Stroksnes, Morten. Shark Drunk: The Art of Catching a Large Shark from a Tiny Rubber Dinghy in a Big Ocean. New York: Knopf. 2017. Print.
First Sentences:
Description:
With a title like Morten Stroksnes' Shark Drunk: The Art of Catching a Large Shark from a Tiny Rubber Dinghy in a Big Ocean, I felt confident I had picked up a humorous book about some goofy guys, a bar bet, and a ridiculous mission with hi-jinks galore. The plot would be something along the lines of Round Ireland with a Fridge where the author, Tony Hawks, tries to hitchhike over an entire country with a mini fridge to see whether anyone would pick him up.
But I was so wrong about Shark Drunk, despite its ridiculous title. It is a true life adventure with sharks and fishing, to be sure, but is also much more serious and contemplative. It is filled with entrancing stories of the world and culture of arctic Norway, the people who live in the area, the frigid ocean and its creatures, and the enticement (and dangers) of fishing. It is half facts and science, and half local histories and remembered tales from the past, a winning combination for me.
The two adventurers are Author Stroksnes, a writer and the book's author, and his friend Hugo Aasjord, an abstract painter and longtime resident on the island of Engeloya just north of the Arctic Circle in Norway. They made a pact two years earlier to hunt for and then reel in a gigantic Greenland shark found in the freezing waters near Hugo's home. Why? Well, it's hard to them to explain, but once the idea hits, they are seriously dedicated to completing the task.
The Greenland shark, a bottom-dwelling prehistoric monster, can be bigger than a Great White shark, more ravenously hungry than any other flesh-eater (whole seals have been found in their stomachs along with polar bear remains), and devilishly elusive to find much less pull in from depths of 2,000 feet in the stormy, freezing sea.
They are fascinating beasts. They can live over 400 years and have millions of years of survival evolution in them. That's probably enough to thwart two men in an inflatable boat. Their skin is rough enough that, before World War II, Germany imported these sharkskins to be used as sandpaper. Greenland shark liver fat was a key element in the production of nitroglycerin, causing accidental explosions in shark liver transportation. Greenland shark meat is so toxic it causes fish and humans to become drunk or paralyzed. Too much of this flesh will ensure death.
For one year, Stroksnes traveled north to Engeloya during each season to pursue this shark hunt with Aasjord. They carefully watched the weather for amy brief period of calm winds and seas that would allow their hunt. The wind and sea did not always cooperate for them, sometimes with almost deadly consequences. Even the stoic Hugo had occasion to look at their situation and mutter, "This is not exactly great." Translation: "Death is close."
Using chain instead of the usual fishing line, eight-inch meat hooks skewered with pieces of a decayed Highland bull, and their own determination, the men pursue their quest during the brief periods of calm weather. And they wait in their little boat. And they search. And tell stories. And then ...
Do they succeed in their quest? I won't spoil the outcome. But the stories they tell of fishing, of life in the harsh northern islands of Norway, the ancient legends, and the people who explored and lived there provides a hugely entertaining, often humorous and equally frightening portrait of the Greenland shark and tiny archipelago of Lofoten.
And Stroksnes provides interesting facts throughout. Did you know white coral grows (and is being destroyed by trawlers) in the arctic seas around arctic Norway? How about that seals sleep on the ocean floor (that's how the slow-swimming Greenland shark catches them). That the oil from a cod's liver makes great paint (which Aasjord uses) and will last 50 years on a house as nothing can stick to it? That the common limpet has teeth 100 times thinner than a human hair "and is made of the hardest biological material on earth"? That 350 million years ago during "The Age of Sharks,"the megladon shark lived which was 65 feet long and weighted 55 tons with six-foot jaws"? That Greenland sharks existed eons before the rise of the dinosaurs?
Sharks kill ten to twenty people a year. In that same period, humans kill "about seventy-three million sharks." From this, the author wrily concludes: "In spite of this, we consider the shark to be the dangerous predator."
The best thing I learned from Shark Drunk was a single ancient Norwegian word used by the northern locals, and it's a beauty of a word:
Casey, Susan. The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among American's Great White Sharks.
Hawks, Tony. Round Ireland with a Fridge
Three and a half billion years.
That's the time it took from the moment the first primitive life-forms developed in the sea until Hugo Aasjord phoned me one Saturday night in July.
