Novels like Jaws satisfy two requirements: They entertain, and they inform.

While Benchley's later books are better written than Jaws, his prose style never measures up to high literary standards.

A discussion might attempt to analyze why his books are popular. How are they calculated to reach a wide, appreciative audience?

Benchley is genuinely concerned about what is happening to the once abundant life of the world's oceans.

His later works defend the right of even the terrible predators to exist. Is our species so important that we can justify the wholesale slaughter of dolphins, sharks, and whales? Benchley's 2190 sea stories are fun to read, but also seriously present ocean life in all of its diversity.

1. Benchley began his career as a writer of articles on diving and deep sea creatures. Jaws is his first work of fiction. In the novel he mixes fictional characters and...