A masterful narrative that is part memoir and part scientific detective story.” — Smithsonian Magazine, “10 Best Science Books of the Year”
“A beguiling chronicle.” — Nautilus
“Svensson has, quite stunningly, discovered in the natural and human history of the European eel a metaphor for his father’s life and a way to explore questions of knowledge, belief and faith.” — Washington Post
“Captivating . . . shot through with electric current. The book’s deadpan title perhaps undercuts its depth and complexity. Yes, this is a book about eels, those uncanny creatures, but in Svensson’s capable hands it is also a book about obsession and mystery, about faith and science, and about the limits of knowledge . . . Like Annie Dillard and Rachel Carson, Svensson knows the best nature writing is done with emotion and drive.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Fascinating.” — What's Jordana Reading, Summer Reads
"Enthralling." — Colorado Springs Gazette
“Nature writing at its finest. Svensson's memories of eel fishing with his father speak to the intersection of life and science, and add to its heart.” — Shelf Awareness
“Blending a wonderfully evocative and succinct timeline of scientific discoveries about eels with a memoir of his changing relationship with his father, Svensson has produced an extremely readable book on a fish that all have heard of but few (on our side of the pond) have actually seen.” — Booklist
“An unusual and beguiling guide to an unusual and beguiling animal. . . . Svensson’s book, like its subject, is a strange beast: a creature of metamorphosis, a shape-shifter that moves among realms. It is a book of natural history, and a memoir about a son and his father. It is also an exploration of literature and religion and custom, and what it means to live in a world full of questions we can’t always answer.” — The New Yorker
“As much a boon to my mental life as a blow to my social one. For weeks after reading I found myself cornering people at parties to obliterate them with a machine-gun spray of eel facts. But according to The Book of Eels , I’m not alone in my eelmania. . . . If you don’t think of yourself as someone who might enjoy meditating on eel glory, well, I didn’t either, and here I am transcribing my encounter for publication.” — New York magazine
“Captivating . . . The Book of Eels is, in the end, not really about eels but about life itself.” — Wall Street Journal
“Poses questions about philosophy, the metaphysical, and the spiritual, as well as scientific issues, in a way that will stir readers. This beautifully crafted book challenges us not only to understand eels but our own selves. Highly recommended.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“Svensson . . . melds the personal and scientific in this captivating look at the European eel. . . . Nature-loving readers will be enthralled by [his] fascinating zoological odyssey.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Inspires readers to see eels in a whole new way.” — Los Angeles Times , “21 New and Classic Books to Keep You in Touch with the Natural World”
“An account of the mysterious life of eels that also serves as a meditation on consciousness, faith, time, light and darkness, and life and death. . . . an intriguing natural history . . . that sheds as much light on humans as on eels.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Without a doubt, the most delicious natural history book of the decade. Svensson’s prose effortlessly undulates between his own personal experience and a thousand years of scientific inquiry. But it’s his call to conservation—not just of this noble eel but of our memories both personal and cultural—that truly elevates this remarkably poignant work.” — Mark Siddall, Curator and Professor, American Museum of Natural History
“A wonderful read. The story of the eel is one of the most fascinating on the planet, but equally fascinating is the story Patrik Svensson tells so well here about the mysteries of being.” — Bernd Heinrich, author of Mind of the Raven
“With lyricism and sharp clarity, Patrik Svensson lets us in on the secret dream-like world of the eel. As we move deeper into a book that intertwines beautiful nature writing with a moving memoir of a quiet father and a loyal son—as well as healthy doses of philosophical thought from Aristotle to Freud—we get to know one of Earth's most unknowable creatures and revel in a life so different than our own.” — David Gessner, author of All the Wild That Remains
“ What an amazing book. About eels! — a haunting and extraordinary creature. Patrik Svensson explores both their mystery and the science that has brought them into focus in the last few decades and made them seem a vivid indicator species for the health of our planet.” — Robert Hass, author of Summer Snow
Nature writing at its finest. Svensson's memories of eel fishing with his father speak to the intersection of life and science, and add to its heart.
Fascinating.
As much a boon to my mental life as a blow to my social one. For weeks after reading I found myself cornering people at parties to obliterate them with a machine-gun spray of eel facts. But according to The Book of Eels , I’m not alone in my eelmania. . . . If you don’t think of yourself as someone who might enjoy meditating on eel glory, well, I didn’t either, and here I am transcribing my encounter for publication.
