A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks

I suspect that reading this book would be better than the audio version. The author reads her own work and, while I have certainly heard worse narrators, I have also heard much better. The author uses some inflection but her voice is general dull and heavy. Still, for listeners with an interest in sharks, it may be worth the time, even though nothing really spectacular happens nor does the author give a lot of details about the sharks. It is mainly about what happens to her when she visits shark researchers on a remote island. A much better book about sharks and the sea would be Peter Benchley's "Shark Trouble".

I'm stunned that anybody gave this book less than five stars. Seriously. It's not just a story about sharks hovering around an inhospitable island like savage school buses, tearing apart unhappy sea lions and bubbling up buckets of frothy blood for three months out of the year -- it's an adventure tale, it's a biological mystery, and ... i suspect it's a love story. sharks, yachts, desert islands, divers, journalists ... it's hard to come up with a more gripping page turner. It's one of those books that you give to everybody you know. "Oh, it's your birthday is it, Horace, well, I know what you're getting! Har har har!" And so far, nobody's come back with less than a face of pallid horror, clutching my shirt and saying "I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!!" -- really. it's that good.

It was interesting to read the history of the Farallones, having lived in the Bay Area myself for many years. Susan Casey is a good story-teller, capable of creating scenes we could easily visualize, feel and even smell. As the main character in the story, my take-away was that she was a pretty girl who persuaded people to do things that went against their better judgment, because she was a persuasive, pretty girl, and in so doing created a fair measure of grief and destruction in people's lives. As in: this is something I want, regardless of how it may impact the lives of those around me.

Susan Casey really makes science interesting. I am so glad I picked up Devil's Teeth after I finished the Wave. She makes science cool and accessible to the non-scientist. She does it in a way that makes you appreciate the people who dedicate their lives to wildlife and sports.

A well written book that weaves a great amount of history and information on the island an various wild life into the story. What a great experience and story, I'm glad I stumbled upon a review on NPR as it's one of the best books I've read in a long time.

This book was a terrible disappointment. I am fascinated by great white sharks and eagerly jumped into the book expecting an exciting read; wow, was I wrong. This book left me wanting a refund and additional compensation for the time I wasted reading it.

Couldn't put it down. One of the most fascinating and well written books I have ever read. If you have any interest in sharks at all you will be blown away by how interesting and evocative this book is.

Susan Casey is an excellent writer. The book is a good page turner. There are just way too many pages. The book would have been way better if half the size. This book is still good. I learned a lot about sharks. I did not know great whites could get up to 20 feet long, that females were a lot bigger than males, that they returned to the Farallon Islands yearly in the Fall (females every two years). And, that sharks including their close ancestors predate the dinosaurs by several hundred million years; and have been around for 400 million years. The Farallon Islands are home to the largest great whites in the world. They are bigger than the ones in South Africa and Australia. The great whites rule the Farallon Islands except when killer whales show up. The killer whales flip great whites on their back, immobilize them, and eat them. Sharks are smart. Such incidents are communicated rapidly throughout their community and they’ll leave the Farallon Islands and come back another year.

The characters in the book are interesting. These include marine biologists: Peter Pyle, Scot Anderson, and Kevin Weng. The star of the book is Ron Elliott, the 50 year old sea urchin diver who has survived around these great whites for decades. Elliott is peerless. A couple of decades ago, he had very few. Several did not survive. Others recovered their sanity and did not dare go back out there after sighting great whites. But, Elliott kept on going until he was the only one remaining. And, Ron Elliott suffers from hepatitis-C! That is an incurable disease that one just learns to manage to live with.

Peter Pyle raises an interesting controversy. He tells an open ocean swimmers’ club that it is a really bad idea of swimming near the Farallon Islands because the “Shark Shield” electronic device is unlikely to be effective against a 20 foot great white charging from underneath at high speed. Yet, research indicates this device provides much protection by creating an electromagnetic field that repells sharks.

Occasionally, the author is prone to exaggeration. She indicates that the mako shark (a smaller 5 foot shark) swims at 60 mph. A quick search indicated they swim at 28 mph and can burst up to 46 mph.

This story ends badly. Because of the author’s frivolous obsession with sharks, her irresponsible actions cost Peter Pyle’s career as a marine biologist on the Farallon Islands. It also resulted in the dismantling of his Shark Project, the end of his professional cooperation with Scot Anderson, and the loss of a private 60 foot yacht owned by a lawyer. It is unknown how the yacht owner recovered his loss. The author could have written her book without revisiting the Farallon Islands a second time which would have preempted the mentioned troubles. She simply acknowledges “That single-mindedness colored everything I did, and ended up extracting a heavy toll… The professional fall out for Peter, the official censure, the loss of the yacht: None of this was easy to justify in the aftermath… “

Sails covered with "blue tarps," someone goes "looking for a windlass," and a sailboat adrift is "heeling wildly." We can forgive Ms. Casey for being out of her element, but she's an editor. Why didn't she hire someone with knowledge of boats and the sea to read her book. That's the book, at times flowery and overly clever, even while she manages to pitch us a pretty good story about sharks. There's no getting away from the incompetence and nautical ignorance displayed though, when the yacht's owner anchors his 60' sailboat by bow AND STERN, virtually in the open ocean, and returns to his law office in the city. Ms Casey, the occupant of the anchored yacht, lies awake a night listening to the chain grating on the ledge, and then is surprised when the chain breaks in a storm and the yacht is swept out to sea. At which time she denies any culpability in the fiasco. Hard to swallow.

