Kindle
$10.99
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Hardcover
$20.17
Paperback
$17.00
Buy new:
-11% $17.00
FREE delivery Thursday, May 16 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$17.00 with 11 percent savings
List Price: $19.00

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Thursday, May 16 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 9 hrs 9 mins
In Stock
$$17.00 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$17.00
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
30-day easy returns
30-day easy returns
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
30-day easy returns
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$8.61
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
The book may have minor cosmetic wear like creased spine, cover, scratches, curled corners, folded pages, minor sunburn, minor water damage, minor bent. The book may have some highlights, notes, underlined pages. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included . Safe and Secure Mailer. No Hassle Return The book may have minor cosmetic wear like creased spine, cover, scratches, curled corners, folded pages, minor sunburn, minor water damage, minor bent. The book may have some highlights, notes, underlined pages. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included . Safe and Secure Mailer. No Hassle Return See less
FREE delivery Friday, May 17 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$17.00 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$17.00
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Donovan Hohn
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea & of the Beachcombers, Oceanograp hers, Environmentalists & Fools Including the Author Who Went in Search of Them Paperback – February 28, 2012

by Donovan Hohn (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 289 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$17.00","priceAmount":17.00,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"17","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"00","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"IqnlKFDSsMBqkjVXr8%2B%2BurrgSdjZkiLCLNLEBiOL3ediwK2dSCnQsI6RBU%2FCoAPkATvyFrRbT4N1pEyKmIvpy5Twia7Mz8T8yYbFCHMgbOlFZhhTiB1PZCEQ6805HopUaWBSEmFOF1hM7LnNOirCDQ%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$8.61","priceAmount":8.61,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"8","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"61","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"IqnlKFDSsMBqkjVXr8%2B%2BurrgSdjZkiLCo68uMoRDBz59idfeiptmILQ9btJ4snfs5efIht%2FbT19db6qlnh7OBX%2FE%2B09dC%2BjBeQ8GbOZcYcjwbyZ20q%2Bxsp4p8RPytWeSmFZr%2BrHtzQSoYCLXk1h3or16mufA4Ov%2F%2B%2BwN0ZEAf0owXJQUhqlZ42varTO26Sfd","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

A compulsively readable narrative of whimsy and curiosity- "adventurous, inquisitive, and brightly illuminating" (Janet Maslin, The New York Times).

When the writer Donovan Hohn heard of the mysterious loss of thousands of bath toys at sea, he figured he would interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, and read up on Arctic science and geography. But questions can be like ocean currents: wade in too far, and they carry you away. Hohn's accidental odyssey pulls him into the secretive arena of shipping conglomerates, the daring work of Arctic researchers, the lunatic risks of maverick sailors, and the shadowy world of Chinese toy factories. Moby-Duck is a journey into the heart of the sea and an adventure through science, myth, the global economy, and some of the worst weather imaginable.

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    416 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin Books
  4. Publication date
    February 28, 2012
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.84 x 8.42 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0143120506
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0143120506
  8. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Frequently bought together

Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea & of the Beachcombers, Oceanograp hers, Environmentalists & Fools I
$17.00
Get it as soon as Thursday, May 16
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man's Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Sci
$11.69
Get it as soon as Thursday, May 16
Only 10 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
One of these items ships sooner than the other.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book [is] by turns light-hearted and serious but always a pleasure to read ... "Moby-Duck" is highly readable and, importantly, alive with a sense of intellectual curiosity. Indeed, what Melville did for whaling, Hohn has done for plastic bath toys lost at sea."
-"The Boston Globe"
"Hohn cleverly uses the deceptively whimsical premise of chasing a little plastic duck to provoke a massively complicated and thought-provoking conversation. Who knew spilled bath toys could be so important?"
-"Chicago Sun-Times"
" ... he writes always entertainingly, often gorgeously."
-"Dallas Morning News"
"Donovan Hohn ships out with an engaging Moby-Duck ... an exploration in every sense [Moby-Duck] will remind readers of the best of John McPhee and Ian Frazier. And maybe, even, of the weird and wonderful Herman Melville himself."
-"The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer"
..". entertaining but also philosophic ... [Donovan Hohn's] quest is puckish, profo

