How to Speak Whale

A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication

By: Tom Mustill

Narrated by: Tom Mustill

What if animals and humans could speak to one another? Tom Mustill—the nature documentarian who went viral when a thirty-ton humpback whale breached onto his kayak—asks this question in his thrilling investigation into whale science and animal communication.

“When a whale is in the water, it is like an iceberg: you only see a fraction of it and have no conception of its size.”

On September 12, 2015, Tom Mustill was paddling in a two-person kayak with a friend just off the coast of California. It was cold, but idyllic—until a humpback whale breached, landing on top of them, releasing the energy equivalent of forty hand grenades. He was certain he was about to die, but they both survived, miraculously unscathed. In the interviews that followed the incident, Mustill was left with one question: What could this astonishing encounter teach us?

Drawing from his experience as a naturalist and wildlife filmmaker, Mustill started investigating human-whale interactions around the world when he met two tech entrepreneurs who wanted to use artificial intelligence (AI)—originally designed to translate human languages—to discover patterns in the conversations of animals and decode them. As he embarked on a journey into animal eavesdropping technologies, where big data meets big beasts, Mustill discovered that there is a revolution taking place in biology, as the technologies developed to explore our own languages are turned to nature.

From seventeenth-century Dutch inventors, to the whaling industry of the nineteenth century, to the cutting edge of Silicon Valley, How to Speak Whale examines how scientists and start-ups around the world are decoding animal communications. Whales, with their giant mammalian brains, virtuoso voices, and long, highly social lives, offer one of the most realistic opportunities for this to happen. But what would the consequences of such human animal interaction be?

We’re about to find out.

©2022 Tom Mustill (P)2022 Grand Central Publishing

Critic reviews

“We are on the verge of a revolution in communicating with these smart, social, otherworldly leviathans. Tom Mustill's riveting reports from the cutting edge of science set my heart pounding! How to Speak Whale is one of the most exciting and hopeful books I have read in ages.”—Sy Montgomery, New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus

“Through his highly personal journey and discussions with experts, Tom Mustill conveys the richness of whale song and communication. Most of all we gain immense respect for these giants of the ocean.”—Frans de Waal, New York Times bestselling author of Mama’s Last Hug and Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist

“I loved this book. It will really make you think about the relationship between animals and people.”—Temple Grandin, New York Times bestselling co-author of Animals in Translation and Thinking in Pictures

Whale obsessed

I really appreciated this big picture look at whale and communication and the intersection of biologists, enthusiasts and technology.

Next best thing to nearly being flattened by a breaching humpback whale and living to tell about it

One of those books that will never leave you. Thought provoking, informative and inspiring. It's enough to nudge your life in a different direction.

Fascinating

Great catch up on research on whales. I hope we learn much more on my lifetime.

Thoroughly enjoyable—with sound effects!

A fascinating, informative and engaging book that offers new insights into the possibilities of communication with cetaceans and other animals. For the first time I can truly imagine a future where we recognize other creatures in our own world as being much like ourselves. The sound effects make this audiobook a must, even if you own the print version (as I do).

I loved it

This was a book written by someone who had a fabulous encounter with a whale that sparked a genuine interest to learn about whales. I learned along with him in the book as I also loved whales from far away. I hope we can come together to make the oceans a safer place for all species

Excellent read!

I finished this book in a state of amazement! Tom’s gift for storytelling while intertwining facts is superb. I found myself so engrossed in this book- It is absolutely fascinating. My already great respect for animals of the ocean has grown immensely after listening to Tom’s journey.

My mind is blown!

This book is fantastic- do yourself a favor and download it ❤️ I was very doubtful that “speaking whale” would ever be possible before listening to this book but my eyes have now been opened.

Amazing book!

This is one of the most interesting books I have ever read! The author took a topic I never would have imagined and with each chapter opened up a world of new and interesting topics that opened my mind to amazing possibilities. The author writes from the evolutionary perspective. However, I am a Christian, so as I began to think of the amazing things in nature, it gave me tremendous joy to think of all that our Creator has created.

An insightful recollection of things to come

I picked this books up as research for a developing thesis regarding animals in literature, and what it delivered changed my focus in the best kind of way. my guiding question: how has anthropomorphism changed with the looming advent of 2 way communication with animals? In the chapter Anthropodenial (hard to spell but not to grasp) I got an overview of history dating back to Descartes, and learned of the deep seeded separation of man from the natural world. what followed was the dissolutionment of animal science as an extension of post enlightenment thinking. Feels good to know, and even better to have read that Tom Mustill along with countless others are making the conscious effort to move away from anthropocentric consciousness as a means to disqualify intersentience. liked it so much I decided to pickup a physical copy for reference.

That said, the book and the tremendous efforts it took to live and write it are admirable for all they do to maintain a conventional tone that is both enjoyable and informative. What is perhaps the most exciting aspect of How to Speak Whale is the optimism it ends on. It would be fascinating to read it's sequel in say 5 or so years when much of what the book ends on comes to fruition, and farther still when and if a whale could ever write a novel of its own, but that's my own imaginative interpretation of what Mustill has convinced me will become possible with what has already been created. 10\10 sparks of the imagination, and a must read for technological enthusiasts looking for life altering leaps forward.

For all lovers of living beings

So much to learn here. It’s like a text book that’s come alive. If you love nature and animals this is a great listen.