I couldn’t agree more with John Steinbeck’s words - “An Ocean without its unnamed monsters would be like a completely dreamless sleep.”
Not many of us have had the opportunity to smell a shark attack - and yes it does have it own odor just like the smell of death has its own odor.
To be honestly frank with you - non-fiction books are my favorite to read.
I really liked the realistic and descriptive way the author pulls us into her world - what she saw - what she experienced. Susan Casey gives us worldliness in a real aquatic world that humans are still trying to learn about: The alphas of the waters of the world. It is a world that cannot be tamed - but can be destroyed by humans.
I don’t know it for a fact - I believe it is just human nature for us to be restless and curious - and I think those are good traits. Columbus was restless and curious too.
I love the photos in this book ... it takes you on an adventure without getting out of your easy chair or leaving your private space.
“The Devil’s Teeth” can open up a new world for readers. There are new universes and ancient buried worlds swirling around. I hope you become a de facto intern and take a boat ride into this engaging adventure that is well worth your time.

Jeannie Walker (Award-Winning Author) "Fighting the Devil" - A True Story of Consuming Passion, Deadly Poison, and Murder

I picked this book up at a "free book" shopfront, of which there are increasing numbers as we approach "the end of books."I rather dreaded reading it, given the glossy Outside Magazine ambience, but I thought it would provide some info on a little-known subject-- great white sharks and the Farallon Islands. To my surprise, I enjoyed it-- lots of interesting information, and the spectacle of an A-list New York blondy editor unexpectedly reduced to a quivering jelly by the "Outside" that she makes a living by packaging and marketing was not displeasing. Not knowing what a big seller it was (my free copy is signed, suggesting a certain obscurity) I was ready to give it four stars-- thought it might need a boost. Little did I reckon with the power of the store reviews. After reading some of the one and two star ones, I guiltily have to admit that the book has a definite toxicity under the literary sugar coating. The Farallones might have come near to killing the author on occasion, but many more people behaving with a self-centered privileged folly like hers might come near to killing the Farallones. (Which, by the way, are managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Service, not the National Park Service. If the Park Service managed it, there would be public access to the islands-- that's what the Park Service is for--public access to nature, and it does a good job. But the fact is that there SHOULDN'T be public access to the islands.)

Hailing from Toronto and living in New York City, Time Inc. development editor Susan Casey unexpectedly becomes fascinated with great white sharks after watching a BBC documentary. And so she hooks up with a shark research project on the Farallon Islands where great white sharks hang out. The Farallon Islands, or Farallones, so happen to be one corner of the so-called "Red Triangle," an area of the Pacific infamous for its high number of great white shark attacks. It's called the red triangle because of the bright red pools of blood marking the surface when a seal or sea lion falls prey to a great white. The other two points of the triangle are the Big Sur region south of Monterey and Bodega Bay north of San Francisco. Yes, the Farallon Islands are less than 30 miles away from the Golden Gate Bridge. Yet, they are by all accounts one of the least hospitable places on this planet.

This is where the Shark Project is headquartered, and this is where Susan Casey goes upon negotiating considerable bureaucratic redtape. In the process she falls in love with the barren, forsaken place that tests the endurance and nerves even of the hardiest souls. Casey, facing even bigger odds, returns for a less straight-forward, more extended, and definitely very dramatic stay on a (ornery) 60-foot yacht, all by herself.

Devil's Teeth is not a scientific or research book, and Casey is a journalist and editor and not a marine biologist. So the book reads like a very extended magazine feature, outlining the issue (the great white sharks who during "shark season" hang out around the Farallones), the location and history (at some point over a 100 people lived here and there was even a school, and the place is a birds' paradise), the people (a small group of researchers and interns as well as affiliated parties such as the sole remaining commercial diver and some pesky shark and whale watching boats), and, of course, the sharks (which show up for fairly reqular and always dramatic attacks, but remain elusive).

Despite this essentially being a long, and very well written article about an ultimate adventure, we do learn a good deal about great white sharks. They hunt by day. They have good vision and are visual predators. They hunt prey with caution and a plan. They are actually black and only the underside is white. They can be 20 feet long and weigh 5,000 pounds. Most attacks are during high tide. They are one of only four warm-blooded shark species among about 370. They are all individuals with personalities and quirks. Females are much larger than males. Great whites can dive down to almost 2,500 feet. They fatten themselves up, then return much thinner. They have been around in the current form about 11 million years. They've been known to lose a fight against orcas. Their teeth are embedded in cartilage and not bone, and they lose thousands over their still unknown lifetime. They can leap out of the water.

