Moby-duck : the true story of 28,800 bath toys lost at sea and of the beachcombers, oceanographers, environmentalists, and fools, including the author, who went in search of them

Cover image for Moby-duck : the true story of 28,800 bath toys lost at sea and of the beachcombers, oceanographers, environmentalists, and fools, including the author, who went in search of them

Title:

Moby-duck : the true story of 28,800 bath toys lost at sea and of the beachcombers, oceanographers, environmentalists, and fools, including the author, who went in search of them

Author:

Hohn, Donovan, author.

Summary:

Journalist Donovan Hohn chronicles his quest to learn about the mysterious loss of 28,800 of bath toys at sea, discussing the discoveries he made during his conversations with environmentalists, experts in oceanography, and various other individuals.

Audience:

Adult Follett Library Resources

Physical Description:

402 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.

Personal Subject:

Hohn, Donovan-Anecdotes.

Subject Term:

Ocean currents.

Marine debris.

Plastic toys.

Publisher:

Viking,

Publication Date:

2011

ISBN:

9780670022199

Publication Information:

New York : Viking, c2011.

Call Number:

551.46 HOHN

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607002851460	Adult Nonfiction	551.46 HOHN	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year A revelatory tale of science, adventure, and modern myth.

When the writer Donovan Hohn heard of the mysterious loss of thousands of bath toys at sea, he figured he would interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, and read up on Arctic science and geography. But questions can be like ocean currents: wade in too far, and they carry you away. Hohn's accidental odyssey pulls him into the secretive world of shipping conglomerates, the daring work of Arctic researchers, the lunatic risks of maverick sailors, and the shadowy world of Chinese toy factories.

Moby-Duck is a journey into the heart of the sea and an adventure through science, myth, the global economy, and some of the worst weather imaginable. With each new discovery, Hohn learns of another loose thread, and with each successive chase, he comes closer to understanding where his castaway quarry comes from and where it goes. In the grand tradition of Tony Horwitz and David Quammen, Moby-Duck is a compulsively readable narrative of whimsy and curiosity.

Author Notes

Donovan Hohn is a journalist whose work has appeared in Harper's Magazine, The New York Times Magazine and Outside . He is currently the features editor at GQ . Moby-Duck was nominated as the runner-up for for the 2011 PEN/ E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. Hohn lives in New York City.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Whimsical curiosity begets a quixotic odyssey and troubling revelations about plastics polluting the seas in former high school teacher and journalist Hohn's charming account of what he learned searching for 28,800 rubber bath toys lost at sea in 1992. His curiosity, prompted by a student's quirky essay, begins in 2005 around Sitka, Alaska, where yellow "duckies," frogs, turtles, and beavers washed up after three-story waves buffeted a container ship traveling from China to America. Hohn, a senior editor at Harper's magazine, eventually tracks more rogue ducks bobbing up from isolated Gore Point, Alaska, to Maine beaches. The author's quest leads him to a research vessel trawling for degraded plastic in Hawaiian seas, to the Chinese factory where the toys were manufactured, aboard a container vessel traversing the same route as the original ship (a particularly hair-raising section), and finally to the high Arctic to study the science of oceanic drift. Packed with seafaring lore and astute reporting, this enthralling narrative is the Moby Dick of drifting ducks. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Prologue	p. 1
1 Going Overboard	p. 7
2 The First Chase	p. 29
3 The Second Chase	p. 75
4 The Third Chase	p. 147
5 The Fourth Chase	p. 191
6 The Fifth Chase	p. 231
7 The Last Chase, Part One	p. 269
8 The Last Chase, Part Two	p. 309
Epilogue	p. 371
Acknowledgments	p. 379
Bibliography	p. 381
Notes	p. 385

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

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