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Coral Whisperers focuses on coral scientists attempting to understand their world, both individually and as a community. The book is organized around their oscillation between hope and despair, with climate change playing an intensifying role for both approaches. The phrase“on the brink” in the book’s subtitle captures the sense of urgency and crisis that prevailed throughout my discussions with the scientists as they attempt to save both the corals and humanity from imminent death. The first part of the introduction outlines the high stakes of this project; the second part moves to discuss hope and despair and then briefly introduces the basics of coral biology and ecology. Finally, the introduction explores how thinking with corals may help us out of the mess we’re in and why the emotional layers in the work of coral scientists are just as meaningful as their analysis, if not more so. The introduction ends with an overview of the book’s structure.

Coral Whisperers is structured as a pendulum swinging between hope and despair. Chapter 1, “Coral Scientists between Hope and Despair,”explains the workings of this pendulum and the stakes involved. Relying considerably on my observations at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Hawai’i in June 2016, this chapter relates the intellectual and emotional debates betweenscientists about how to manage the impending catastrophe facing coral reefs. This chapter is, in many ways, a microcosm of the entire book, in that it depicts the oscillation between hope and despair and tells the stories of particular scientists who have experienced this oscillation themselves.

In chapter 3, “Nursing Corals Back to Life: Fragments of Hope,”the pendulum swings again, this time to document acts of hope by coral restoration scientists. Drawing on my visits to five coral nurseries—Culebra in the Caribbean, southern Israel, Honolulu, Coconut Island in Hawai’i, and the Florida Aquarium—this chapter explores the scientific, cultural, and emotional challenges facing restoration efforts and the criticisms directed toward this field from within the coral science community. While marginalized only a few years ago, coral restoration is becoming increasingly important to a growing number of scientists, who see it as a way to resist death through coral propagation. The coral nursery has assumed center stage in this process, and it emerges as part of broader attempts by restoration scientists to establish coral restoration as a science that is aligned with silviculture and restoration ecology. The coral nursery is finally compared to the coral farm, where corals are bred for the mariculture industry. Throughout, the chapter discusses the oftenfraught relationship between biologists, aquarists, and hobbyists, pointing to the importance of collaboration for coral survival.

Conservation is the art of cultivating—here, that means cultivating both corals and hope for the future. The book’s conclusion begins with a description of two art-science collaborations and then moves to review the main themes of the book. It highlights that alongside the story of correlation, complexity, and wonder, Coral Whisperers has also told another story: a story about the polarized state of the scientific community that studies corals. Coral scientists from around the world emerge here not only as harbingers of doom and as messengers of hope but also, perhaps more importantly, as humans facing an existential crisis. The conclusion ends with a discussion of the 2017 documentary Chasing Coral, emphasizing that the journey from ephemeral optimism that can’t besustained to deeper iterations of hope that emerge on the brink of despair and exasperation requires a leap of faith. In the midst of their enormous pain and loss, coral scientists emerge to guide conservationists—and us all—through the perils of the Anthropocene.