The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change

by Charles Wohlforth

Book Overview

In The Whale and the Supercomputer , scientists and natives wrestle with our changing climate in the land where it has hit first --and hardest A traditional Eskimo whale-hunting party races to shore near Barrow, Alaska-their comrades trapped on a floe drifting out to sea-as ice that should be solid this time of year gives way. Elsewhere, a team of scientists transverses the tundra, sleeping in tents, surviving on frozen chocolate, and measuring the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0865477140
• ISBN13: 9780865477148
• Release Date: May 2005
• Publisher: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux-3pl
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 3.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change

I flew a Jet Ranger helicopter for ERA Helicopters in the spring of 1969, shortly after oil was definitely discovered at Prudhoe Bay. I was the farthest west contract at that time, living with and working for a seismic crew. As a result I had to learn a lot about surviving in the white-out, memorizing the shapes of all the tundra ponds, various willows and other Arctic shrubs, snowy owls and ptarmigan, and so forth. Reading this book brought me back to all those adventuresome skills and a time just before we were all so skeptical of our society and its outcome. Working in extreme outdoor jobs then was a lot like the life described in this book. Certain abilities to pick up on local lore of the Natives, as well as the most advanced technical thinking was expected of you, and comforting. I have enjoyed seeing anything about the Arctic's North Slope of Alaska ever since, and hope we can move forward into our complicated future without confiscating that amazing habitat up there. And good luck to the Arctic Ocean's inhabitants and their ecology; they are going to need it for what we have done to the atmosphere. This writer is a fine journalist for conveying what we have learned so far.

Global warming given a personal perspective

This book tells many stories centered on the theme of climate change as seen in Northern Alaska. The Iñupiat people have lived around what is today Barrow, Alaska for over a thousand years. As with many indigenous peoples, they have a keen awareness of their natural surroundings. For the Iñupiat, knowledge of weather, ice and whale behavior is a matter of life and death, both moment to moment in a climate so harsh the cold can kill quickly and in the larger life of their villages, where successful whale hunts are needed to feed the people. Barrow has also been the site of scientific Arctic climate studies since the 1800s. A parallel culture of scientists has developed in the several research stations in the area. For many years, the Iñupiat and scientific communities have coexisted in varying states of tension. Both recognize strengths in the other but their ways of approaching life and understanding the world are very different and often not possible to reconcile. While the scientists have frequently consulted with and tried to learn from the Iñupiat, the scientists have typically found this a frustrating exercise and the Iñupiat have had enough bad experiences with researchers on short projects not really understanding the people or the place that they do not easily trust outsiders. Charles Wohlforth has lived in Alaska and did a remarkable job of coaxing stories out of the Iñupiat. They are storytellers - telling stories has long been deeply ingrained in their culture and way of life. We hear some of their stories as well as those of the scientists. Perhaps most remarkably, we meet a scientist who returned to Alaska to adopt the Iñupiat way of life as a whaling captain instead of pursuing his scientific career and Iñupiat who have made their way as scientists even as they live next to the people they grew up with. But most important, while we see the effects of global warming and climate change as seen by the scientists doing research and the Iñupiat whalers trying to cope with the impact of bad ice and warmer weather on all aspects of whaling, the author reminds us that these local effects are just a snapshot in one place of changes that will affect us all. Reading this book compels an appreciation for the depth and breadth of knowledge of an indigenous people surviving the changes in the modern world while preserving their native ways and traditions.

What do you know?

We know why this book was honored with the 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Award for science/technical writing. Wohlforth cheerfully tackles the deep fog of climate science (even some of the career scientists he interviews seem hopelessly befuddled by the complexity of it). But he approaches it both as a journalist who makes his living by storytelling, and as a father used to gently encouraging his four bright, curious children to understand their world. He can distill a century of mind-numbing bench science into a metaphor that his 10-year old can understand and that readers of all ages will appreciate. To get the story he drops into whaling expeditions and arctic research explorations with equal aplomb by chipping in and becoming one of the team. (The comparison is not unlike the cinematographers who capture on film the drama of a Mt. Everest ascent: the only way to get the picture is to strap on the gear and make the climb themselves, right alongside the adventurers they're filming.) Getting and telling the story is what Wohlforth knows how to do. In his book, he captivates us by telling us what his "characters" know how to do. From the fox who knows how to skitter across a thin sheet of newly-forming ice without falling through, to the native who knows how to take compass readings by studying the shadows on snow drifts, to our generation's academic elites who know how to wrap their minds around the infinitely complex equations that underlie the mysteries of climate change. In the end, it's really not so mysterious: the signs of climate change are obvious and all around us. Read this book and prepare to be moved and enlightened, just as you will be charmed by the people whose lives, livelihoods, and ways of knowing are as diverse as the environment itself.

Highly Recommended - Great Read, Lots of Information

I read The Whale and The Supercomputer in one day. It reads like a novel, not like a science book. And yet the information is not skimpy. The science is presented in a clear and engaging fashion.I enjoyed the book very much, particularly the way the author interweaves stories with technical information. He does a great job of comparing the different cultures, beliefs, and attitudes of the people he met during his research without making judgments or being condescending towards anyone. All points-of-view contribute equally to the discussions. The Whale and The Supercomputer presents a very well-rounded look at the issues of global warming while making the characters come alive. To create change, I believe we need to address issues in both grass-roots bottom-up and political top-down processes. This book gives examples of both ends of the spectrum. If you are interested in the science of climate, or about Alaska, buy this book.

A MUST read !

In my twenty+ years of working with enviromental issues and the hundreds and hundreds of books I've read on those topics, none have been as good a read as The Whale and the Supercomputer! There is a clear need, no matter the science, of relating the science to the real world. This book does of great job of doing that on a topic that is so important to our world today and for our kids of tomorrow.Be entertained as you learn, understand a world so few are fortunate enough to explore. Read this book!