Blending a wonderfully evocative and succinct timeline of scientific discoveries about eels with a memoir of his changing relationship with his father, Svensson has produced an extremely readable book on a fish that all have heard of but few (on our side of the pond) have actually seen.
Svensson has, quite stunningly, discovered in the natural and human history of the European eel a metaphor for his father’s life and a way to explore questions of knowledge, belief and faith.
"Enthralling."
An unusual and beguiling guide to an unusual and beguiling animal. . . . Svensson’s book, like its subject, is a strange beast: a creature of metamorphosis, a shape-shifter that moves among realms. It is a book of natural history, and a memoir about a son and his father. It is also an exploration of literature and religion and custom, and what it means to live in a world full of questions we can’t always answer.
A beguiling chronicle.
Without a doubt, the most delicious natural history book of the decade. Svensson’s prose effortlessly undulates between his own personal experience and a thousand years of scientific inquiry. But it’s his call to conservation—not just of this noble eel but of our memories both personal and cultural—that truly elevates this remarkably poignant work.
Captivating . . . The Book of Eels is, in the end, not really about eels but about life itself.
Inspires readers to see eels in a whole new way.
Captivating . . . The Book of Eels is, in the end, not really about eels but about life itself.
With lyricism and sharp clarity, Patrik Svensson lets us in on the secret dream-like world of the eel. As we move deeper into a book that intertwines beautiful nature writing with a moving memoir of a quiet father and a loyal son—as well as healthy doses of philosophical thought from Aristotle to Freud—we get to know one of Earth's most unknowable creatures and revel in a life so different than our own.
An unusual and beguiling guide to an unusual and beguiling animal. . . . Svensson’s book, like its subject, is a strange beast: a creature of metamorphosis, a shape-shifter that moves among realms. It is a book of natural history, and a memoir about a son and his father. It is also an exploration of literature and religion and custom, and what it means to live in a world full of questions we can’t always answer.
Blending a wonderfully evocative and succinct timeline of scientific discoveries about eels with a memoir of his changing relationship with his father, Svensson has produced an extremely readable book on a fish that all have heard of but few (on our side of the pond) have actually seen.
Svensson has, quite stunningly, discovered in the natural and human history of the European eel a metaphor for his father’s life and a way to explore questions of knowledge, belief and faith.
What an amazing book. About eels! — a haunting and extraordinary creature. Patrik Svensson explores both their mystery and the science that has brought them into focus in the last few decades and made them seem a vivid indicator species for the health of our planet.”
Captivating . . . shot through with electric current. The book’s deadpan title perhaps undercuts its depth and complexity. Yes, this is a book about eels, those uncanny creatures, but in Svensson’s capable hands it is also a book about obsession and mystery, about faith and science, and about the limits of knowledge . . . Like Annie Dillard and Rachel Carson, Svensson knows the best nature writing is done with emotion and drive.
A wonderful read. The story of the eel is one of the most fascinating on the planet, but equally fascinating is the story Patrik Svensson tells so well here about the mysteries of being.
A masterful narrative that is part memoir and part scientific detective story.
Inspires readers to see eels in a whole new way.
Just as the eel glides between freshwater and salt, Svensson's book swims in the seas of both natural history and memoir. Svensson's father took the young Patrik eel fishing often, and their beautifully rendered nocturnal outings have the feel of occult ritual…
The New York Times Book Review - Ben Goldfarb
★ 05/11/2020
Svensson, a Swedish journalist, melds the personal and scientific in this captivating look at the European eel. He describes the fish’s intricate life cycle, as only recently uncovered by science: hatched as a tiny leaf-shaped larva in the Sargasso Sea, they grow into a fragile, transparent “glass eel” and are carried across the Gulf Stream to Europe, where they grow “serpentine and muscular” in streams and rivers, before an unknown instinct triggers them to travel back across the Atlantic to the Sargasso, where they reproduce and die. The puzzles surrounding the species—Svensson observes that their reproduction process is still mysterious—have long fascinated students of zoology, from Aristotle to Freud; the latter was obsessed as a teenager with finding the male’s sex organ, and failing to do so (Svensson speculates) may have led to him taking up psychoanalysis instead. Svensson alternates these scientific and historical passages with moving reminiscences of being taught to fish for eels by his father in a stream near their home, and with reflections on eels as a human food source and on current efforts to conserve them. Nature-loving readers will be enthralled by Svensson’s fascinating zoological odyssey. (June)
What an amazing book. About eels! — a haunting and extraordinary creature. Patrik Svennson explores both their mystery and the science that has brought them into focus in the last few decades and made them seem a vivid indicator species for the health of our planet.”
