Description
Book SynopsisThe deep sea is the last, vast wilderness on the planet. This is the story of how we imagine, explore and exploit it. For centuries, myth-makers and storytellers have concocted imaginary monsters of the deep, and now scientists are looking there to find bizarre, unknown species, chemicals to make new medicines, and to gain a greater understanding of how this world of ours works. With an average depth of 12,000 feet and chasms that plunge much deeper, it forms a frontier for new discoveries.
The Brilliant Abyss tells the story of our relationship with the deep sea how we imagine, explore and exploit it. It captures the golden age of discovery we are currently in and looks back at the history of how we got here, while also looking forward to the unfolding new environmental disasters that are taking place miles beneath the waves, far beyond the public gaze. Throughout history, there have been two distinct groups of deep-sea explorers. Both have sought knowledge but with dif
Trade ReviewSo comprehensive and insightful that it will be a long time before it’s surpassed … It is hard to imagine a more timely or important book than
The Brilliant Abyss. Carefully conceived and luminously written, it is certain to be a bestseller, which gives me hope that its urgent message might help save the world. * New Statesman *
Scales’s approach is
enthralling and richly expressed and highlights how closely our lives depend on the deep. * Observer *
Scales’s great gift is for transmuting our awe at the wonders of the deep sea into a kind of quiet rage that they could soon be no more … The deep, she argues, is too vulnerable, and too crucial to the working of the planet to blindly ransack. * New York Times Book Review *
Accessible, enjoyable and written with infectious passion, this book is a
compelling guide to a fascinating and often overlooked part of our planet. * The Week *
Fascinating …
The Brilliant Abyss is
a manifesto for change as much as it is a description of an ecological crisis. Its overall effect – to insist that what’s already down there matters, even or especially when it is hidden from our view. * New Republic *
Helen Scales is
one of those rare scientists who can capture the excitement of science.
The Brilliant Abyss has a thrill on every page as she explores the deep and little known ocean. But this comes with a warning. Man’s destruction is now reaching the remotest corners of the planet and our survival depends on stopping it. * Mark Kurlansky, author of Cod *
Helen Scales explains why leaving the deep alone is so important – play your part by arming yourself with the facts. * Coast magazine *
Helen Scales’ beautiful account reveals the astonishing complexity and importance of the creatures of the abyss, to the planet and to us. * Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation and scientific advisor, BBC Blue Planet II *
Table of ContentsPrelude PART ONE: EXPLORE 1: Here is the Deep 2: The Whale and the Worm 3: Caught in a Jelly Web 4: In a Chemical World 5: Highs and Lows PART TWO: DEPEND 6: Deep Matters 7: Deep Cures PART THREE: EXPLOIT 8: Fishing Deep 9: The Eternal Junkyard 10: What's Mine is Yours PART FOUR: PRESERVE 11: Green vs Blue 12: A Sanctuary in the Deep Epilogue Acknowledgements Notes Additional Resources Index Plates
