Chasing Shadows

My Life Tracking the Great White Shark

by Greg Skomal; Ret Talbot

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Pub Date Jul 11 2023 | Archive Date Sep 05 2023

William Morrow

Biographies & Memoirs | Nonfiction (Adult) | Outdoors & Nature

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Description

Dr. Greg Skomal, one of the leading great white shark experts in the country, reveals the true nature of these mysterious apex predators as well as the fascinating story behind their history and startling resurgence.

With its quaint villages, local restaurants serving up lobster rolls, and miles and miles of warm, sandy beaches, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is famous for being America’s carefree seaside getaway. But in August 2012, the first confirmed shark attack in almost eighty years occurred in the region. As shark sightings quickly began to increase on Cape Cod and elsewhere and large beachside billboards warning about the growing shark population became a common sight, a boogie boarder died after being attacked by a great white shark in Cape Cod’s shallow waters. What had changed to cause news of human-shark interactions to go from being a rarity to being the new normal? As some citizens called for shark culls, nets, drone surveillance, and other extreme solutions, interactions between local residents and scientists, politicians, and those responsible for public safety became tense and frantic.

Dr. Greg Skomal, a shark biologist whose lifelong passion has been to gain a more refined understanding of great white sharks, was at the center of it all. This is the story of the great white shark’s return to the eastern seaboard, told through the life of the scientist who found himself in the thankless position of having to balance conservation efforts and the drive to do important science with panic and fear in the court of public opinion. Greg has spent decades on a quest to tag, track, and demystify this animal, using every high- and low-tech method at his disposal, including those he invented, and frequently coming face-to-face with these shadows of the deep. He leaves no stone unturned in his pursuit of the secrets behind the largely unknown lives of these charismatic creatures and in his duty to solve the intricate puzzle of how humans can coexist alongside them. Chasing Shadows is a too-rare conservation success story about restoring an apex predator to an ecosystem, and provides a profound, new understanding of a beast so notoriously fierce that it’s nearly impossible to imagine how vulnerable it truly is.

Dr. Greg Skomal, one of the leading great white shark experts in the country, reveals the true nature of these mysterious apex predators as well as the fascinating story behind their history and...

Advance Praise

“At last: the story of tracking the ocean's most charismatic and controversial predator, compellingly told by the man who has learned more about the Atlantic great white shark than any other person alive. You must not miss this fantastic book! I could not put it down.” —Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus

“When my late husband, Peter Benchley, started writing Jaws, he thoroughly researched available data on white sharks, but in the early 1970s, scant scientific data existed. Chasing Shadows chronicles the research we’ve learned in the decades since and provides fascinating details about the great white shark in the northwest Atlantic, why it is an evolutionary marvel, and how it differs from other species of sharks. As a diver and shark advocate for the past fifty years, I reveled in reading the arch of transformation, from an era of ignorance to today, where shark conservation is applauded and admired. It offers a stirring but candid account of shark conservation success that addresses the complexities, risks, and ramifications for both people and prey.”

—Wendy Benchley, ocean conservationist and marine policy advocate

“An exhilarating and illuminating ode to the ocean’s most misunderstood gangsters. As seals have gradually returned to the shores of Cape Cod since the 1970s, so too have white sharks, spurring high drama and anxiety in waters thick with swimmers and surfers. Told through the eyes of a leading white shark biologist, this nuanced account of the restoration of an apex predator to its historic range demystifies an elusive creature that's less monster than fish. A fascinating story filled with wonder and awe, Chasing Shadows seeks to reconcile our primal fear with our ecological conscience, exploring what it truly means to coexist with wild things.”

—Emily Voigt, author of The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish, a PEN America Literary Award finalist

"Vividly written, gorgeously developed, and as terrifyingly suspenseful as a dorsal fin slicing across the surface...[it's] the story of our profound and critical cultural relationship with sharks and how the controversial return of an apex predator to the North Atlantic might just be the conservation story that we all desperately need to read right now."

—Richard J. King, author of Ahab's Rolling Sea: A Natural History of Moby-Dick and Ocean Bestiary, and visiting professor at Sea Education Association, Woods Hole, MA

"What happens when we bring an animal back from the brink of extinction but are unprepared for the reality of its wildness? Greg Skomal and Ret Talbot expand a story of tragedy, triumph, and awe to include the possibility that we may find a way for humans and sharks both to thrive along the Atlantic Coast."

—Catherine Schmitt, author of The President's Salmon and Science Communication Specialist at Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park

“The fascinating behind-the-scenes story of the re-emergence of great white sharks on Cape Cod—a tale of science, high emotion, and drama from the man at the epicenter of it all. Chasing Shadows is an absolute page turner!”

—Brian Skerry, wildlife photographer and filmmaker

“Jaws made us fear the great white shark. Scientist and leading shark expert Greg Skomal also terrifies us with his first-hand stories in Chasing Shadows. But far more importantly, Skomal makes us all appreciate the creatures for their beauty, their ferociousness, and the vital role they play in the food chain as a key indicator to the health of our oceans.”

—Doug Most, author of The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America’s First Subways