Rose George – författare

Slippery, wet, and strange: Fish can be easier to think of as food than as fellow animals. But what do we know about these creatures we meet on our dinner table and how they got there? For the first time in history, humans are eating more farmed fish than wild, and our fish consumption is predicted to increase. But with warming oceans, diminishing fish stocks, and questions about fish farming practices, where will the fish come from?In Every Last Fish, Rose George dives into these questions by exploring the vast industries that support our appetite for fish sticks and salmon burgers, and the colossal illegal fishing trade whose practices and standards are unmonitored and often dangerous. Journeying to the bottom of the ocean and back, she examines the machinations of this $200 billion food system—one that’s growing rapidly even as fish populations disappear.Along the way, George introduces us to the people on the front lines of fishes and fishing: fishermen, divers, marine biologists, fish fryers, and fishwives. She presents minnows who shout; discovers the underwater soap operas of wolffish; and, despite her constant seasickness, boards trawlers to see firsthand the impact of fishing on our emptying oceans. Her journey ends at the fish counter, with guidance for readers looking to make better choices, both for the ocean’s health and their own.Ranging from Alaska to the United Kingdom to Senegal and beyond, Every Last Fish is an unforgettable trip through the ocean’s inhabitants and workers. With irresistible wit and an eye for the unusual, George reveals the unseen and endangered world behind what you buy at the seafood counter, while also bringing to life that dead fish on your plate.

Ever wondered what it’s like to be hit by lightning or to lose your sense of smell? Heard about the woman saved by bee stings — or the window cleaner who survived a 400ft fall?Originally written for the Wellcome charity, 16 stories by leading science writers explore the mysteries of the human body. Learn about everything from diets to allergies, hair colour to rare blood, and from allergies to remote surgery.Contents What’s it like to be struck by lightning? - Charlotte Huff Why do we colour hair? - Rebecca Guenard The man with the golden blood - Penny Bailey Why dieters can’t rely on calories - Cynthia Graber 3D printers can now make body parts - Ian Birrell How to fall from a skyscraper and live to tell the tale - Neil Steinberg The quest to explain miscarriages - Holly Cave Can the power of thought outwit ageing? - Jo Marchant Seeking a ‘cure’ for male baldness - Rhodri Marsden How bee stings saved a woman’s life - Christie Wilcox The global trend for ‘kangaroo’ babies - Lena Corner What it means to lose your sense of smell - Emma Young The doctor aiming to end eye pain - Bryn Nelson Could allergies be a defence against noxious chemicals? - Carl Zimmer Why pharma may be going slow on the male pill - Andy Extance How virtual reality headsets aid remote surgery - Jo Marchant Shhh! What exactly is the menopause? - Rose George ExtractWhat it's like to be struck by lightning?Sometimes they’ll keep the clothing, the strips of shirt or trousers that weren’t cut away and discarded by the doctors and nurses. They’ll tell and retell their story at family gatherings and online, sharing pictures and news reports of survivals like their own or far bigger tragedies. The video of a tourist hit on a Brazilian beach or the Texan struck dead while out running. The 65 people killed during four stormy days in Bangladesh.Only by piecing together the bystander reports, the singed clothing and the burnt skin can survivors start to construct their own picture of the possible trajectory of the electrical current, one that can approach 200 million volts and travel at one-third of the speed of light.In this way, Jaime Santana’s family have stitched together some of what happened that Saturday afternoon in April 2016, through his injuries, burnt clothing and, most of all, his shredded broad-brimmed straw hat. “It looks like somebody threw a cannonball through it,” says Sydney Vail, a trauma surgeon in Phoenix, Arizona, who helped care for Jaime after he arrived by ambulance, his heart having been shocked several times along the way as paramedics struggled to stabilise its rhythm.Jaime had been horse-riding with his brother-in-law and two others in the mountains behind his brother-in-law’s home outside Phoenix, a frequent weekend pastime. Dark clouds had formed, heading in their direction, so the group had started back.They had nearly reached the house when it happened, says Alejandro Torres, Jaime’s brother-in-law. He paces out the area involved, the landscape dotted with small creosote bushes just behind his acre of property. In the distance, the desert mountains rise, rippled chocolate-brown peaks against the horizon.The riders had witnessed quite a bit of lightning as they neared Alejandro’s house, enough that they had commented on the dramatic zigzags across the sky. But scarcely a drop of rain had fallen as they approached the horse corrals, just several hundred feet from the back of the property.Alejandro doesn’t think he was knocked out for long. When he regained consciousness, he was lying face down on the ground, sore all over. His horse was gone.The two other riders appeared shaken but unharmed. Alejandro went looking for Jaime, who he found on the other side of his fallen horse. Alejandro brushed against the horse’s legs as he walked passed. They felt hard, like metal, he says, punctuating his English with some Spanish.He reached Jaime: “I see smoke coming up – that’s when I got scared.” Flames were coming off of Jaime’s chest.