Casey weaves together a fascinating account of life on and around the island, of its history and present, of the meticulously recorded shark sightings, of the hardship and dangers in a desolate place that shares a zip code with San Francisco. Her writing style is that of a professional writer and editor, smooth, easy-going, with a combination of spellbinding storytelling and self-deprecating humor. She's a girl she never lets us forget, she notices muscles, good looks, killer smiles and describes all the things she can't do and rather leaves to the guys. She even has a bit of fear of the supernatural. Yet, this girl has guts, confidence, and passion. She's competent and she never gives up. She seems on even keel even when her boat, and life, is not. The story has a mixed ending that may raise questions about the appropriateness of such journalistic adventures and has ruffled some feathers, but the book itself is great. -- C. H. Blickenstorfer, scubadiverinfo.com

While under the employ of a local bookstore, I happened upon an Advanced Readers Copy of this book, and casually took it home with me to read. Most ARCs I'd encountered to that point were of debut authors and were well under par to the kind of writing I enjoy, but being as fascinated with sharks as I am, I figured I'd give it a go.

The first thirty pages are ENRAPTURING. I could not put the book down. I could not keep my jaw from falling with every passing sentence. Many times, I leaped enthusiastically from my room and wildly regaled my roommates with the information contained within the pages. They, too, were taken with the information, and with Casey's brilliant writing style; we decided to read the book aloud so that we could all enjoy it simultaneously.

The ARC said nothing about the book, save for that it was a nonfiction account of the great whites that inhabit an island chain off the coast of San Francisco. And, for what it's worth, the first quarter of the book *is* about the aforementioned topic. But Casey quickly shifts gears, telling a complete history of the Farallons, the history of how the Farallons became a preserve, and describing intricately the homes, birds, seals, and inhabitants (mainly Scot and Peter, both fascinating individuals, but I was really only interested in the sharks).

Despite that Casey was tangential at times, and over half the book is about the native birds and the biologists and the boats and, to a smaller degree, the items Casey brought with her on her journeys, I still read the book with enthusiasm. Her writing style is humorous and engaging, and though the content did not live up to my expectations, she relayed (what I considered) boring material with a beautiful, interesting flair.

Overall, I would recommend this book to any shark lovers, or lovers of unusual geology. (The Farallons are *amazing*.) I would warn, however, that the book does not focus on the sharks. The focus of the book is the Farallons, and the animals/humans who inhabit the islands (which sometimes *includes* the sharks), as well as the beaurocracy and industry that accompany them.

Journalist Susan Casey writes a page-turning book about her self-admitted obsession with the great white shark project at the Farrallone Islands, a remote slab of rocks merely 27 miles off the coast of San Francisco, yet a world away. The reader lives vicariously through conditions that most of us wouldn't consider enduring to experience the excitement, heartbreak, breathtaking wonder and utter awe in the face of Nature's grandeur, fury, and beauty. Maybe it's because I was a biology major that I loved this so much, but to find someone who has had these experiences and also has the ability to write about them so powerfully is quite remarkable.

I received this book as a gift. Something to read during my cancer therapy appointments. I was hooked by the story and enjoyed it immensely. I grew up in the SF Bay Area and could easily picture the areas she visited or described. I highly recommend reading this book. I lent my copy out and never got it back, so I need to purchase a new one!

"The Devil's Teeth" is about more than just sharks. Let's get that out there first and foremost. It should be rather obvious, actually: the book's title refers not only to the animals (though Casey would NEVER refer to them as "devils," and neither should you), but to the islands they inhabit: the Farallones, a mysterious, rugged set of islands off San Francisco, which have, throughout the centuries, repelled any attempt at civilization.

Of course, the sharks are the main draw, and there are plenty of them--as well as info on their habits, some of this knowledge previously unknown, gleemed from the research that Susan Casey observed during her somewhat-legal "internship" with scientists Peter Pyle and Scot Anderson. Though some of the details given are mundane and annoying (do we really need to know that one scientist's arm muscles were perfectly formed?), much of the information is, if not relevatory, then at least pretty darn interesting. The entire book is filled with fun, rivetting info about great whites, seabirds, local history, and even a few funny--and somewhat disturbing--annecdotes about the ghost that supposedly haunts the island.

The book's only real setback: it feels unfinished. Granted, that is life, and this is a true story...but still, it's a bit of a letdown. Of course, can take this another way: this story absolutely had to be told, whether it was finished or not (and, I suppose, it HAS come to an end, and a rather unhappy one at that). It is important that the general public become aware that great white sharks are not devilish killing machines (it would have been nice if she'd gone with another title, one not intended to sell millions of copies). Great whites inhabit a realm of nature that man is only now attempting to understand; the info in this book goes a long way to informing the general public of recent developments that can hopefully clear the shark of many unjust charges. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), the book also provides a rivetting read for anyone interested in the natural world.

I noticed that a number of the reviewers who slammed this book, faulted it because they thought the book was "about sharks" and not some "stupid" island. (No doubt, the term "Devil's Teeth" threw them.)

If they had read as far as the front jacket, they'd have realized that DEVIL'S TEETH is an old sailor's moniker for the Farallone Islands, which refers to the saw-tooth appearance of these islands as seen when approaching them by boat. If they were looking for a book SOLELY about sharks, they could have saved themselves some misery before they cracked open the first page.

I read the synopsis, and entered the book EXPECTING to read a bit of history about this fascinating place, in ADDITION to some interesting tidbits about Great Whites.

