Home › Books › The Brilliant Abyss: Exploring the Majestic Hidde…
The Brilliant Abyss: Exploring the Majestic Hidden Life of the Deep Ocean, and the Looming Threat That Imperils It
by
66/99
Critics' Rating Index
49/99
Readers' Rating Index
n/a
Scholars' Citation Index
77/99
Volume of Reviews
64/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
About This Book
A marine biologist vividly brings alive the extraordinary ecosystem of the deep ocean—a realm about which we know less than we do about the Moon—and shows how protecting rather than exploiting it will benefit mankind. "The oceans have always shaped human lives," writes marine biologist Helen Scales in her vibrant new book, The Brilliant Abyss, but the surface and the very edges have so far mattered the most. "However, one way or another, the future ocean is the deep ocean." A golden era of deep-sea discovery is underway. Revolutionary studies in the deep are rewriting the very notion of life on Earth and the rules of what is possible. In the process, the abyss is being revealed as perhaps the most amazing part of our planet, with a topography even more varied and extreme than its Earthbound counterpart. Teeming with unsuspected life, an extraordinary interconnected ecosystem deep below the waves has a huge effect on our daily lives, influencing climate and weather systems, with the potential for much more—good or bad depending on how it is exploited. Currently the fantastic creatures that live in the deep—many of them incandescent in a world without light—and its formations capture and trap vast quantities of carbon that would otherwise poison our atmosphere; and novel bacteria as yet undiscovered hold the promise of potent new medicines. Yet the deep also holds huge mineral riches lusted after by many nations and corporations; mining them could ultimately devastate the planet, compounded by the deepening impacts of ubiquitous pollutants and rampant overfishing. Eloquently and passionately, Helen Scales brings to life the majesty and mystery of an alien realm that nonetheless sustains us, while urgently making clear the price we could pay if it is further disrupted. The Brilliant Abyss is at once a revelation and a clarion call to preserve this vast unseen world.
Reviews
"It's also a celebration of the ocean's strange beauty."
"a manifesto for change as much as it is a description of an ecological crisis."
"A fascinating international glimpse of Earth's last frontier that will draw in readers concerned for the health of our oceans."
"With plenty of scientific research to back her up, the author displays legitimate concerns about a wide variety of maladies ..."
"Scales concludes with a convincing plea for creating 'a sanctuary in the deep,' an international agreement in which the unexplored depths of the ocean are protected from industry, but open to science."
"enthralling and richly expressed and highlights how closely our lives depend on the deep ..."
"Scales's conceit — of traveling aboard a research vessel for a couple of weeks in the Gulf of Mexico — feels a bit thin...She never physically ventures into the abyss ..."
Preview
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!