In Oceans Deep

May 15, 2019
The story of humanity's presence in the deep sea, as told by diver and research biologist Streever (And Soon I Heard a Roaring Wind: A Natural History of Moving Air, 2016, etc.). "I wanted readers to embrace the part of our world that is shrouded by depth," writes the author at the beginning of this broad survey of "people underwater, about the challenges of getting there, being there, and returning to the surface." Writing in the conversational style that has marked his previous books, Streever begins with the 1960 descent of the Trieste submersible into the deepest of the ocean floors, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. It was a remarkable achievement, and the author rides the feat down--here is where scuba tanks implode, here is where the walls of a typical submarine would fail--to the bottom, where the pressure was measured at 16,883 pounds per square inch. This leads into a chapter on the all-consuming role of pressure on diving and its exertion not just on submersibles, but on the human body as well. The author, who lives aboard a cruising sailboat with his wife, offers a solid examination of the behavior of gases as one goes deeper under the waves. There is a smart chapter on breathing as the key to understanding diving, including exhale diving, apnea diving, and free diving. Regarding the last, during the ascent, the pressure in the lungs drops and oxygen in the tissues and blood flows back into the lungs, and the "diver may or may not notice the fading of consciousness." Although the author discusses the many joys of deep diving both in and out of submersibles, he also emphasizes the perils of going beyond your capabilities. These include everything from working for sustained periods in deep water and relying on exotic gas mixtures to prevent such events as nitrogen narcosis to the fortunes and follies of the first submarines. A buoyant, at times thrilling, account of the deep sea experience, perfect for divers and other lovers of life beneath the waves.

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May 27, 2019
Diver and biologist Streever (Cold: Adventures in the World’s Frozen Places) fascinatingly recounts humanity’s expeditions beneath the sea in this informative and personal chronicle. With a real knack for storytelling, Streever evocatively puts the reader in the helmets, flippers, and submersibles of sea explorers throughout history. He grippingly recounts the daring, seven-mile journey of Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard aboard their “ungainly submersible” Trieste to the deepest part of the ocean, the Challenger Deep, in 1960; only filmmaker James Cameron has returned to that point, meaning nine more people have gone to the moon than have visited the darkest depths of the ocean. Streever then examines the free diving of 19th-century Greek sponge collectors; the air pressure experiments of 17th-century chemist Robert Boyle; the advent of diving helmets, decompression chambers, and scuba gear; and the evolution of submarines, from the Revolutionary War–era Turtle, to the diesel-powered submarines of both World Wars, to today’s nuclear-powered behemoths. Streever also shares accounts of his time as an oil field diver and his current dabbling with free diving and operating undersea robots. Writing at the behest of his late father, “my first diving partner,” and concluding with a look at how diving contributes to ocean conservation, Streever crafts a book to be enjoyed by divers and general readers alike.

July 1, 2019

Streever (Cold) has intimate knowledge of working in the deep sea, as he was once employed as an oil field diver who assembled pipelines on the seabed. This imparted to him a love of the deep sea. In 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh journeyed seven miles down in the Trieste to the Challenger Deep, the deepest oceanic point on earth. This story serves as the jumping-off point for Streever's examination of the different ways that humans have explored the deep sea: from free diving to SCUBA to travel via submersibles and submarines. Streever not only documents the different ways humans have voyaged in the deep sea but also traces the research that first documented the root causes for decompression sickness. Concluding with what he sees as the future of deep-sea exploration--autonomous underwater vehicles--this fascinating history takes a wide-angled approach to the myriad ways humans have interacted with the ocean. VERDICT A compelling history of humans' investigations of the deep sea written in an engaging manner, this book is destined to be another best seller for Streever.--Diana Hartle, Univ. of Georgia Science Lib., Athens

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