Susan Casey's multiple trips out to the Farallones over the course of a few years was not your ordinary tourist adventure. The Farallones are not a tropical paradise swathed in warm breezes where one can sip exotic drinks under the shade of a coconut palm.

The Farallones are a veritable Hell-on-Earth that happens to be a favorite haunt (at least during part of the year) of some SERIOUSLY large Great White sharks. The biologists who camp here are not in it for the money or the luxury of it all. They are routinely dive-bombed by angry birds with digestive problems, whipped by the chill winds, and regularly risk life and limb to float out to shark-attack sites on tiny boats that are several feet smaller than the fish they share the water with.

As a journalist, Casey was granted permission to visit the island in order to write about the research, but found herself so fascinated by it all that she managed several trips over the course of a few years. Yes, she writes about the biologists who are stationed there with more than a little adulation, but frankly, it's understandable. These aren't regular guys working a 9-5 shift, stopping at Starbucks on the way home for a half-caf-extra-foam-latte.

I give her credit for jumping in with both feet, and not demanding any sort of 'special' treatment while she was there. A prima-donna she is NOT, and given her more than attractive appearance on the book jacket, it is rather telling that she would subject herself to the ignominious fate of going 5 days without changing clothes, ending up stinking with matted hair and a serious infestation of bird-lice.

She writes well, injecting humor into most pages, and as long as you're not expecting a "Book-About-Sharks... PERIOD" I strongly recommend DEVIL'S TEETH.

- Jonathan Sabin

The Devil's Teeth (2005), by Susan Casey, an editor of some magazine or something, was a really interesting read until that darn boat sailed into the picture. While I enjoyed reading about life on Southeast Farallon and its wildlife (not just great whites, but whales, seabirds, and pinnipeds) and history, I kinda got bored when Just Imagine became the focus of the book. I really didn't want to hear about how terrible it was to live on that boat and how they lost it because of some storm. I managed to finish it though and enjoyed what little was said about one of the great whites they had at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the epilogue. As it appears others have already mentioned, I would've liked the book to include more about great whites (a few chapters more, actually). Still, a pretty good read for all its flaws. It includes several colored photographs, a really neat map at the front, and a selected bibliography. I only bought it for a dollar at a used book store so I guess it was well worth the price.

I started this book with very few expectations other than it would be about sharks. What I got was not at all what I was expecting, but I feel it was well worth reading. The book is not a series of shark attack stories, but the story of one person's attempts to get near to white sharks. When she discovers the Farralones, the author is taken in by not just the sharks, but also, the whole lifestyle of the researching them. She revels in the hardships, histories, thrills, disappointments, and humanity of researching and living in the Farralones, and this is what this book is about.

I have always dreamt about living the life of a research biologist so I loved this book. It is well written and kept me engaged throughout the book. If I had one criticism, it's that after the 10th person she ran into that was "ruggedly handsome and athletic," I started wondering if she ever met anyone she didn't think was irresistibly attractive. Seems like she tries too hard to paint everyone in a good light.

Important Note ---- If you are looking to read a "Jaws, 2005," don't get this book

But ---- If you want a well written book that explores the Farralones Islands, the world of field research biologists, and ones person's quest to live her dreams of being near Great White Shark and nature, get this book.

If you're at all familiar with the Northern California coastline and are remotely curious or even fascinated by great white sharks (their behavior and how scientists study them) you will love this book. As a native San Franciscan who became fascinated with sharks in his youth (first recorded great white shark attack off our shores in 1959) and went on to become a deep sea diver I find this book very exciting, accurate in it's detail and very informative. The author (Susan Casey) tells a gripping story of her own fascination with the creatures. She balances her grand obsession by recounting the obstacles she encountered (bureaucratic, environmental and personal)on her quest for understanding. She also does an excellent job of portraying the lives of research scientists who set out to study the birds on these islands, scientists who couldn't help but study the great whites when they realized that the Farallone Islands were part of the sharks migratory pattern a breeding ground that they returned to every autumn.

The book has a cover picture of rocky islands, surrounded by a sea in which the inescapable silhouette of a dorsal fin is approaching a pool of blood, and it is called _The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival among America's Great White Sharks_ (Henry Holt), so you would think that "The Devil's Teeth" were the teeth of the sharks. Not so. The author Susan Casey explains that "The Devil's Teeth" is one of the names for the Farallon Islands, rocky outcrops of fantastically rugged forms that are a mere thirty-mile boat ride from San Francisco. The sharks are there, to be sure, especially in shark season of September and November, but there are also seals (one of the reasons the sharks come), birds, bird lice, mice, fleas, bats, and more, most of which make the islands a repulsive place to stay. But there have been humans on the island, intermittently staying for economic reasons and most recently for research purposes. The Farallons are the only place people can study great white sharks in the wild. Anyone who looks at the Discovery Channel knows that sharks fascinate viewers, but Casey profiles two men who have made the obsession into research careers. Her book is full of details of island life, and of the excitement of getting close to sharks, and understanding them a little more.