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEKCold-blooded, slippery, wet and strange: fish can be hard to think of as fellow animals and easier to consider as food. But what do we know of these creatures on our plates, and what do we know of how they got there? In Every Last Fish, Rose George takes us inside the vast legal industries that support our appetite for fish fingers and salmon sandwiches, and the equally colossal illegal fishing trade whose practices and standards are unmonitored and often dangerous. It introduces us to the men (and it is mostly men) who fish, the women (and it is mostly women) who process the flesh and strive to keep fishing communities afloat. It takes us from Alaska to Senegal, via Scotland, Norway, and Massachusetts, and from the nets on the surface to the murky depths of the sea bed. It will transform the way you look at fish and change your understanding of what lies behind the inscrutable eye that looks back at you.

Cold-blooded, slippery, wet and strange: fish can be hard to think of as fellow animals and easier to consider as food. But what do we know of these creatures on our plates, and what do we know of how they got there? In Every Last Fish, Rose George takes us inside the vast legal industries that support our appetite for fish fingers and salmon sandwiches, and the equally colossal illegal fishing trade whose practices and standards are unmonitored and often dangerous. It introduces us to the men (and it is mostly men) who fish, the women (and it is mostly women) who process the flesh and strive to keep fishing communities afloat. It takes us from Alaska to Senegal, via Scotland, Norway, and Massachusetts, and from the nets on the surface to the murky depths of the sea bed. It will transform the way you look at fish and change your understanding of what lies behind the inscrutable eye that looks back at you.

An award-winning investigation into the strange and secretive world of international shipping.'Arresting, sharply observed, deeply researched and compelling... Plenty of books promise to reveal the secrets of little-known worlds but few actually deliver. This is one that does' Melanie McGrath, Sunday TelegraphThere are 100,000 freighters on the seas. Between them they carry nearly everything we eat, wear and work with. In this unique and fascinating investigation, Rose George joins the crew of a container ship travelling the long journey from Felixstowe to Singapore and charts the murky waters of international shipping. This is an eye-opening tale of powerful naval fleets, pirate gangs, and illegal floating factories, which reveals the vast hidden industry upon which our world turns and our future depends.'This is a remarkable work of embedded reportage - hair-raising, witty, compassionate - that deserves to be read' Sukhdev Sandhu, GuardianA BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and winner of a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship and a Mountbatten Maritime Award

Most humans contain between nine and twelve pints of blood. Here Rose George, who probably contains nine pints, tells nine different stories about the liquid that sustains us, discovering what it reveals about who we are. In Nepal, she meets girls challenging the taboos surrounding menstruation; in the Canadian prairies, she visits a controversial plasma clinic; in Wales she gets a tour of the UK's only leech farm to learn about the vital role the creatures still play in modern surgery; and in a London hospital she accompanies a medical team revolutionising the way we treat trauma.Nine Pints reveals the richness and wonder of the potent red fluid that courses around our bodies, unseen but miraculous.