Nollman, Jim 1947-

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NOLLMAN, Jim 1947-

PERSONAL: Born January 31, 1947, in Boston, MA; married; wife's name Katy; children: Claire, Sasha. Education: Tufts University, B.A. (English and music theater), 1969.

ADDRESSES: Home—San Juan Island, WA. Offıce—c/o Author Mail, Sierra Club Books, 85 Second Street, Second Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105.

CAREER: Composer, guitarist, animal communications researcher, and author. Children's Museum, Boston, MA, music consultant, 1970; Gallery Theater, San Francisco, CA, music director, 1974-74; Interspecies Communication, Bodinas, CA, founder and director, 1978-82; Greenpeace Iki Island project, Japan, principal investigator, 1978-80.

WRITINGS:

Playing Music with Animals: Interspecies Communication of Jim Nollman with 300 Turkeys, 12 Wolves, and 20 Orcas (sound recording), Folkway Records (New York, NY), 1982.

Dolphin Dreamtime: Talking to the Animals, Anthony Blond (London, England), 1985, new edition published as Animal Dreaming: The Art and Science of Interspecies Communication, Bantam Books (New York, NY), 1987, revised edition published as The Man Who Talks to Whales, Sentient Publications (Boulder, CO), 2002.

Spiritual Ecology: A Guide for Reconnecting withNature, Bantam Books (New York, NY), 1990.

Why We Garden: Cultivating a Sense of Place, Holt (New York, NY), 1994.

The Charged Border: Where Whales and HumansMeet, Holt (New York, NY), 1999.

The Beluga Café: Whales and Music in an ArcticLandscape, Sierra Club Books (San Francisco, CA), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: A musician and conceptual artist, Jim Nollman has been involved in animal communication for more than thirty years. He founded Interspecies Inc. to help sponsor research using music and art to communicate with animals. He has also recorded several albums of interspecies music featuring humans playing musical instruments and the natural calls of wolves, elk, dolphins, whales, and other animals. Nollman has also written several books about interspecies communication, gardening, and ecology.

After graduating from college, Nollman performed in nightclubs for several years before becoming music director of the Gallery Theater in San Francisco in 1974. Soon afterward, he began his interest in communicating with animals via music. Three years after his album Playing Music with Animals: Interspecies Communication of Jim Nollman with 300 Turkeys, 12 Wolves, and 20 Orcas, Nollman published his first book on interspecies communication. Since that time, Dolphin Dreamtime: Talking to the Animals has appeared in a new edition under the titles Animal Dreaming: The Art and Science of Interspecies Communication, and in the revised edition The Man Who Talks to Whales.

Dolphin Dreamtime: Talking to the Animals and its successors tell the story of Nollman's close encounters with animals as he uses music to communicate with them and forge new relationships, from "jamming" with howler monkeys in Panama to cavorting with dolphins and whales in Australia and California. In a review of Animal Dreaming for Library Journal, Michael D. Cramer said, "The book is easily read and conveys the author's joy and sense of brotherhood in communicating with animals." Noting that Nollman touches on such topics as "intuition, a touch of myth, and mysticism," a reviewer writing in Booklist said, "Nollman helps the reader understand and appreciate the wisdom found in critters of all kinds." In the revised edition, The Man Who Talks to Whales, Nollman includes a new chapter called "Interspecies Protocol," which discusses the concept of animals as individuals with unique personalities deserving of human respect.

In his communication with animals, Nollman incorporates a variety of musical instruments, including guitars, wooden drums, flutes, and 'dolphin sticks,' which were invented by Australian Aborigines to attract dolphins and the schools of fish that came with them. He has collected acoustic instruments that float or that can be played underwater, and utilizes an electric guitar connected to an underwater speaker to make his animal music.

