Book description
When Donovan Hohn first heard the remarkable story of how 28,904
bath toys spilled into the Pacific en route to the US from China and
have been washing up along beaches throughout the world ever since, he
decided to find out more and assumed he would interview a few
oceanographers, talk to some beachcombers and read up on Arctic
science and geography. 'But questions can be like ocean currents: wade
in too far, and they carry you away.'
Setting out on a series of journeys to track the renegade rubber
ducks, Moby-Duck is an adventure into the heart of the sea through
science, myth, the global economy and some of the worst weather
imaginable, and the riveting story of an accidental odyssey which
pulled Hohn into the secretive world of shipping conglomerates, the
daring terrain of Arctic researchers, the lunatic risks of maverick
sailors, and the shadowy domain of Chinese toy factories.
With each new discovery, Hohn learns of another loose thread, and
with each successive chase he comes closer to understanding where his
castaway quarry comes from (and where it is heading…). In the grand
tradition of Tony Horwitz and David Quammen, Moby-Duck is a
compulsively readable narrative of whimsy and curiosity for anyone who
is interested in obsession, travel, plastic, and that great American
novel, Moby-Dick.
Donovan Hohn is a journalist whose work has appeared in Harper's
Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Outside and the Best Creative
Nonfiction. The recipient of Whiting Writers' Award and a National
Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, he is currently a
senior editor at Harper's.
He lives in New York with his wife and children.
