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    The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish
    The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish
    The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World's Most Coveted Fish
    Audiobook7 hours

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

    Written by Emily Voigt

    Narrated by Xe Sands

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    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, it's protected by the Endangered Species Act and illegal to bring into the country-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.
    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMay 24, 2016
    ISBN9781515975656
    Author

    Emily Voigt

    Emily Voigt is a journalist specializing in science and culture. Her stories have appeared in the New York Times, OnEarth Magazine, Mother Jones, and Isotope: A Journal of Literary Nature and Science Writing, as well as on the programs Radiolab and This American Life. The recipient of a Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship, she holds degrees in English Literature and Journalism from Columbia University.

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    Reviews for The Dragon Behind the Glass

    4/5

    62 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      A world I had no idea existed. Living heros and explorers. Colorful worlds and exotic and dangerous places. And all about fresh water aquarium fish? So we'll written. The author manages to balance her obvious passion and commitment to the subject with objective facts and observations. One of my favorite science stories of all times. It's like the wardrobe in Chronicles of Narnia. An entire world behind the doors of a local pet shop.
    • 4/5
      really fascinating, not something I think about on a daily basis!
    • 5/5
      Emily Voigt writes in that part-historical examination, part-author's exploration narrative that [book:The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks|6493208] also treads, and the result ended up being a very readable, fascinating book. Multiple threads (the exotic pet trade industry, regulation of endangered species, what is a species and who names them, etc.) are woven together deftly as she starts with an initial question ("Why would someone pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a homely-faced fish?") and ends up diving headfirst into obsessively pursuing the dragonfish, searching for any that may still be in the wild.

      I'm a hobby aquarist who has nothing larger than a 29 gallon at the moment, but the monster fishkeepers always intrigue me. Heiko Bleher is the most prominent ichthyologist in the book with an intrepid personality, though Tyson Roberts looms equally large as does Ralf Britz.

      Minor quibbles: I'm a little surprised that she hadn't really known much about Linnaeus until she pursued the arowana story (especially if she's a science writer for Radiolab and other places). If you want a deeper dive into the taxonomy of what the Asian arowana is vs. the South American species or how exactly do purchasers of these monster fish take care of them, look elsewhere. Otherwise, it's a well-crafted personal narrative blended with natural history and taxonomy with a dash of travelogue.