Casey became interested in the work of Peter Pyle and Scot Anderson, who managed the Farallon Islands White Shark Project, and had been studying the creatures at close range for over a decade and a half. Pyle is a natural historian and ornithologist who has a distaste for civilization and has made himself comfortable in wilds all over the world to search for birds. Anderson has been a shark freak since he was a kid. There were strict restrictions on visitors to the islands, but after a couple of day-passes, in 2003 she was able to spend a few weeks at the islands, anchored in a borrowed sailboat so she was not really "on" the islands. It turned out to be a perilous stay, for the islands are forbidding places even without sharks. Casey always takes a larger view, including the history of the islands and the other creatures on and around them, but naturally the sharks are the stars. They come to dine on "northern elephant seals, harbor seals, fur seals... all barking and bellowing, draped on the rocks like a blubbery carpet." When a seal in the water is hit by a shark (and it is impossible not to be distressed by the suffering which Casey has to describe, about one hit a day), it is often decapitated, spraying blood into the water. The shark (or his fellow sharks) returns to finish the meal, but the researchers on the island, having seen the hit or the pool of blood, try to get there as well, to record on video the eating activities. The researchers know their sharks intimately, the individual coloring, scars, or shape of fin revealing the identity of Tipfin, Gouge, Bitehead, Jerry Garcia, or Cal Ripfin. The killer might be one of the smaller males who return every year. Where do they go at other times? Or it might be one of the huge females, who return only every other year. Why do they have such a schedule? Are they going to birthing fields somewhere? No one knows; the researchers get all the data they can from these limited sightings, and the recording and record-keeping is impressive, but the sharks remain mysterious.

The story here, full of human and animal life, comes to a sad end, and it is Casey's intrusion into the island that brings it about. The trick of having her stick around in an anchored sailboat would have worked, except for the appalling waves and weather that often assault the islands. Her descriptions of her spells on the anchored, but storm-tossed, boat are among the scariest passages in the book. She was lucky to have taken illicit refuge on the island when the greatest of the storms hit, for the anchor chain broke and the sailboat was gone. She eventually paid thousands to search for the borrowed boat, and the owner posted a reward, so that her illegal presence became known. Pyle lost his job. In these pages she writes of many disasters on the islands that she obviously loves, but this one was exceedingly personal: "Everything had become unraveled, undone." All the rest of the book, however, has made sure that we understand the larger view. Human struggles to control the islands are negligible compared to the primordial drama of wind, sea, rock, seal, and shark.

Excellent read for someone as obsessed with sharks as I am. However, I am personally disappointed in how this true life saga ends. Makes the story seem dirty to have read ... like the pursuit of this story/ book cost a wonderful scientist his job. And the sharks are worse of for it. :/

Susan Casey, a journalist, becomes intrigued by white sharks and the Farallon Islands some thirty miles from San Francisco. After fighting through restrictions and barriers, she manages to get onto the island and observe a group of scientists studying predation by great white sharks within the so-called red triangle. Her description of the islands flora and fauna are very good. Detailed descriptions of shark attacks also give the story some excitement. She doesn't provide much scientific detail about the research she observed; however, she's a journalist, not a biologist. She's a story-teller and does a good job.

If your a shark junkie who enjoys scientific detail about the behavior and biology of sharks, you'll most certainly be disappointed. On the other hand, if you enjoy tales of natural adventures and the hardships endured along the way, you'll be entertained.

Just finished the book, it was captivating and held my attention. I have read the other reviews about it being "ALL ABOUT SUSAN" which, is totally true. It is about her experiences with these Great White Sharks. I don't know what other people thought it was going to be about.

The story is about Ms. Casey's experience on "The Devil's Teeth" which is not the jaws of the water but actually the nickname for the islands she calls home for awhile. The island has everything from great whites, to ghosts, to seals, to birds, to runaway sail ships.

This book had gruesome sad tales of sharks and was perfect for anyone seeking to understand something about operations in the pacific. Don't expect this to be an in depth analysis sharks but rather an outsiders view point of a world we may never know.

To the north, south and east of San Francisco resides a normal chaotic tangle of human activity but to the west, the waters teem with great white sharks. Landmarking their migratory travels just off the California coast are the remote Farallon Islands, currently only accessible to research scientists. 18th-century sailors dubbed the islands The Devil's Teeth, a nickname just as fitting for the sharks in the waters below. Journalist Susan Casey has created a page-turning account that shark lovers, history buffs and California locals all will devour. Highly recommended for shark fans!

As a lifelong obsessive where sharks are concerned, my sister (another obsessive) sent me this book, wherein we met another sharky obsessive (Susan Casey).

Luckily, Casey is an extremely good writer, her descriptions remarkably vivid, her subject matter so exciting that the reader can overlook the fact that her only justification for putting so many people to so much trouble, is the book itself. Which just about justifies everything.

Though she tried hard, I can't say she ever managed to make me love the great whites, my sympathies were with the seals the Island biologists seemed to treat like lab mice.

Her cast of characters was very well presented - though the reader may begin to wonder if her obsession wasn't more focused on Peter Pyle than the sharks he watches.

Nevertheless, a great read and fascinating account of wildlife in the Farallones.

In my personal annals of shark literature, it ranks only slightly below "Close to Shore".

