The Underworld – Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean is a, pardon the pun, deep dive into deep dives.
I don't read a lot of nonfiction, but I picked this up after seeing is recommended and used as a source for the Last Week Tonight episode about Deep Sea Mining shortly after seeing Rebecca Watson talk about it on the topic of "why another billionaire wanting to dive to the Titanic is a good thing, actually, and we shouldn't wish for them to implode".
The book is captivating and thrilling throughout, and I repeatedly found myself googling the aquatic animals, deep sea vent sites, submarines and people mentioned. I have little patience for sitting down with a nonfiction book, but I listened to the audiobook narrated by the author herself and can highly recommend it.
I found myself pausing the audiobook to google "commercial deep sea submarine diving". Alas, the book itself later mentions that the price tag for a cruise with Victor Vescovo was about 750k, before he sold the submarine. Not quite in my range of affordability yet.
I'm wondering if the book had that same effect on other readers: I was completely gripped by everyone's desire to explore the deep, joined in their upset at the seeming lack of interest by e.g. the US government to fund this science. It's one of those cases where I learn about a topic and the moment I do I go "hey wait why aren't more people talking about this???"
The book is leaving me with a desire for more and I wonder where best to get that more. Is there a deep sea fandom I can join? Subreddits, YouTube channels, social media accounts that I can follow if I want to keep an eye on this field? To learn what the now Gabe-Newell owned deep sea vessel formerly known as the Limiting Factor will discover next, and what whack sea creatures we'll continue to find?
Also just looking for more people to talk about the book, because I wasn't able to find much discussion about it so far!
I should also book my next scuba diving holiday, admittedly.
by AliceTheGamedev