Books With a Bite: A Shark Week Reading List 

You’ve heard its iconic score, but have you read the book? To kick off our list, we have to start with a classic of the shark genre. The book that inspired the 1975 Steven Spielberg film of the same name, Jaws is a thrilling story of a great white shark terrorizing the shores of Long Island. 

The great white shark is one of the most fearsome predators on earth, and yet humans have managed to decimate their populations through overfishing, pollution, and climate change. This is the enlightening — and thrilling — story of Dr. Greg Skomal’s search for a peaceful coexistence.

Paul de Gelder, an Australian navy clearance diver, was attacked by a shark and lost two limbs as a result. Rather than living in bitterness over the attack, in Shark, Paul works to raise awareness by advocating for their conservation and protection. 

With a jacket that could incite bone-chilling fear in anyone, Meg gives us a return to the fiction classics. The inspiration for a blockbuster movie starring Jason Statham, Meg tells the story of a marine paleontologist’s obsession with finding the prehistoric Carcharodon megalodon that he believes still wanders the deep. 

They survived what the dinosaurs couldn’t and they’re older than trees. Sharks tend to get a bad rap in pop culture, and conservationist William McKeever is determined to shed light on the crucial role sharks play in our world’s ecosystem.  

Did you know that sharks have superpowers? You will after reading John Long’s deep dive into one of Earth’s mightiest creatures. A scientist at the forefront of sharks’ history, Long delves into their staggering evolution and what people might be able to learn from them.