In a coastline as long and diverse as India’s, fish inhabit the heart of many worlds — food of course, but also culture, commerce, sport, history and society. Journeying along the edge of the peninsula, Samanth Subramanian reports upon a kaleidoscope of extraordinary stories. In nine essays, Following Fish conducts rich journalistic investigations: among others, of the famed fish treatment for asthmatics in Hyderabad; of the preparation and the process of eating West Bengal’s prized hilsa; of the ancient art of building fishing boats in Gujarat; of the fiery cuisine and the singular spirit of Kerala’s toddy shops; of the food and the lives of Mumbai’s first peoples; of the history of an old Catholic fishing community in Tamil Nadu; of the hunt for the world’s fastest fish near Goa. Throughout his travels, Subramanian observes the cosmopolitanism and diverse influences absorbed by India’s coastal societies, the withdrawing of traditional fishermen from their craft, the corresponding growth of fishing as pure and voluminous commerce, and the degradation of waters and beaches from over-fishing. Pulsating with pleasure, adventure and discovery, and tempered by nostalgia and loss, Following Fish speaks as eloquently to the armchair traveler as to lovers of the sea and its lore.

Smith presents habitat selection, food and feeding habits, defense adaptations, and reproductive mechanisms of freshwater fishes and tips on where, when, and how to find and watch fishes in their natural habitats.

Little Fish has all sorts of fishy friends in his underwater home, but loves one of them most of all.

“A necessary book for anyone truly interested in what we take from the sea to eat, and how, and why.” —Sam Sifton, The New York Times Book Review Acclaimed author of American Catch and The Omega Princple and life-long fisherman, Paul Greenberg takes us on a journey, examining the four fish that dominate our menus: salmon, sea bass, cod, and tuna. Investigating the forces that get fish to our dinner tables, Greenberg reveals our damaged relationship with the ocean and its inhabitants. Just three decades ago, nearly everything we ate from the sea was wild. Today, rampant overfishing and an unprecedented biotech revolution have brought us to a point where wild and farmed fish occupy equal parts of a complex marketplace. Four Fish offers a way for us to move toward a future in which healthy and sustainable seafood is the rule rather than the exception.

Learn to shop for—and cook—Pacific coast seafood that’s good for your health and the planet, with 100 recipes, plus cooking techniques and practical tips for buying. Chef and seafood advocate Becky Selengut helps simplify sustainable seafood choices for consumers in this fully revised and expanded edition that now includes lingcod, Pacific cod, wahoo (or ono), mahi-mahi, and herring. From shellfish to finfish to “littlefish” (think sardines), find recipes for 20 varieties of “good fish” (plus even more recipes for salmon!). There are also cooking techniques (such as how to sear a scallop perfectly), tips for buying and caring for seafood, and the most current sustainability information. Seattle sommelier April Pogue provides wine pairings for each recipe. Included are recipes for: Clams, mussels, oysters, Dungeness crab, shrimp, scallops, wild salmon, Pacific halibut, black cod, lingcod, rainbow trout, albacore tuna, Pacific cod, Arctic char, mahimahi, wahoo (or ono), sardines, herring, squid, and caviar. Good Fish is a bible for Pacific coast sustainable seafood.

John McPhee's twenty-sixth book is a braid of personal history, natural history, and American history, in descending order of volume. Each spring, American shad-Alosa sapidissima-leave the ocean in hundreds of thousands and run heroic distances upriver to spawn. McPhee--a shad fisherman himself--recounts the shad's cameo role in the lives of George Washington and Henry David Thoreau. He fishes with and visits the laboratories of famous ichthyologists; he takes instruction in the making of shad darts from a master of the art; and he cooks shad in a variety of ways, delectably explained at the end of the book. Mostly, though, he goes fishing for shad in various North American rivers, and he "fishes the same way he writes books, avidly and intensely. He wants to know everything about the fish he's after--its history, its habits, its place in the cosmos" (Bill Pride, The Denver Post). His adventures in pursuit of shad occasion the kind of writing--expert and ardent--at which he has no equal.

"What is this fish? Is it good to eat? Is it a record? Answers to these common questions, plus many others, are finally answered in this new book by Florida Sportsman Senior Editor Vic Dunaway"--Page 4 of cover.