Less than 40 miles off the coast of San Francisco lay the Farallones, an almost unknown group of islands surrounded by rough sea and dense fog and home to thousands of birds, seals and sea lions. The human habitation of the islands has been historically less numerous, and today only a handful of people spend any significant amount of time there at all. The weather and the landscape are quite unforgiving and spooky, but excellent for bird and wildlife research. However, what drew writer Susan Casey to the Farallones were the dark waters surrounding them --- shark-filled waters.

Editor and journalist Susan Casey became interested in great white sharks generally and the Farallones specifically after seeing a BBC documentary. She obtained permission (not an easy task) to visit the islands and the scientists working there to write an article. But she knew the story she found warranted a book. The result is THE DEVIL'S TEETH. Casey's obsession with white sharks found much fodder on the islands, and she managed return visits and several encounters with the misunderstood beasts themselves.

Casey's book isn't quite about great white sharks, though. While you will find lots of great information in a less than scientific package, her story is about the islands themselves. In fact, "The Devil's Teeth," while a great nickname for the great whites, refers to the Farallones, their jagged appearances and reputation for eating ships and boats. She relates the colorful history of the island, from its discovery by Sir Francis Drake in 1579 to the Russian seal trade of the early 1800s to the California gold rush to the mini-war between lighthouse keepers and "eggers" in the 1900s. Today the island is protected, a refuge for hundreds and thousands of birds. But the waters off the islands are not, leading to many interesting conflicts among commercial fishing enterprises, adventure seekers and various entrepreneurs, scientists and the U.S. government.

Two scientists in particular, Peter Pyle and Scot Anderson, are highlighted in the book. They let Casey into their exclusive world of shark research where they are busting stereotypes about great whites and fighting the elements on the formidable Farallones. Lest you think this is a dry piece of nonfiction about one seemingly unlovable animal and the scientists dedicated to them, you will also find the tale of a runaway yacht, scary storms, one ghost, skull pecking cannibal sea gulls, and lots of adventure, not to mention the jaws of sharks measuring over 16 feet long and up to eight feet across! All of this is recounted with surprising insight and a readable style.

THE DEVIL'S TEETH is informative and interesting, well-researched and just plain fun to read. Casey's interest in the great white sharks led her to the Farallones, which serve as the dramatic and amazing backdrop to one of nature's oldest creatures' feeding grounds. Her descriptions of the Farallones are at once foreboding and utterly romantic, and readers will not only gain new respect and awe for great white sharks but also will never look at the California coast in quite the same way again.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

I love to read narratives about lives and histories wildly different from my experiences. The book starts off well with the odd history of the desolate Farralone Islands and segueing to the activities of the shark researchers on the island. Shark researchers, living under these crazy conditions, flying around in tiny boats after huge feeding sharks, showing a dedication and curiousity to pursue this with intensity year after year. This is what I read these books for.

Then the book devolves into a self-absorbed journal of the author's miserable season staying on a boat offshore because of access restrictions to the island. As one of the other reviewers notes, I had heard this rule-bending ultimately resulted in disaster for some of the complicit researchers and shut down much of the shark research. And it adds little if nothing to the substance of the narrative-- just whiny and repetitive. Disappointing.

Positives: stories about history of the Farallones and too-brief summaries of scientific information about white sharks.

Negatives: way, way too much information about her own personal struggles. Also, she seems to semi-idolize the scientists in a way that struck me as groupie-like: "He was a striking person, in his early thirties and athletically built, with jet-black hair and dark eyes and a smile that could light up a small midwestern city."

The author picked a great subject, and was clearly willing to do whatever it took to get a story, but she would have been better served by focusing more of her attention on the sharks and the islands. Nothing that happened to her personally seemed all that interesting to me.

The whole premise of the book sounds interesting, as I am also interested in great whites and I looked forward to reading it. I was enjoying it until the more I read I realized it was merely about the obsession of the writer than it is about the sharks and the research project she is researching. Yes, she focuses on the scientists and the island in great detail, which in itself makes it worthwhile reading. However, in the end, her desire to see the sharks up close actually causes the termination of the entire shark research project, and the termination of employment for the knowledgeable, caring scientist in charge that assisted her in trying to realize her dream. Her dream became his nightmare. She should have stayed home and let the sharks and their researchers be. If you read it for the sharks, you'll enjoy it, but you'll quickly discover what an selfish idiot Susan Casey is. The writing is average, but with a keen eye you'll appreciate. The "True story of obsession and survival among America's Great white sharks" is about her and not the project, which is what I thought the book was about. My mistake. Not only can you not judge a book by its cover, you can no longer judge a book by its title either.
Another reviewer stated succinctly, "The author and her persistence to observe activities on the island leads the the demise of the entire shark research project."

THE DEVILS TEETH is an exceptionally well-written account of the Farallon Islands and, in particular, the white shark research project that has been based there over the past several decades. Susan Casey profiles Peter Pyle and Scot Anderson, two biologists who have been leading shark research at the islands which are located just 27 miles due west of San Francisco. She also documents her own (ultimately disastrous) experiences gaining access to the islands which are largely prohibited to the public. The stars of the story are the sharks themselves, who turn out to be far more individualistic and personable than you would probably ever imagine.

