he also explores what is culturally important enough to express in words, and whether definitions of language, communication, and intelligence are too anthropocentric to even apply to non-human species. Finally, he surveys current data-gathering and artificial-intelligence projects that are programming machines to collect, analyze, and interpret vast amount of audio data from whales and other animals. The ultimate question of Mustill's book is whether enabling interspecies communication will make people value other species more. His attention to detail--perhaps from his work as a nature documentary filmmaker--immerses readers in each step of discovery and lends immediacy and personality to the writing. VERDICT Environmentalists and general science enthusiasts will enjoy joining Mustill on his quest to understand whales.--Wade Lee-Smith

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2022
It's hard to get a sense of how big a whale really is because, like icebergs, the majority of their bodies is under water. That is, until one breaches right on top of your kayak and punches you underwater. In his first book, biologist and filmmaker Mustill, whose encounter with a breaching humpback was caught on a cellphone video and went viral, shares his fascination with whale communication and the question of whether we'll ever decode it. Drawing deep on the science of whales and their messaging, Mustill first discusses how recordings of humpback whale songs led directly to the (almost) end of commercial whaling. He then explains how different species communicate and the tools whales use to talk, listen, and decode and recounts the debate about whether what they are using can be considered language. The deployment of machines, such as underwater hydrophones, computers, and drones, has vastly increased our understanding of what whales and dolphins are doing when they create sounds. In closing, Mustill examines why humans always seem to underestimate other animals and what this means for the future and writes of the sheer joy of being in the water with a singing humpback whale.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.