(2007) The Elephant's Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa. By Caitlin O'Connell. (ISBN: 0743284410 / 0-7432-8441-0)

Book Description: Free Press, New York, NY, U.S.A., 2007. First Edition Thus, number line on copyright page reads: 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 . Cyan Hard Cover Boards, White Cloth Spine with Gold Lettering. 240 pages plus about the author page, 6.25" x 9.25" tall, .875" thick. Black and White Photos. New copy - Never read - Not price clipped. Beautiful copy of book and dust jacket. COLLECTOR'S COPY.

Book Condition: Brand New.

Dust Jacket Condition: Brand New. NON price-clipped DJ [$24.00 US].

Synopsis: While observing a family of elephants in the wild, Caitlin O’Connell noticed a peculiar listening behavior—the matriarch lifted her foot and scanned the horizon, causing the other elephants to follow suit, as if they could “hear” the ground. The Elephant’s Secret Sense is O’Connell’s account of her groundbreaking research into seismic listening and communication, chronicling the extraordinary social lives of elephants over the course of fourteen years in the Namibian wilderness.

This compelling odyssey of scientific discovery is also a frank account of fieldwork in a poverty-stricken, war-ravaged country. In her attempts to study an elephant community, O’Connell encounters corrupt government bureaucrats, deadly lions and rhinos, poachers, farmers fighting for arable land, and profoundly ineffective approaches to wildlife conservation. The Elephant’s Secret Sense is ultimately a story of intellectual courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Reviews:

"Making up in raw adventure what is lacks in polish, SENSE provides a ride as rough and astonishing as the roads of the African flood-plain." --Entertainment Weekly, 03/30/2007

“I was transported by the author’s superbly sensuous descriptions of her years spent studying the animals. . . . Conjures a high-class nature documentary film in prose.” --Steven Poole, Guardian

“A ride as rough and astonishing as the roads of the African floodplain.” --Joan Keener, Entertainment Weekly

“A successful combination of science and soulfulness, explaining her groundbreaking theory of how elephants use seismic communication. . . . O’Connell’s account is studded with sympathetic insights and well-turned phrases.” --Publishers Weekly

“This fascinating book reads like a fast-paced detective story of a scientific discovery and adventure set in contemporary Africa. . . . By the end, O’Connell takes her rightful place among the leading biographers of the African elephant.” --Iain Douglas-Hamilton, author of Among the Elephants

About The Author: Caitlin O'Connell is a research associate at Stanford University, in the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Her discoveries have been published and reported in various periodicals, including Science, Science News, Natural History, National Geographic, The Economist, and Discover. She has appeared on National Geographic, the BBC, PBS/Nature, and the Discovery Channel. O'Connell and her husband direct the nonprofit organization Utopia Scientific, which promotes elephant conservation and scientific understanding around the world.

 Caitlin O’Connell is on the faculty at Stanford University Medical School and an author. Educated at Fairfield University, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and the University of California, Davis, where she earned a Ph.D. in Ecology, Dr. O’Connell has been studying elephant ecology and behavior for over 15 years. She has published over 25 peer-reviewed scientific articles and numerous articles for the popular press, including a book on elephant communication and two more in the works. Please click here to see a full list of Dr. O'Connell's publications in the area of elephant communication. Dr. O'Connell also works on science education projects from the classroom to the field and other aspects of conservation including coral reef and flamingo restoration.

POPULAR BOOKS:

1. O’Connell, C. E. (2007) “The Elephant’s Secret Sense”. Free Press (Simon & Schuster).
2. O’Connell, C. E. & Jackson, D. (in press) “The Elephant Scientist” volume for Houghton Mifflin’s Scientist
in the Field Series of Children’s Books.
3. O’Connell, C. E. (under contract) “The Boy’s Club: an elephantine take on male society”. Harvard University Press.

Author quote: "It is through writing that I’ve learned to understand the world with a clarity that my eyes don’t always have. As a scientist and artist, writing helps me see patterns in nature that I hadn’t realized were there. It also helps bring a fantastical character to life that has gotten under my skin and won’t stop itching until I reveal its true nature to others…"

http://www.caitlineoconnell.com/index.php