I’m a science journalist and speculative fiction writer on Canada’s west coast.

My debut book, Sing Like Fish, is available now from most major sellers and local bookstores!

SING LIKE FISH: How Sound rules life under water

(Longlisted for the Carnegie Award)

For centuries, humans ignored sound in the “silent world” of the ocean, assuming that what we couldn’t perceive, didn’t exist.

But we couldn’t have been more wrong.

Finally, we can trace how sounds travel with the currents, bounce from the seafloor and surface, bend with the temperature and even saltiness; how sounds help marine life survive; and how human noise can transform entire marine ecosystems.

Praise for Sing Like Fish:

“Amorina Kingdon's Sing Like Fish is that rare book that makes you see the world differently, at least the two-thirds that is ocean. For someone like me, who has always loved and tried to understand the sea, this fascinating book makes you feel closer to the life that is teeming there.” —Mark Kurlansky, New York Times Bestselling Author of Salt and Cod

“Those of us of a certain age grew up on Jacques Cousteau’s mischaracterization of the ocean as a “silent world.” Those growing up now come to an age of too much ocean noise from shipping, oil exploration, and military training. But for millions of years the ocean has been a place of sound and communication among creatures beyond number or comprehension. Luckily for us, in this wondrous book Amorina Kingdon skillfully conveys the aural textures and messaging that fills the vast liquid world within our world.” –Carl Safina, New York Times Bestselling Author of Alfie and Me

“In lively, urgent, and sometimes humorous prose, Kingdon describes fish that drum, grunt, moan — and fart — to communicate. Baby coral can detect the sound of a reef and move toward it. But human noise pollution, from shipping lanes to seismic exploration, is threatening the ability of underwater creatures to communicate just as we start to understand and appreciate the complex songs of the oceans.” —Cat Warren, author of the New York Times bestseller What the Dog Knows: Scent, Science, and the Amazing Ways Dogs Perceive the World.

“Sing Like Fish is brilliant, poetic and poignant. Kingdon opens a world of sound to her readers that most will never hear themselves—for how many of us carry hydrophones to drop into a sea or lake so we can eavesdrop on the fish? How many of us knew fish were singing in the watery depths or that coral reefs are some of the loudest places on our planet, continually rocked by the near-deafening pops of snapping shrimp? […] May we celebrate this underwater symphony, not destroy it.” —Virginia Morell, author of New York Times bestseller, Animal Wise: How We Know Animals Think and Feel

“Amorina Kingdon’s perspective-changing book about sound in the sea is certain to make an enormous splash! Yes, there's whale song, but like a sound wave this book ripples outward, showing how critical the soundscape is to the smallest and most foundational animals as well.” –Juli Berwald, author of SPINELESS: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone

“Sing like Fish reveals what the limits of human ears silence. Splendid and surprising voices beneath the waves are singing of longing and hunger and love, and who knows what else. This book is a revelation! I loved it!” –Sy Montgomery, New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness