It’s not often you find a book about geophysical sceinces that successfully combines humor, complex principles and a first rate tale of discovery.
Donovan Hohn’s Moby Duck; the story of how 28,800 plastic bathtub toys ended up thousands of miles from where a container broke free of freighter in North Pacific storm is my favorite Summer read of 2014.
Moby Duck details the author’s multiple voyages of scientific discovery as he tracked the path of yellow rubber duckies, in the months and years following their liberation from an asian freighter off the northwest Pacific coast.
This book is as much about the author’s search for an explanation of oceanic gyres, currents and the vast pools of flotsam as it is about little rubber duckies.
I loved how Hohn interweaves the motivations of some of the characters who also recorded the bath toys’ journey and who provided information for the book. Through Hohn, i learned there’s a newsletter published in Seattle called “Beachcomber” and that although its founder does collect various items that wash ashore, he also seeks and records answers on where the items came from and what their likely course may have been.
It’s easy to imagine an author jetting around the world looking down at the ocean and coastal regions from an airliner’s Business class section.But that’s not Hohn’s style. Instead, it’s the story of how an English high school teacher, sought passage on working and scientific research vessels (as well as Alaskan Maritime Highway ferries in order to meet sources who had encountered members of the duck armada.
Hohn’s approach to telling the story of the castaway ducks reminds me of Susan Casey, whose book, “The Wave” also deals with oceanographic and geophysical sciences. What I admire about Hohn and Casey are their abilities to introduce complex scientific ideas and provide concise explanations of underlying principles.
At less than $10, Moby Duck is the perfect summertime book. It’s well written and at times funny. But who isn’t interested in how some of the 28,800 bathtub toys made their way from the North Pacific to New England’s shores?--Jim Forbes on June 22, 2014.