"A wonderful account of far-flung travels in pursuit of the secrets of the earth's most mysterious fish. . . . Fascinating and beautifully rendered." - Peter Matthiessen
"I loved it! A beautiful adventure story of one of the most wide-spread and least-known but ecologically important fish. Prosek combines their amazing biology with adventure and politics. We now have to wonder if these, once some of the most common of fish, are going the way of the cod, the passenger pigeon and the bison." - Bernd Heinrich, author of Summer World
"[A] riveting synthesis of cultural, geographical, and botanical sleuthing." - Publishers Weekly
"A delightful work with the urgency of a good detective story." - Thomas McGuane
"I loved it! A beautiful adventure story of one of the most wide-spread and least-known but ecologically important fish." - Bernd Heinrich, author of Summer World
"The 50-million-year-old species wouldn't seem a likely subject for a riveting natural history book--it is covered in slime, after all--but Prosek pulls it off, thanks mostly to the rabid eel aficionados he digs up." - Outside
"Entertaining. . . . Prosek's writing is fluid and relaxed" - Washington Post
"The tale of Ray Turner, a man who still fishes for eels the traditional way with a hand-built weir, is at the heart of the book, tying the mythology, the mystery, and the commerce of eels together into his story." - Booklist
"An engagingly written account... Readers interested in anthropology and folklore, fishing, and natural history will also enjoy this volume, which is enhanced by the author's etchings." - Library Journal
"Eels [is] more than a fish book. It is an impassioned defense of nature itself... In Eels, [Prosek] passes on the truth that the often disdained eel, like all migratory fish, is vital and mysterious and worthy of our full effort to bring it back." - New York Times Book Review
"James Prosek sets out to explore the life of an animal that he calls 'timeless and vital, a metaphor for the resilience of life itself.' He is an ideal guide to this world...his knowledge and abiding interest permeate the book." - Seattle Times
"[Prosek is] a diligent natural historian, keen to the greater landscape. . . . A warm, enrapturing paean to the totemic potency of eels." - Kirkus Reviews
"Enthralling. . . . The eel's story is remarkable, and so are Prosek's tales of eel people." - New Scientist
"A comprehensive and appreciative study of one of the world's most mysterious creatures. . . . [Prosek] has collected anguilline myths, lore and recipes from all over the world" - The Economist
"Prosek has a talent for observation. . . . He finds the beauty in things, the hook, the reason why they get to us, why they lodge in our subconscious. . . . Yes, it's a book about eels -- but it's the stuff of dreams, and it's all true." - Los Angeles Times

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Pub date: 2011-10-11

Length: 304 pages