Gulp!

being a regular reader of entertainment weekly, i am really into the book reviews, as we get all our books from the library (otherwise known as the brair). i'm kinda weird in that i read all the reviews, sometimes even two or three times. usually i'm looking for good reads for myself or the adorable one.

anyway, one of the books reviewed in 2005 was "the devils teeth" by susan casey. there's no way i can do the book justice as it's about the author's research and experience with great white sharks at the rocky and remote farrallone islands, just thirty miles west of san francisco. here's what's fascinating--i learned more about great white sharks in that one book than i've learned in a lifetime interest in these mysterious predators. in fact, i was so entranced with the book that by the time i finished it, i wanted to visit the farrallones, which is impossible, as it's a protected marine sanctuary--unless you're a marine biologist/scientist/somebody with credentials up the wazoo, you don't get to go.

here's the thing. you can take a five-hour boatride to the general area as there is a burgeoning tourist trade around the shark watching. in fact, there are some outfitters that transport you and also allow you to go underwater in a metal shark tank. now, i'm not that nuts. but i would pay good money, really good money to charter a private boat, someday, with someone familiar with the area, just to get a glimpse of a great white.

i'm not really sure what i find so captivating about these killing machines--maybe it's their black, soulless eyes, maybe it's the fact that they have been around for millions and millions of years. maybe it's that we still know very little about them. whatever it is, i'm hooked.