" ... he writes always entertainingly, often gorgeously."
-"Dallas Morning News"
"Donovan Hohn ships out with an engaging Moby-Duck ... an exploration in every sense [Moby-Duck] will remind readers of the best of John McPhee and Ian Frazier. And maybe, even, of the weird and wonderful Herman Melville himself."
-"The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer"
..". entertaining but also philosophic ... [Donovan Hohn's] quest is puckish, profound and as irresistible as the yellow bath toy itself."
-"People"
..". dazzling ... Hohn seems to have it all: deep intelligence, a strikingly original voice, humility and a hunger to suss out everything a yellow duck may literally or metaphorically touch."
-"The New York Times Book Review"
"Adventurous, inquisituve and brightly illuminating...["Moby-Duck"] works as a lively travelogue as well as a voyage of discovery and philosophical inquiry."
-Janet Maslin, "The New York Times"
"Delightfully wide

.".. entertaining but also philosophic ... [Donovan Hohn's] quest is puckish, profound and as irresistible as the yellow bath toy itself."
-"People"

.".. dazzling ... Hohn seems to have it all: deep intelligence, a strikingly original voice, humility and a hunger to suss out everything a yellow duck may literally or metaphorically touch."
-"The New York Times Book Review"

"Adventurous, inquisituve and brightly illuminating...["Moby-Duck"] works as a lively travelogue as well as a voyage of discovery and philosophical inquiry."
-Janet Maslin, "The New York Times"

"Delightfully wide-eyed...A gladdening, artful journey of discovery."
-"Kirkus" (starred review)

"Adventurous, inquisituve and brightly illuminating...["Moby-Duck"] works as a lively travelogue as well as a voyage of discovery and philosophical inquiry."
-Janet Maslin, "The New York Times"

"Delightfully wide-eyed...A gladdening, artful journey of discovery."
-"Kirkus" (starred review)

About the Author

Donovan Hohn is the recipient of the Whiting Writers' Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, and a Knight-Wallace Fellowship. His work has appeared in Harper's Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, and Outside, among other publications. Moby-Duck was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a finalist for the Helen Bernstein Prize for Excellence in Journalism, and runner-up for both the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction. A former features editor of GQ and contributing editor of Harper's, Hohn now teaches creative writing at Wayne State University in Detroit. He lives with his family in Ann Arbor.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Reprint edition (February 28, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 416 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0143120506
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143120506
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.84 x 8.42 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 289 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Donovan Hohn

Donovan Hohn

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Donovan Hohn is the author of Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea, a New York Times Notable Book and runner-up for both the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction and the PEN/E O Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. His essays have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Lapham's Quarterly, and The Best Creative Nonfiction. A recipient of the Whiting Writer’s Award and an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship, Hohn teaches nonfiction at Wayne State University in Detroit. His second book, The Inner Coast: Essays, will be published by W. W. Norton in 2020.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
289 global ratings
Quite a tome!
5 Stars
Quite a tome!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book while exploring the Galapagos on the Ecoventura.The elusive quest for every earthly current, every manufacture and possible drift location of the rubber ducks that dumped overboard in 1992 is an amazing journey.Read this book if you love following quests to their roots. And, like any book about seafaring creatures (even plastic ones), there are numerous references to Melville.
Hide
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

Vixgirl
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!!!
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2024
Verified Purchase
This author mixes humor, science, empathy in a very unique way. The current conditions of our oceans are a tragedy, and the author does an amazing job of combining the tragedy with hope.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Sheila Shortell
4.0 out of 5 stars An Educational Account
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2011
Verified Purchase
I am reading Moby-Duck, by Donovan Hohn. I find it quite interesting and informative, especially on the topics of ecology and ocean currents. When I started making notes of pages that had bits of information and quotes I wanted to reference later, I did not expect the large volume of references I would find. About half the pages have something. One quote I especially like is, "Why do we like to walk on the beach?...all the cells inside our bodies realize they're close to their mom." This is from Curtis Ebbesmeyer, retired oceanographer, in Seattle, Washington.

