WINNER OF THE NATIONAL OUTDOOR BOOK AWARD FOR NATURAL HISTORY LITERATURE
A FINALIST FOR THE WILLIAM SAROYAN INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR WRITING
ASEATTLE TIMESBEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
When biologists Aaron Hirsh and Veronica Volny lead twelve college students to a remote fishing village on the Sea of Cortez, they encounter a bay of dazzling beauty and richness. But as the group begins its investigationsconducting ecological and evolutionary studies of the area and its natural inhabitants; listening to the stories of local villagers; and examining the journals of conquistadors and explorersthey realize that the sea is but a ghost of what it once was.
And yet there is redemption in their difficult realization: as they find their places in a profoundly altered environment, they also recognize their roles in the path ahead, and ultimately come to see themselves in a new light. By turns epic and intimate,Telling Our Way to the Seais a profound meditation on our changing relationships with natureand with one another.
Aaron Hirsh is chair of the Vermilion Sea Institute. He is a research associate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and his essays have appeared in literary journals,The New York Times, andThe Best American Science Writing. Hirsh cofounded the biotechnology company InterCell and serves on the board of Roberts and Company Publishers. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.
Hirsh never loses sight of the story....In his telling, science itself is a narrative--a living, breathing enterprise conducted by real, fallible people who are simply doing their best to understand the world. The Wall Street Journal
Fascinating...As they explore and make discoveries, [Hirsh's students] stand in for us readers, teaching as they learn. The Seattle Times
Hirsh's narrative of daily excursions blends seamlessly with wide-ranging and penetralCz