In Spiritual Ecology: A Guide for Reconnecting with Nature Nollman presents eleven essays about humanity's loss of spiritual connection with nature and the need to reestablish it to better cope with current environmental crises. He gives readers a month-by-month account of his gardening experiences in Why We Garden: Cultivating a Sense of Place. In the book Nollman returns to his theme of man's relationship with nature and going back to spiritual roots to ultimately save the environment. Nollman also offers practical advice on garden aesthetics and care. For example, in his chapter "October: The Weed Garden" he outlines his approach to weeds using alternatives to herbicides. Jane Barker Wright, writing in Horticulture, said that Nollman's effort is "not a gardening book" and that it is "rife with horticultural error" Nollman uses to support his viewpoints. However, Alice Joyce, writing in Booklist, called Nollman's "views . . . as entertaining as they are instructive." In the Bloomsbury Review, a contributor commented, "Nollman offers the reader more than an insightful look at the personal act of gardening, he offers an insight into looking. This book is a must for the literate gardener, the thinking gardener."

Nollman returned to his interest in interspecies communication for his next book, The Charged Border: Where Whales and Humans Meet. Along with excerpts from Spiritual Ecology, Nollman provides a true account of a diver freeing dolphins from Japanese fishing nets and certain death. In another section he describes helping gray whales trapped under Arctic ice swim to safety by following the author's music. "The 'charged border' is a term coined by Nollman to describe the ecological and ethical problems that arise when humans and cetaceans interact," noted Barbara Butler in her review in Library Journal. Bryce Christensen, writing in Booklist, commented, "By sharing his own personal experiences in a narrative of compelling immediacy, Nollman opens to readers the natural harmonies essential to the future well-being of whales and humans."

In The Beluga Café: Whales and Music in an Arctic Landscape Nollman recounts his experiences traveling to the Arctic with two friends to visit with the beluga white whales. The book begins with Nollman's efforts to garner funding for the trip based on his belief that his interspecies musical efforts have scientific relevance. He then goes on to describe the trio's various experiences, including a foray into the center of a controversy over why the whales stopped coming into the Mackenzie Delta, a situation that could jeopardize the future of their calves, who thrive in the warm and shallow waters. Writing in Publishers Weekly, a reviewer noted, "The book will appeal most to animal-rights activists and readers wanting powerful descriptions of the Arctic wilderness." Nancy Bent, writing in Booklist, noted, "This unusual mix of travel, nature, and philosophy transcends genres and will appeal to contemplative readers who appreciate the power of a well-turned phrase."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Animal's Agenda, October, 1990, Cathy Czapla, review of Spiritual Ecology: A Guide for Reconnecting with Nature, p. 52.

Audubon, March, 1999, Charles E. Little, review of

The Charged Border: Where Whales and Humans Meet, p. 106.

Bloomsbury Review, March, 1995, review of Why WeGarden: Cultivating a Sense of Place, p. 25.

Booklist, January 1, 1987, review of Animal Dreaming: The Art and Science of Interspecies Communication, p. 1482; May 1, 1994, Alice Joyce, review of Why We Garden: Cultivating a Sense of Place, p. 1573; February 1, 1999, Bryce Christensen, review of The Charged Border: Where Whales and Humans Meet, p. 951; October 1, 2002, Nancy Bent, review of The Beluga Café: Whales and Music in an Arctic Landscape, p. 293.

Choice, October, 1999, R. L. Smith, review of TheCharged Border: Where Whales and Humans Meet, p. 356.

East West, January, 1988, review of Animal Dreaming:The Art and Science of Interspecies Communication, p. 85.

Guitar Player, January, 1984, Jas Obrecht, "Whale Guitar," p. 10.

Horticulture, March, 1995, Jane Barker Wright, review of Why We Garden: Cultivating a Sense of Place, p. 76.

Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 1994, review of Why We Garden: Cultivating a Sense of Place, p. 463.

Library Journal, August, 1987, Michael D. Cramer, review of Animal Dreaming: The Art and Science of Interspecies Communication, pp. 133-134; March 15, 1991, Alice Dowd, review of Spiritual Ecology: A Guide for Reconnecting with Nature, p. 60; February 15, 1999, Barbara Butler, review of The Charged Border: Where Whales and Humans Meet, p. 180.

New Age Journal, June, 1990, review of SpiritualEcology: A Guide for Reconnecting with Nature, p. 75.

Publishers Weekly, March 22, 1999, review of TheCharged Border: Where Whales and Humans Meet, p. 80; July 22, 2002, review of The Beluga Café: Whales and Music in an Arctic Landscape, p. 164.