The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession,

The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish

A FINALIST FOR THE 2017 PEN/E. O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD
LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE
A LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST SCIENCE BOOK OF THE YEAR

â‚¬Å“[A] curiously edifying book.â‚¬Â â‚¬"The New York Times Book Review

â‚¬Å“With the taut suspense of a spy novel, Voigt paints a vivid world of murder, black market deals, and habitat destruction surrounding a fish that's considered, ironically, to be a good-luck charm.â‚¬Â â‚¬"Discover

â‚¬Å“[An] immensely satisfying story, full of surprises and suspense....Things get weird fast.â‚¬Â â‚¬"The Wall Street Journal

A riveting journey into the bizarre world of the Asian arowana or â‚¬Å“dragon fishâ‚¬Ââ‚¬"the worldâ‚¬s most expensive aquarium fishâ‚¬"reveals a surprising history with profound implications for the future of wild animals and human beings alike.

A young man is murdered for his prized pet fish. An Asian tycoon buys a single specimen for $150,000. Meanwhile, a pet detective chases smugglers through the streets of New York. Delving into an outlandish realm of obsession, paranoia, and criminality, The Dragon Behind the Glass tells the story of a fish like none other: a powerful predator dating to the age of the dinosaurs. Treasured as a status symbol believed to bring good luck, the Asian arowana is bred on high-security farms in Southeast Asia and sold by the hundreds of thousands each year. In the United States, however, itâ‚¬s protected by the Endangered Species Act and illegal to bring into the countryâ‚¬"though it remains the object of a thriving black market. From the South Bronx to Singapore, journalist Emily Voigt follows the trail of the fish, ultimately embarking on a years-long quest to find the arowana in the wild, venturing deep into some of the last remaining tropical wildernesses on earth.

With a captivating blend of personal reporting, history, and science, The Dragon Behind the Glass traces our modern fascination with aquarium fish back to the era of exploration when intrepid naturalists stood on the cutting edge of modern science, discovering new and wondrous species in jungles all over the world. In an age when freshwater fish now comprise one of the most rapidly vanishing groups of animals on the planet, Voigt unearths a paradoxical truth behind the dragon fishâ‚¬s rise to fameâ‚¬"one that calls into question how we protect the worldâ‚¬s rarest species. An elegant exploration of the human conquest of nature, The Dragon Behind the Glass revels in the sheer wonder of lifeâ‚¬s diversity and lays bare our deepest desireâ‚¬"to hold onto what is wild.
Country USA
Brand Scribner Book Company
Manufacturer Scribner
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2016-05-24
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781451678949

Country	USA
Brand	Scribner Book Company
Manufacturer	Scribner
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2016-05-24
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781451678949

The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish

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