I first became aware of Tom Mustill after seeing the YouTube video of a whale breaching and landing on him and a friend while they were in a kayak. I found that he had written a book. Fascinated, I set out to find it and see how the experience shaped him.

Tom opens the book with the telling of how a whale came to jump on him and how it shaped the path of his life. At times fascinated, at times mind-numbing in its scientific scope for those unversed in the methodology of what Tom is trying to accomplish, the book is a love letter to cetaceans.

I'm very interested in how AI will shape our interactions with animals in the future, and this book goes into how it just might be able to be accomplished. ( )

In 2015, Tom Mustill went on a kayak sightseeing adventure of a lifetime. Off the coast of California in a two-person kayak, Tom was able to see a humpback whale breach- right on top of him. Lucky to survive, Tom, a wildlife filmmaker, began to look deeper into his experience. Several onlookers caught the breach on their phones. After looking at grainy footage, Tom seemed to agree that the whale seemed to change course in the air. This led him to a series of questions: did the whale change course on purpose? Can whales communicate with humans? and how? From these questions, Tom dove into the science of language, animal communication and cetacean behavior and biology.

Tom's journey into whale communication goes down many different paths, eventually converging into the many reasons we should protect these amazing mammals of the ocean. Written with many personal stories and anecdotes sprinkled throughout with science, How To Speak Whale, is an easy and entertaining read for any whale lover. Beginning with human interaction with whales and answering the question of why we might want to study these amazing creatures. This leads to whale biology and the organs and methods that whales use to communicate with one another. I have always loved whale songs and I was amazed with the complexity of their vocal organs as well as how scientists get to study them. From there, Tom dives into the study of animal language and the amazing jumps in learning that we have taken to understand the other animal species around us. Technology and artificial intelligence have been a huge help in assisting humans to understand animal language and sound. This technology has the ability to hear and recognize patterns and sounds that humans can't hear and is helping scientists as well as the average person learn and appreciate more about animals every day. Overall, humans still don't know how to completely speak whale, but we have learned that whales may know more about communicating with us than we realize. ( )

A bit too long (would have made a good, long New Yorker or Atlantic Monthly article), but an engaging tale of personal and scientific requests to better understand animal communications. The science is fascinating, and the advocacy is moving (if a bit overstated). Audiobook is narrated by the author, who makes some pronunciation errors and occasionally lapses into disengaged rhythms, but generally his passion for his project shines through. ( )

A fascinating overview of what we know about animal communication, particularly involving whales and other cetaceans, and the current research into learning more. ( )