★ 05/01/2020
Eels have been mysterious creatures throughout time, provoking even the greatest minds. Aristotle was wrong about them and Sigmund Freud was baffled by them. Rachel Carson anthropomorphized them to make them more relatable to her readers. In this debut, Swedish journalist Svensson traces our understanding of eels, specifically the European eel. (The American and Japanese eel get few but valuable pages.) There is surprisingly little known about this fish; a 20-year study to pinpoint their origin was interrupted by World War I. Scientific discoveries are few and far between, but the well-paced writing here motivates readers to learn more about these secretive animals that are in danger of becoming extinct. While exploring this historical path, Svensson quietly weaves in his own experience with eels, focusing on his father and how we interpret our own histories as humans, collectively and individually. The work poses questions about philosophy, the metaphysical, and the spiritual, as well as scientific issues, in a way that will stir readers. VERDICT This beautifully crafted book challenges us not only to understand eels but our own selves. Highly recommended.—Elissa Cooper, Helen Plum Memorial Lib., Lombard, IL
Did you know eels can live for an impressive amount of time out of water or that, despite thousands of years of observation, we still don’t fully understand the eel’s life cycle? Narrator Alex Wyndam skillfully uses pitch and thoughtful pacing to underscore author Svensson’s passion for these singular fish, which have been studied by a diverse range of researchers and have had a surprising impact on politics and ethnic identity. Chapters on the eel throughout history are interwoven with those paying tribute to the author’s beloved father, an avid eel fisherman and eater. Wyndam’s deep tones and expressive delivery are well matched to both aspects of this audiobook, connecting listeners to the natural world and a special bond between father and son. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Did you know eels can live for an impressive amount of time out of water or that, despite thousands of years of observation, we still don’t fully understand the eel’s life cycle? Narrator Alex Wyndam skillfully uses pitch and thoughtful pacing to underscore author Svensson’s passion for these singular fish, which have been studied by a diverse range of researchers and have had a surprising impact on politics and ethnic identity. Chapters on the eel throughout history are interwoven with those paying tribute to the author’s beloved father, an avid eel fisherman and eater. Wyndam’s deep tones and expressive delivery are well matched to both aspects of this audiobook, connecting listeners to the natural world and a special bond between father and son. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
2020-03-01
In addition to an intriguing natural history, Swedish journalist Svensson includes a highly personal account of his relationship with his father. The author alternates eel-focused chapters with those about his father, a man obsessed with fishing for this elusive creature. “I can’t recall us ever talking about anything other than eels and how to best catch them, down there by the stream,” he writes. “I can’t remember us speaking at all….Because we were in…a place whose nature was best enjoyed in silence.” Throughout, Svensson, whose beat is not biology but art and culture, fills his account with people: Aristotle, who thought eels emerged live from mud, “like a slithering, enigmatic miracle”; Freud, who as a teenage biologist spent months in Trieste, Italy, peering through a microscope searching vainly for eel testes; Johannes Schmidt, who for two decades tracked thousands of eels, looking for their breeding grounds. After recounting the details of the eel life cycle, the author turns to the eel in literature—e.g., in the Bible, Rachel Carson’s Under the Sea Wind , and Günter Grass’ The Tin Drum —and history. He notes that the Puritans would likely not have survived without eels, and he explores Sweden’s “eel coast” (what it once was and how it has changed), how eel fishing became embroiled in the Northern Irish conflict, and the importance of eel fishing to the Basque separatist movement. The apparent return to life of a dead eel leads Svensson to a consideration of faith and the inherent message of miracles. He warns that if we are to save this fascinating creature from extinction, we must continue to study it. His book is a highly readable place to begin learning.
Unsentimental nature writing that sheds as much light on humans as on eels.
