How To Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication by Tom Mustill (2022)

This book begins with a riveting description of a too-close-encounter with a breaching humpback whale. In September 2015, Mustill, a biologist, filmmaker and writer, was kayaking with a friend in Monterey Bay, California when an adult humpback suddenly “erupted from the sea, shooting impossibly upward” about thirty feet ahead before landing on top of them in an explosion of sea spray.  Against all odds, both Mustill and his friend survived. A few days later, after reviewing video of the collision, Joy Reidenberg, a whale specialist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, wrote to Mustill: “I think you two survived because the whale cared about trying not to hit you.” In midair, the whale appeared to change its course, twisting and veering away, only clipping the kayak with its fin.  This life-changing experience drove Mustill to learn more about human-whale interactions, particularly the potential for using advances in artificial intelligence (AI) to explore animal communications.  In an easy going, first-person voice, Mustill takes us along on his investigation of cetacean biology, communications, and cultures.  His envisions a world in which our ability to encode and understand other animal voices brings us closer - reminding us of the connections, complexity, and wonder of all life on earth.  Who can imagine a world without whales?  An inspiring, uplifting, thoughtful book, highly recommended.

Review by Pat Miller