My Life in Sea Creatures: A young queer science writers reflections on identity and the ocean

(Hardback)

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A beautiful blend of memoir and oceanography that explores the ocean's depths and many of the big questions -- about identity, the nature of work, the pull of family -- facing young people today ***AMAZON BEST BOOK OF DECEMBER*** ***A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF THE YEAR*** A young queer science writer on some of the ocean's strangest creatures and what they can teach us about human empathy and survival 'A miraculous, transcendental book' ED YONG 'An astonishing debut' GUARDIAN As a mixed Chinese and white non-binary writer working in a largely white, male field, science journalist Sabrina Imbler has always been drawn to the mystery of life in the sea, and particularly to creatures living in hostile or remote environments. Each essay in their debut collection profiles one such creature- the mother octopus who starves herself while watching over her eggs, the Chinese sturgeon whose migration route has been decimated by pollution and dams, the bizarre Bobbitt worm (named after Lorena) and other uncanny creatures lurking in the deep ocean, far below where the light reaches. Imbler's debut weaves the wonders of marine biology with stories of their own family and coming of age, implicitly connecting endangered sea life to marginalised human communities and asking how they and we adapt, survive and care for each other. This far-reaching, unique collection shatters our preconceptions about the sea and what it means to survive. 'Astounding' PHILIP HOARE 'A revelation' ISABELLA TREE

Reviews

An astonishing debut . . . The effect is transcendent . . . an exquisite and indefinable hybrid that is far greater than the sum of its parts . . . At a time when humanity is destroying natural abundance and failing to understand its own diversity, a book like Imbler's is a valuable gift -- Lucy Cooke * Guardian *
Imbler is [...] a gifted science and nature writer, capable of describing sea creatures with knowledge, originality and supple poeticism -- Bidisha Mamata * Observer *
Imbler, a science journalist, shines a light on some of the ocean's most delightful and overlooked creatures... the author draws connections between these fascinating animals and our own needs and desires - for safety, family and more * New York Times *
Imbler pulls off an impressive feat: a book about the majestic, bewildering undersea world that also happens to be deeply human * Vogue *
Imbler is a terrific talent... with brutal candor and elegant metaphor, [My Life in Sea Creatures] reveals the gap between where we are today and a truly inclusive and connected world * Science Magazine *
By way of an exploration of the diverse wonders of marine biology, Imbler reconstructs with raw openness the intensity of their experiences of being a teenager, of coming out, and of gender and racial prejudice * Literary Review *
A singular memoir revealing what we can learn about empathy from odd beasties living in hostile environments * i *
A lyrical consideration of alternative models of survival * Vanity Fair *
This is a miraculous, transcendental book... To write with such grace, skill, and wisdom would be impressive enough; to have done so in their first major work is truly breathtaking. Sabrina Imbler is a generational talent, and this book is a gift to us all -- ED YONG, author of I Contain Multitudes
How do we place our selves in the natural world What are the costs and gains of our attachment to it Where would you put Sabrina Imbler's astounding book on the shelf In a separate section, marked: Awe and Wonder -- PHILIP HOARE, author of Albert & the Whale
Profound, surprising, and thrillingly strange. I love it -- SY MONTGOMERY, author of The Soul of an Octopus
It's a marvel...To find the conundrums of human sexuality and identity reflected back at you by a jellyfish is nothing short of a revelation. Reading this book was an entrancing, provocative, unforgettable experience -- ISABELLA TREE, author of Wilding
My Life in Sea Creatures is an ingenious book that shows, with a glittering skill, how the precious life around us enriches our world and our ways of living. This is nature writing with an open and daring heart -- SEN HEWITT, author of All Down Darkness Wide
I loved this. A double helix of queer memoir and marine biology that twists together beautifully. * MARK HADDON *
[This book] marks the arrival of a phenomenal writer creating an intellectual channel entirely their own, within which whales and feral goldfish swim by the enchantment, ache, and ecstasy of human life -- MEGHA MAJUMDAR, author of A Burning

Author Bio

Sabrina Imbler is a writer and science journalist living in Brooklyn. Their first chapbook, Dyke (geology) was published by Black Lawrence Press, and they have received numerous fellowships and scholarships in the US, including from the Asian American Writers' Workshop and Tin House. They are the recipient of the Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award for young science journalists, and their essays and reporting have appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Catapult, and Sierra, among other publications.