As an amateur beachcomber (I do it because I love it,) I was fascinated with Moby-Duck because there were explanations of the movement of flotsam and jetsam on the ocean waves and currents. I have never read any other account that explained how and why things drift to their landing places. In Moby-Duck I found there even is a publication about beachcombing--Beachcombers' Alert! published by Curtis Ebbesmeyer.

Book review readers will likely know by now that the theme of Moby-Duck is an account of part of a shipment of plastic bath toys broken loose from their bindings and catapulted into the Pacific Ocean during a dramatic storm, January 10, 1992. They were in huge containers, 8 feet wide by 20 or 40 feet long. At least one container burst in the crash, the rubber toys spilled into the sea. The story tracks the routes of winds and ocean currents that move water and materials around in the oceans.

Along with the bath toys, I read about shipments on other ships that break loose and crash into the deep--shoes, sneakers and sandals, computer monitors, things that float. "Ghost nets" were disturbing. They are high-seas drift nets, 15 miles long! Broken loose from fishermen, these nylon nets roll up into a huge ball, tangling animals, catching on coral reefs, killing anything in their paths.

I learned about chemicals that break down from lost or discarded items floating in sea water, and what they can do to plants and sea creatures. I was disturbed to find that beach clean-up operations get grants from polluters like BP, Chevron, or Dow Chemical. These grants give a positive twist to the corporate reputations while nothing is done to stop the pollution they cause.

Oddly enough, half way through the book, the bath toys were taken off the market, after they were found to have a high level of lead. On investigation, Hohn found that it is up to the manufacturers to make sure a toy is safe, the government agents find out about the problems later. The vast majority of toys found in US stores are made in China, in sweat shops. Shouldn't we have some suspicion about the quality of what we get from such sources?

I have not finished reading the book yet. I'll keep reading it. It is like no other I have found. I don't expect a solution to the problem of pollution of the oceans, but an education is helpful.
9 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Jennifer G. Acampora
5.0 out of 5 stars Ducky Review
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2011
Verified Purchase
What worlds lie within a rubber duck? To discover the answer read Donovan Hohn's, Moby Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them. I did and loved every word.

Hohn takes us on several journeys, both interior and exterior, as he follows the trail of the bath toys, called Friendly Floatees, which plunged into the northern Pacific Ocean from a container ship one stormy night (or maybe day)in January of 1992 and floated away into the annals of history and myth. He stumbles on the story late one night while grading a paper for project he'd assigned his high school journalism class based on James Agee's concept, the archeology of the ordinary. Hohn writes, "If like Agee my students could learn to study a thing--any particular thing--`almost illimitably long,'...they too might begin to perceive `the cruel radiance of what is' rather than the narcotic shimmer of what isn't. Or so my hopeful thinking went."

Prone to nighttime flights of imagination, intrigued by the quixotic rubber ducks that float from the Pacific Ocean, through the Arctic into and the Atlantic, Hohn pictures a flotilla of cheerful yellow duckies bobbing to the surface mid-Pacific,and fanning out as far as the eye can see. It is a charming image; he is hooked. After some research and phone call to the oceanographer who had been tracking the movements of the toys, he opens his atlas, puts his finger on the coordinates of the cargo spill and conceives a plan to travel in search of the elusive toys, which he's discovered are plastic, not rubber, and not only ducks but frogs, beavers, and turtles. More importantly, he's found that there were no confirmed Floatee sightings in the Atlantic. Thoroughly obsessed, he sets out to discover as much of the truth of the toys as he can, and to turn his "map into a world."