The white sharks of the Farallon Islands are perhaps the best studied in the world in their natural state. The circus atmosphere which surrounds white shark research in places like Australia and South Africa have largely compromised the sharks natural habitat making it difficult to observe sharks behaving naturally. The Farallon Islands, known to 19th-century mariners as "The Devil's Teeth," are a dangerous and foreboding locale, but one that lends itself well to scientific investigations. Casey takes us through the history of exploitation, inhabitation, and research that has taken place on the islands over the past 150 years, and she includes a healthy amount of information about the other wildlife in evidence on and around the islands. But she clearly (and admittedly) developed an obsession with the sharks, and the narrative of the book is continually steered back toward them.

The thing that struck me the most in THE DEVIL'S TEETH was the description of the individual white sharks' strong personalities. I would never have thought that a white shark could be described in terms of being "gentle and maternal" (Whiteslash) or "happy-go-lucky and somewhat goofy" (Half Fin). Other individual sharks, of course, had more sinister reputations. Still, one can come away from reading this book with the impression that the great white shark is truly a likeable animal, if not exactly huggable. Another revelation (to me, at least) was the evidence that at least some white sharks, like whales, apparently have fixed migratory routes that can take them thousands of miles through the course of a year. Some (the females) appear to have two-year migrations since they only show up every other year in the Farallones.

Susan Casey takes us into an exclusive place, to be sure: a world where cage divers and eco-tourists are looked down upon with disdain. In a way, it hardly seems fair that the experience of witnessing the thrill of a white shark kill should be so restricted. As Peter Pyle himself said, "I feel sorry for anyone who hasn't seen one." Of course, it is understandable. As in nearly other place in the world where white sharks congregate, the delicate ecosystem of the Farallon Islands would suffer tragically and research effort would be compromised from increased human intrusion. THE DEVIL'S TEETH is a glimpse into the world of two committed biologists and the truly majestic animals they study.

Jeremy W. Forstadt

This is an infuriating and sad narcissitic discourse written under the pretense of journalism. Hardly any information is provided about the Great White, the leading characters in story are described as cardboard cutouts with rippling muscles and the author NEVER should have been entrusted with a larg sailboat for which she had NO experience. Aside from some interesting historical information about the islands the book reads like pulp fiction. Only it's real. The idea for the story was novel but Casey talked and wriggled her flirtacious (and quite possibly more) self into a situation for which she was totally unprepared intellectually and unseaworthy at that. In the end she takes down everyone who extended kindness to her including the boat owner. She takes no responsibility for ending the program and causing the employment termination of the scientist and all around good guy genius who risked his life's work to allow her onto the islands. She glosses over heinous fishing activities that violate the protection of sea animals and fish. Casey is an entertaining writer which is no doubt responsible, along with her connections, for the media blitz that accompanied the publication. For those readers eager to experience a personal journey of obsession it may prove interesting. But if you crave information based on science forget it. The islands, unique in the world, and their creature inhabitants remain at greater risk because of the book.

For anyone interested in learning about the Great White Sharks, this book is a must read. It combines fear with respect and curiosity and by the end of the book you have a whole new understanding and respect for the Great White Shark, one of natures truly beautiful creatures.

"The Devil's Teeth" is a vastly entertaining, very well-written account of one woman's experience out on The Farallon Islands.

Those islands are a particularly inhospitable group of rocks ("rock designed by a cubist on peyote" as she says) sitting off of San Francisco. A small hardy band of researchers study sharks out there, and she went to go check it out.

I'm a "Jaws" freak. I thought I knew everything about sharks. I didn't know ANY of this.

First of all, they are not simply studying "sharks". We're talking about great whites. The big bad ones.The depictions of those fish are unlike any you've read before. You will change the way you think and feel about them.

If possible, you will become even more freaked out about them. They're genuinely scary creatures.

She writes like an impossibly gifted dinner guest, telling stories that have every one at the table mesmerized.

She's colloquial; there are lots of italics and capitalizations and fragments and such. She writes like a real good talker.

Her prose is vivid. The appearance of these sharks, of the researchers, of the islands themselves...all are artfully described. Imagine a shark as wide as "Yao Ming is tall."

Her perspective will make you laugh. When she tries to ram home that sharks have been around for quite some time, she says they "predate trees." Not 'a' tree, but trees in general. When sharks first appeared, plants hadn't yet figured out how to become trees.

When describing the sensation of walking through a gauntlet of kamikaze gulls, she thanks "Alfred Hitchcock" for her "state of mind."

A cormorant becomes someone from "Flintstones central casting." I can't tell you how many times I laughed out loud while reading this book.

And read it I did. As fast as I could. I was fascinated by these relatively new discoveries on "shark character". They don't act like we thought they did (and in general, we don't know that much about them...) and some of the basic fundamentals of shark physiology and behavior are frankly disproven.

These buggers can see just fine. They'll stick their head out of the water to check you out. They have personalities. Different sharks "act" differently. They are not simply the cold killing machines we all thought they were.

They're worse. Really. They're cold CALCULATING killing machines, who have an ability to learn things.

