Audiobook12 hours
The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus: Exploring and Conserving Our Natural World
Written by Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schiefelbein
Narrated by Stephen Hoye
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
Part adventure story, part manifesto, this is legendary ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau's passionate plea for sustaining life on earth.
Explorer, diving pioneer, filmmaker, inventor, and activist, Jacques Cousteau was blessed from his childhood with boundless curiosity about the natural world. As the leader of fascinating, often dangerous expeditions all over the planet, he discovered firsthand the complexity and beauty of life on earth and undersea-and watched the toll taken by human activity in the twentieth century.
In his magnificent last book, available for the first time in the United States, Cousteau describes his deeply informed philosophy about protecting our world for future generations. Weaving gripping stories of his adventures throughout, he and coauthor Susan Schiefelbein address the risks we take with human health, the overfishing and sacking of the world's oceans, the hazards of nuclear proliferation, and the environmental responsibility of scientists, politicians, and people of faith. Written over the last ten years of his life with frequent collaborator Schiefelbein, who also introduces the text and provides an update on environmental developments in the decade since Cousteau's death, this prescient, clear-sighted book is a remarkable testament to the life and work of one of our greatest modern adventurers.
Explorer, diving pioneer, filmmaker, inventor, and activist, Jacques Cousteau was blessed from his childhood with boundless curiosity about the natural world. As the leader of fascinating, often dangerous expeditions all over the planet, he discovered firsthand the complexity and beauty of life on earth and undersea-and watched the toll taken by human activity in the twentieth century.
In his magnificent last book, available for the first time in the United States, Cousteau describes his deeply informed philosophy about protecting our world for future generations. Weaving gripping stories of his adventures throughout, he and coauthor Susan Schiefelbein address the risks we take with human health, the overfishing and sacking of the world's oceans, the hazards of nuclear proliferation, and the environmental responsibility of scientists, politicians, and people of faith. Written over the last ten years of his life with frequent collaborator Schiefelbein, who also introduces the text and provides an update on environmental developments in the decade since Cousteau's death, this prescient, clear-sighted book is a remarkable testament to the life and work of one of our greatest modern adventurers.
Author
Jacques Cousteau
Jacques Cousteau (1910-1997) was world-renowned as an ocean explorer, filmmaker, educator, and environmental activist. He won three Oscars and the Palme d'Or for his films, and wrote or coauthored more than seventy-five books.
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Reviews for The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus
Rating: 3.847826086956522 out of 5 stars
4/5
23 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Potent, truth filled masterpiece from Cousteau and Schiefelbein. Contains many heavy, serious passages concerning how the world became what it is. Many personal stories of risk, along with tragedy, mixed with opinion of risk assessment. Stories of all kinds creatures from his travels. Cousteau lets us in on his ideal dream of the future (one of the wildest dreams I ever read).“In managing those risks fearlessness helps keep our minds clear, but relying on fearlessness alone would amount to foolhardiness. As we can’t reduce the frequency of nature’s surprises, we increase the thoroughness of our preparations.”(page 65)In depth insight into the fishing industry. Distinguishing between applied science and pure science. Also learned the history of nuclear energy and bomb use along with politics, motivations involved. Cousteau was in it, he stood and fought.A lot of history, research, current events, future predictions, and a look back at those predictions he made.Cousteau justified to me that exploration is necessary due to vast amounts of environmental coverups (or outright ocean dumpings). He knows because he did everything and he been everywhere. He went out there, experienced for himself, and fought to spread awareness to the world. Much respect to Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schiefelbein.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'm a big admirer of Cousteau. The book is a testament to the way an older generation went out into the world on behalf of humanity, for service instead of for personal gain. His own stories are fantastic and I wish there were more of them - I wasn't so taken with his more general discussions of things like nuclear power, for example. But still obviously such an inspirational man. Well worth looking at.