Sharks Don't Sink
Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The uplifting story of a young Black scientist’s challenging journey to flourish outside the traditional confines of academia, inspired by her innate connection to nature’s most misunderstood animal—the shark.
"Jasmin Graham has that winning combination of talent and grit needed to excel as a scientist. Every girl who wants to be a marine biologist should have this book." —Hope Jahren, New York Times bestselling author of Lab Girl and The Story of More
Sharks have been on this planet for over 400 million years, so there is a lot they can teach us about survival and adaptability. For example: how do sharks, which unlike other fish are denser than water, stay afloat? They keep moving. When Jasmin Graham, an award-winning young shark scientist, started to feel that the traditional path to becoming a marine biologist was pulling her under, she remembered this important lesson: keep moving forward.
If navigating the choppy waters of traditional academic study was no longer worth it, then that meant creating an ocean of her own. Jasmin joined with three other Black women to form Minorities in Shark Sciences (MISS), an organization dedicated to providing support and opportunities for other young women of color. She became an independent researcher: a rogue shark scientist, seeking ways to keep these extraordinary endangered creatures swimming free—just like her.
Sharks Don’t Sink is a riveting, moving, and ultimately triumphant memoir at the intersection of science and social justice: a guidebook to how we can all learn to respect and protect some of nature’s most misunderstood and vulnerable creatures—and grant the same grace to ourselves.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this inspiring debut memoir, marine biologist Graham discusses her trials and triumphs as a Black woman in the sciences. Growing up in South Carolina, Graham cultivated a love for the water while fishing with her father. After attending a marine science summer camp as a teenager, she resolved to pursue a career in the field. But she felt out of place in academia (she describes herself as "a unicorn in horse-dominated world that hated horns") and struggled to get ahead professionally. Her isolation ended when she met fellow researcher Carlee Jackson Bohannon, whom she first spotted in a Twitter photo "floating underwater with an adorable nurse shark." After the two compared their struggles, they joined with three other Black women to found Minorities in Shark Sciences (MISS), which offers workshops and grants to minorities in the field. Interspersed with the MISS origin story are endearing sections in which Graham geeks out about sharks, challenging their reputation as killers and sharing fascinating tidbits about their biological processes, including how different species breathe. Vivid prose (the underwater world is "a natural cathedral of bending light") and Graham's palpable enthusiasm for her work make this sing. It's an impassioned tale of ambition and advocacy. Photos.