I digress...I could have read volumes more about these sharks, the Sisterhood (the giant, ethereal murderesses) and the Rat Pack (the smaller, more visible but somehow less sinister male cohort)...about Cal Ripfin, Stumpy, Whiteslash. It's like the psychopathic oceanic version of "Watership Down."

Casey also conveys the "lunar isolation" of the colorful folks who "live" out there on those islands. She gives us a taste of the political bureaucracy involved in maintaining that precious environment, and also the delicate nature of those island's own biosphere (in direct contrast to the harsh living conditions).

There is an extended segment of the author trying to live on a sailboat (she's not allowed on the island for technical reasons) just off shore during a harrowing storm. I couldn't imagine trying to row a rowboat between an out-of-control sailboat that has lost her anchor in twenty-foot waves, and a coastline that looks like the place where Darth Vader got his face melted off. And oh yeah, huge sharks circling around, checking out your little boat, wondering how much you look like a fat elephant seal.

There are passages on the history of the islands, on shark research in general...but it's mostly about living on this rock, watching sharks eat seals. And by the way she writes, you will happily go along with her obsession. You yourself will need to know more about these sharks. Her desire is infectious.

I'm going to recommend this book to just about everybody I know...it's a terrific read!

Reading about the Farallones is amazing. It is hard to believe that such a place sits so close to one of America's most advanced cities. The chance of learning about the Farallones is enough to warrant reading this book.

I almost bought this book last summer and thought better of it after reading a randomly selected page or two while waiting in line to get a number for the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince release for my then 8-year-old. This last Saturday, I was at the book store again, saw it in paperback, at 20% off, and decided to give it a go.

While it is easy to fault Casey for being selfish in her pursuit of all things toothy and sharky, it is also important to note that this story - not dry, unbiased, scientific facts documenting shark behavior - is the story of her awe and desire driven by 15 foot beasts that the rest of us shark addicts will never have the opportunity to experience in person. I, for one, admire her dedication to discomfort for the small reward of bearing witness to one of nature's most mysterious creatures. Despite her being a bit of a Park Avenue Princess-type, or Bergdorf Blonde - if you will, I found that I respected her more for her shock at which things did not go her way and her bravado with which she faced it head-on. I don't think I'd have stayed on that boat as long as she did, and I live in Nebraska.

That said, this book does provide quite a bit of new knowledge that everyone could do with - though it doesn't seem to focus on just one topic - ranges from Great Whites, to elephant seals, to oceanic avian menaces, to whales, to historically valid information about the Farallon Islands significant role - past and present. Heck, she even touches on pollution. I felt like I was there, on the Farallones, and that was all that mattered to me.

Great read. A bit arrogant, but who cares?

I normally don't read books of this type. However, I have a heavy respect of the ocean and all things not known. From the first sentence this book intrigued me. Towards the end of the book, I was made to think of all the harm we are doing to the world, its oceans and waters.

I hate to realize that Peter Pyle is no longer with the Shark Project but I feel that it not wholly Susan's fault. They didn't have to pull her into the fray of the Project. They avoided Goth for years and they could have easily avoided her and her obsession with the islands, its inhabitants and mysteries.

Peter will go on to write and document other lesser knowns for us to be intrigued by. Susan will continue her life as a journalist. Scot will continue to enrapture us with his scientific data of the many sharks of the world.

All in all this book gave me a healthy respect of everyone at the Farallon Islands, including the Great Whites. You have to love yourself to be able to deal with the absence of life to enjoy and love beint a part of the Farallon Islands.

As an avid California diver and a naturalist this book was an outstanding and enjoyable read. It spends significant time discussing both the birds and the sharks at the Farallons. The book recounts the experiences of both Susan and the visitors to the island. These visitors range from the caretakers of the Lighthouse, the island naturalists, divers and casual visitors. If you are at all interested in White Sharks or birds this is a very interesting read. I had no idea of the history of the islands and that was nearly as interesting as reading accounts of Ron - a regular urchin diver at the islands and his run ins with sharks.

I found many of the historical accounts and mention of life for the scientists on the island interesting. However, I was disappointed by the lack of first hand experience in studying or encountering the wildlife, including the sharks. It was less a tale of The Farallon Islands and more third hand stories and observations from an author with little scientific experience. I found much of the book entertaining and kept on reading hoping for the stories or encounters and greatness promised, but was gravely disappointed that the excitement never came and, in fact, the author's tunnel vision to obtain a story seems to have cost one of the leading experts his job in The Shark Project and put the entire study into jeopardy. Something she seems to have no remorse about.

Might be good as an introductory book, but if you are already a shark aficionado of any level or looking for a book that really delves into the history, studies, etc of the islands, chalk this up to a quick read with some lovely personal quips.

This was a very exciting story. Susan Casey writes well, giving us an inside view of the events in a natural prose style. The Farallons never seemed so close, even when I visited San Francisco and toured them by boat. Casey writes a compelling story of the scientists and naturalists living in hellish conditions because they love the sharks, their--to my mind--unusual behavior, individually and in groups. Who knew sharks had such personalities? My only wish is that she'd concentrated more on the sharks, kept the whole sailboat incident out of it, and I couldn't read about Peter losing his job--his life up to this point!--without a little anger. It's a very quick read and worth it if you like sharks and roughing it.