Summary

In Chapter 9 "The Edge," MacFarlane travels to Andoya, an island in Norway, to meet a fisherman named Bjornar Nicolaisen who has played a large role in the fight against oil and gas drilling in the Barents Sea. In the opening sentences of the chapter readers meet Bjornar while he talks about his four pets: two cats and two sea eagles. Bjornar lets MacFarlane borrow a pair of Nazi-issue binoculars that his father acquired during WWII to observe the landscape. Through the binoculars, MacFarlane sees the throne set on the beach from which Bjornar feeds fish to sea eagles.

Bjnorar’s appearance unsettles MacFarlane slightly -- the fisherman has white blue eyes that make him look blind, huge arms and chest and often wears a raccoon pelt hat. MacFarlane stays in Bjnorar’s house and meets his wife, Ingrid, and their granddaughter, Sigrid, who he...