On Monday, February 25, the JLT Natural History Society book club will discuss Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean’s Greatest Predator by Jason Colby.  We will meet at the Charles Pink House next to the Carnegie Library in Port Townsend, from 3:30 – 5:00.

Orca is a definitive historical account of how the common view of the fierce “killer” whales was transformed into that of the beloved “orca.”

Author James Colby, who grew up in Bainbridge and now lives in Victoria, BC, draws on historical records as well as his own family history. He begins by telling how orcas were killed by the thousands when they were viewed as dangerous predators.  Then in the 1960s a Seattle entrepreneur captured a “killer whale” and began to perform with it.  Human encounters with these captive orcas changed American values and influenced environmental activism. In the years to come, this marine predator has become an icon of the Northwest.