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, Donovan Hohn

At the outset, I felt no need to acquaint myself with the six degrees of freedom. I'd never heard of the Great North Pacific Garbage Patch...at the outset, I figured I'd interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, read up on ocean currents and Arctic geography, and then write an account of the incredible journey of the bath toys lost at sea, and account more detailed and whimsical than the tantalizingly brief summaries that had previously appeared in news stories. 


That, however, is not what happened. Donovan Hohn ended up traveling the globe following the trail of some rubber duckies (and other rubber animal toys) which were lost at sea. This was a pretty funny book. I mean, seriously, think about it: rubber duckies at sea! And yet, it was still a scientific kind of book. When a ship wrecks, we don't really think about the cargo that it was carrying. But that stuff has to go somewhere. This book addresses where some of that cargo went. It was quite engaging and humorous at times.

This book is kind of depressing, though, as it talks a lot about how the ocean is horribly polluted by plastic and how sleazy politicians are, always cutting corners and pretending that they're "helping the environment" when they're not (that I knew already.) But I really enjoyed reading it.

Read Moby Duck:

• if you like humorous nonfiction/science books
• if you are interested in ocean currents/science
• if you like rubber duckies (?) maybe?

378 pages.

Very Good! I would recommend this book!