Description:
With a title like Morten Stroksnes' Shark Drunk: The Art of Catching a Large Shark from a Tiny Rubber Dinghy in a Big Ocean, I felt confident I had picked up a humorous book about some goofy guys, a bar bet, and a ridiculous mission with hi-jinks galore. The plot would be something along the lines of Round Ireland with a Fridge where the author, Tony Hawks, tries to hitchhike over an entire country with a mini fridge to see whether anyone would pick him up.
But I was so wrong about Shark Drunk, despite its ridiculous title. It is a true life adventure with sharks and fishing, to be sure, but is also much more serious and contemplative. It is filled with entrancing stories of the world and culture of arctic Norway, the people who live in the area, the frigid ocean and its creatures, and the enticement (and dangers) of fishing. It is half facts and science, and half local histories and remembered tales from the past, a winning combination for me.
The two adventurers are Author Stroksnes, a writer and the book's author, and his friend Hugo Aasjord, an abstract painter and longtime resident on the island of Engeloya just north of the Arctic Circle in Norway. They made a pact two years earlier to hunt for and then reel in a gigantic Greenland shark found in the freezing waters near Hugo's home. Why? Well, it's hard to them to explain, but once the idea hits, they are seriously dedicated to completing the task.
The Greenland shark, a bottom-dwelling prehistoric monster, can be bigger than a Great White shark, more ravenously hungry than any other flesh-eater (whole seals have been found in their stomachs along with polar bear remains), and devilishly elusive to find much less pull in from depths of 2,000 feet in the stormy, freezing sea.
They are fascinating beasts. They can live over 400 years and have millions of years of survival evolution in them. That's probably enough to thwart two men in an inflatable boat. Their skin is rough enough that, before World War II, Germany imported these sharkskins to be used as sandpaper. Greenland shark liver fat was a key element in the production of nitroglycerin, causing accidental explosions in shark liver transportation. Greenland shark meat is so toxic it causes fish and humans to become drunk or paralyzed. Too much of this flesh will ensure death.
For one year, Stroksnes traveled north to Engeloya during each season to pursue this shark hunt with Aasjord. They carefully watched the weather for amy brief period of calm winds and seas that would allow their hunt. The wind and sea did not always cooperate for them, sometimes with almost deadly consequences. Even the stoic Hugo had occasion to look at their situation and mutter, "This is not exactly great." Translation: "Death is close."
Using chain instead of the usual fishing line, eight-inch meat hooks skewered with pieces of a decayed Highland bull, and their own determination, the men pursue their quest during the brief periods of calm weather. And they wait in their little boat. And they search. And tell stories. And then ...
Do they succeed in their quest? I won't spoil the outcome. But the stories they tell of fishing, of life in the harsh northern islands of Norway, the ancient legends, and the people who explored and lived there provides a hugely entertaining, often humorous and equally frightening portrait of the Greenland shark and tiny archipelago of Lofoten.
And Stroksnes provides interesting facts throughout. Did you know white coral grows (and is being destroyed by trawlers) in the arctic seas around arctic Norway? How about that seals sleep on the ocean floor (that's how the slow-swimming Greenland shark catches them). That the oil from a cod's liver makes great paint (which Aasjord uses) and will last 50 years on a house as nothing can stick to it? That the common limpet has teeth 100 times thinner than a human hair "and is made of the hardest biological material on earth"? That 350 million years ago during "The Age of Sharks,"the megladon shark lived which was 65 feet long and weighted 55 tons with six-foot jaws"? That Greenland sharks existed eons before the rise of the dinosaurs?
Sharks kill ten to twenty people a year. In that same period, humans kill "about seventy-three million sharks." From this, the author wrily concludes: "In spite of this, we consider the shark to be the dangerous predator."
The best thing I learned from Shark Drunk was a single ancient Norwegian word used by the northern locals, and it's a beauty of a word:
"sjybarturn" [pronounced SHE-bah-tune]
The sound of the ocean when heard through a bedroom window on a mild summer night - the sound of water calmly lapping against the shore.Isn't that just lovely? Any culture with such a word and any book that shares this with the world has my undying gratitude.
Happy reading.
Fred
(See more recommended books)
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Casey, Susan. The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among American's Great White Sharks.
The author joins several scientists on a lonely island off San Francisco to study great white sharks up close and personal. (previously reviewed here)
Hawks, Tony. Round Ireland with a Fridge
The author makes a bar bet that he can hitchhike around the entire coastline of Ireland with a mini fridge as his only companion. The resulting trip is really funny, with the fridge becoming more popular than the author in neighborhood bars, on the road, and even surfing along the Irish coastline. Highly recommended (previously reviewed here)
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