This book is from the bestselling author of Why Birds Sing, a fascinating exploration of an alien intelligence in our midst: whales and their profoundly mystical music.Whale song is an astonishing world of sound whose existence no one suspected before the 1960s. Its discovery has forced us to confront the possibility of an alien intelligence not in outer space but right here on earth.Thoughtful, richly detailed and deeply entertaining, Thousand Mile Song uses the enigma of whale sounds to open up whales' underwater world of sonic mystery. In observing and talking with leading researchers from around the globe as they attempt to decipher underwater music, Rothenberg tells the story of scientists and musicians confronting an unknown as vast as the ocean. His search culminates in a grand attempt to make interspecies music the likes of which no one has ever heard (until, that is, they listen to the accompanying CD), by playing his clarinet with whales in their native habitats from Russia to Canada to Hawaii.