Shark Trouble

By Peter Benchley

Book Overview

Master storyteller Peter Benchley combines high adventure with practical information in Shark Trouble, a book that is at once a thriller and a valuable guide to being safe in, on, under, and around the sea. The bestselling author of Jaws, The Deep, and other works draws on more than three decades of experience to share information about sharks and other marine animals.

"Shark attacks on human beings generate a tremendous amount of media coverage," Benchley writes, "partly because they occur so rarely, but mostly, I think, because people are, and always have been, simultaneously intrigued and terrified by sharks. Sharks come from a wing of the dark castle where our nightmares live--deep water beyond our sight and understanding--and so they stimulate our fears and fantasies and imaginations."

Benchley describes the many types of sharks (including the ones that pose a genuine threat to man), what is and isn't known about shark behavior, the odds against an attack and how to reduce them even further--all reinforced with the lessons he has learned, the mistakes he has made, and the personal perils he has encountered while producing television documentaries, bestselling novels, and articles about the sea and its inhabitants. He tells how to swim safely in the ocean, how to read the tides and currents, what behavior to avoid, and how to survive when danger suddenly strikes. He discusses how to tell children about sharks and the sea and how to develop, in young and old alike, a healthy respect for the ocean.

As Benchley says, "The ocean is the only alien and potentially hostile environment on the planet into which we tend to venture without thinking about the animals that live there, how they behave, how they support themselves, and how they perceive us. I know of no one who would set off into the jungles of Malaysia armed only with a bathing suit, a tube of suntan cream, and a book, and yet that's precisely how we approach the oceans."

No longer. Not after you've read Shark Trouble.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812966333
• ISBN13: 9780812966336
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Length: 186 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful informative reading

This book is fantastic, Mr Benchley cleared the shark as a terrible man eating machine, and instead showed us the magnificent creature that this fish really is.

SHARKS!!!

this book is very good. it gives the reader an up close look at sharks. it is very interesting and warns us on the danger of swimming in the ocean. i have read this book twice and still find it a very good and easy read! if you loved jaws then you will love this book. great book with lots of facts.

A Surprising Delight

I really enjoyed this audio book. In it, Peter Benchely recounts his adventures in the seas interspersed with factual information on sharks and other sea creatures. Benchely, unlike some authors, reads his work with enthusiasm and skill, making it engaging from beginning to end. I came away with a much deeper respect for the sea and the creatures in it and a renewed sense of the importance of understanding the interconnectedness of all things. Besides the environmental importance of the book, it is full of fun and funny and even scary adventure stories. I highly recommend it.

A MUST READ for all who swim in the ocean

I highly recommend this book for anyone who swims in the ocean, parents of children who will swim in the ocean (even for those who simply wade in) and for anyone who has trouble re-entering the ocean after reading and/or watching "JAWS."Peter Benchley takes an almost apologetic tone in the first part (of three parts) of the book to first the general public and second to ocean and marine life scientists for writing a book (JAWS, 1974), that turned into a movie, that scared so many reader's/viewer's pants off to go into any body of water other than the family pool or bathtub. He also tells the very interesting story of how he came to write "JAWS".Peter Benchley masterfully weaves his and family's many awe-inspiring as well as heart-pounding, real-life adventures in bodies of water all over the world (as well as the adventure of others) with lots of "how-to" and "you-can-use" information about the ocean, from her shores to her depths and all the life inbetween.His point? Know and respect the ocean and life within, and she'll welcome you in; ignore her (warning) signs and she'll bite you (sometimes literally).

Super book!

Highly recommended for the armchair adventurer: entertaining, engrossing, informative, well written. Peter Benchley describes some of his personal shark-adventures with intelligence, modesty and wit. Interwoven with the extraordinary episodes he describes are both general ecological observations and specific, practical advice for seashore swimmers.