In pursuit of answers Hohn travels to Seattle where he interviews a retired oceanographer who writes parodies of Sherlock Holmes stories in a self-published newsletter, Beachcomber's Alert, to Alaska where he participates in a project to airlift tons of plastic litter from an isolated stretch of coastline on the Kenai Peninsula and is made to quack like a duck in a shady bar, to the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch on a catamaran trawling for plastic debris and to China's Pearl River Delta Economic Zone where he visits the factory in which the Flotees were made. He crosses the northern Pacific in winter on a container ship passing close to the very site of the toy spill. He journeys into the North Atlantic aboard a research vessel deploying instruments in the Labrador Sea and embarks on a scientific mission aboard the first icebreaker ever to transit the entire Northwest Passage in early July.

As Hohn chases his image of happy duckies a-bob on the sea, it takes on some disturbing implications. With him, we learn of the plight of the Laysan Albatross, "the world's most voracious palstivore." We learn about the chemistry of plastic, and how the vast amounts we put into our oceans concentrate deadly toxins, moving them through food chains. We discover the six degrees of freedom that ships experience, and the staggering cost in human lives the shipping industry claims each year. We learn about labor practices in Chinese factories, the rise of the toy industry and the vagaries of global consumerism. We plumb the histories of American environmentalism, arctic exploration and the changing social perceptions of childhood.

Hohn masterfully weaves these diverse subjects together into a cohesive narrative told with dazzling images rendered in sparking prose. He makes us care about the plight of the Laysan Albatross, among other things, by bringing his subjects alive, focusing his clear eye intently, minutely on his surroundings and by setting the larger story of the Floatees against the backdrop of his personal experience. We see him racing to uncover flotsam mysteries in Alaska while hoping to get home for the birth of his first child. He writes as compellingly about taking a walk with his toddler along the Hudson River as he does about standing on the Arctic icecap.

With Moby Duck, Hohn achieves beautifully, what he hoped his students would. He studies an ordinary object `almost illimitably long,' embarking on a journey of discovery, and I gladly followed his travels as he pursued the `cruel radiance' of rubber ducks with insight, humor and the unerring eye of a consummate storyteller, thus turning his map--indeed--into a world for himself and his readers. I look forward to his next book, which I hope will be about tweezers, cotton balls or bubble gum--or some other equally ordinary thing.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Wordsmyth
5.0 out of 5 stars You can't make this stuff up
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2024
Verified Purchase
What a fascinating story! The author takes you on his journey to track down those escaped rubber duckies. You'll learn about container shipping, ocean currents, geography, and human nature. A grand read.
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Alejandra Eme Vázquez
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating
Reviewed in Mexico on April 14, 2022
Verified Purchase
I loved it, such a great writing.
Report
Penelope B. M. Hedges
3.0 out of 5 stars Bad Writing Overcome By Interesting Information
Reviewed in Canada on March 27, 2014
Verified Purchase
Essentially interesting book marred by bad writing. I can't believe the author taught English and is now an editor. Worth struggling through though.
Report
gilles64200
5.0 out of 5 stars Ecolo mais pas trop
Reviewed in France on August 19, 2015
Verified Purchase
Voici un livre que devraient lire tous les ministres de l'environnement et les industriels. Quand je vois l'état de nos plages biarrotes, je ne peux que comprendre cette enquête.
Report
Movie Man
5.0 out of 5 stars Toy story heroes
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 4, 2012
Verified Purchase
What a title - and what an amazing story. All credit to the author for tackling such an intriguing story. I'd like one of those ducks in MY bath.
Report
Uncle Travelling Matt
4.0 out of 5 stars A good read if your an Oceanographer
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 23, 2019
Verified Purchase
Did they ever find all 28'800 bath toys ?

Worth a read if you have an interest in oceanography, the environment or need a home a few pub quiz questions.

and for the environmentalists extremists, well here is something else to be angry at
Report