Devil's Teeth by Susan Casey

Do you ever have a book that takes you way longer to read than it should because you can't bear to finish it? Yeah, this book was like that. I wish it went on for another 1,000 pages. I would buy a sequel in a heartbeat!


Devil's Teeth is Susan Casey's story of her time spent on the Farallones Islands near San Francisco, studying sharks and gulls and all kinds of cool biology! She heard about the sanctuary and did everything in her power to spend as much time on the closely controlled island as she could. The islands' great attractions were the superhero-like biologists living there and the SHARKS! I never was crazy about sharks when I was a kid, I sort of stuck to obsessing over kitties and rats. But this book makes me think that great white sharks are pretty much the coolest thing ever. I can't even begin to describe the magic that Casey weaves into this book. You can't read it and NOT think that great whites are the coolest thing ever!


Casey writes about her exciting adventures on the islands in a humorous, self deprecating way, along with bits about the islands' history, current challenges and shark lore. It jumps back and fourth between fascinating great white anecdotes and Casey's trials and tribulations on the rugged island. There are definitely moments where I couldn't wait to read what happens to her next, and others where I laughed out loud. I am the biggest couch-potato, web-surfer ever and I was constantly torn between thinking it would be awesome to go to the islands despite the rough, camping-like experience and feeling like I would die in an hour! It ended on a really sad note, which makes me want to know what happened after it was published.

I can't recommend this book enough. I wasn't particularly interested in sharks or marine biology to begin with, much less knowledgeable about such things, and it was a super awesome reading experience for me. I can only assume it would be for most other people. I think it would be appropriate and awe-inspiring for younger readers as well.

Seriously, read the hell out of this book as soon as possible.