A hero come to life…

I was so excited to pick up this biography of one of my heroes from childhood. I can remember watching the news and being so shocked and wowed by these tiny, pesky boats facing large whaling ships. They seemed to have no fear as they faced the goliaths out in the open ocean. As a kid I didn’t realize just what they were doing – and accomplishing. I picked up this book with so much anticipation and Paul Watson delivered a recounting I honestly didn’t expect.

Reading how he began his love of nature and animals, made everything that followed make sense. How he grew (and outgrew) the Sea Shepherd, his co-founding of Greenpeace (and so much more) fed into the tremendous impact on whaling on a global scale. From detailed accounts of the skirmishes and standoffs in open water to the political shenanigans that soon plagued his efforts were told with an easy style that made for informative and entertaining reading.

I would have loved to hear even more of the details that precipitated some benchmarks in his career and life – and to hear more the personal impact his dedication to the environment had. After finishing this, I am reading more about his efforts and Greenpeace and how things are today – a battle that keeps being fought but so ably started by a group and one man in particular.

*I happily reviewed this book
**Thank you to Groundswell Books and NetGalley

I loved this collection of anecdotes that follow the life and career of Captain Paul Watson. Capt. Watson is a great story teller, painting a vivid picture for the reader. The stories took me through a range of emotions - empathy for him as a child and for all the animals he cared for; sadness and horror at the barbaric treatment whales, dolphins and seals, humor and admiration at his audacity in flouting the authorities and respect for his unfailing dedication to his principles and ethics. A must read for young and old!

Hmm, yeah, so another book about Paul Watson's life. I'm not sure if we needed to hear all of this again. He's a good writer, but this is a rehash of things he's already discussed before.

His viewpoint regarding people "unresponsibly having kids" is disgusting. He thinks he has more right to reproduce than people who don't have the same resources as him. I don't want to draw parallels to history, but these are bold statements to make.

The fact that he says he is not bitter about is dismissal from Sea Shepherd is just him trying to cover up his social media mess. If you have followed his social media posts on Facebook and Twitter, you know he was throwing dirt at his former colleagues and friends constantly.

Two stars because it is easy to read, and for the respect I have for him before his downfall and drama.

I loved this collection of anecdotes that follow the life and career of Captain Paul Watson. Capt. Watson is a great story teller, painting a vivid picture for the reader. The stories took me through a range of emotions - empathy for him as a child and for all the animals he cared for; sadness and horror at the barbaric treatment whales, dolphins and seals, humor and admiration at his audacity in flouting the authorities and respect for his unfailing dedication to his principles and ethics. A must read for young and old!

Paul Watson is a fascinating figure. Polarizing, certainly, but ultimately a truly fascinating person, especially in his own words. Up until the last few chapters, this reads as a triumphant recounting of a life and career dedicated to the preservation of nature and wildlife. The last few chapters do fall a little flat as they simply recant the decline of Sea Shepherd and some of Watson’s personal life but ultimately I enjoyed reading. I’ve previously only seen Watson through documentaries and the Sea Shepherd television show on Animal Planet, I’ve never actually read any of his own books or books about him, and I enjoyed the experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Groundswell Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t sure if I really needed to read yet another book about Watson, Greenpeace, Sea Shepherd, etc. but for the most part, I wound up glad that I did. Most of the book consists of short chapters recounting animal encounters and activist campaigns from Watson’s childhood to the present.

My admitted bias is that I feel a lot closer to radical environmentalists and animal liberationists than I do to mainstream society. I think the world needs more of these hitmen and hitwomen. So I laughed at the humor at the expense of authority figures, and admired the courageous confrontations with armed opponents.

Anyone who has read accounts of Sea Shepherd voyages knows that people have raised questions about competence, safety, honesty, and even food onboard. I was willing to let all that slide and just enjoy this book. But for maximum enjoyment, I shouldn’t have read all the way to the end. The last couple chapters simply recount what happened to ships Watson abandoned, and compare the numbers of whales killed by the Japanese with their quotas as a demonstration of Sea Shepherd’s effectiveness.

For me, the real disappointments come in the afterword’s account of Sea Shepherd’s decline into another mainstream environmental group which kicked Watson out just as Greenpeace had, and in Watson himself, who’d earlier in the book written about getting on the Sierra Club’s board in part to fight against their unwillingness to discuss overpopulation, rather lamely justifying having children without even mentioning his earlier position.

So for the most part, a fun book, but I personally wouldn’t support either the group or the man at this point.

Thanks to NetGalley and Groundswell Books for the copy to review.