The Bathysphere Book

Effects of the Luminous Ocean Depths

By: Brad Fox

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Hardcover | 3 October 2023

At a Glance

Hardcover
384 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
24 x 15.5 x 3.5

Hardcover

RRP $49.99

$42.75

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A luminous and original account of the Bathysphere expeditions: the first ever deep-sea voyage to the otherworldly terrain more than 3000ft below sea level

11 June, 1930. On a ship floating near the Atlantic island of Nonsuch, a curious steel ball is lowered 3000ft into the sea. Crumpled up inside, gazing through the three-inch thick quartz windows, sits the famed zoologist William Beebe. With uncontrollable excitement, he watches as bizarre, never-before-seen creatures drift out of the inky blackness, illuminated by explosions of bioluminescence, bathing in the strange blue light of the deep sea - the bluest blue he has ever experienced.Beebe's dives took place against the backdrop of a transforming and paradoxical America, home of ground-breaking scientists, outmoded adventurers and eugenicist billionaires. Yet under the ocean's crushing pressure, narratives of scientific discovery and exploration slowly disintegrate; the colour spectrum shatters into new dimensions; organisms thrive in defiance of conventional understanding.The Bathysphere Book blurs the line between research and poetry to travel deep into the mind of William Beebe and his colleagues - and from this, towards the very edges of scientific discovery.

Industry Reviews

'Brad Fox knows that the descent into the deep meant a sea-change not just in science, but in aesthetics, philosophy, the sense of what it is to be human. All have been changed, become rich and strange, as this rich, strange book shows so beautifully' - China Mieville, author of 'The City in the City' and 'Perdido Street Station'

'A work of vaulting ambition, wonder, and peerless technique, with startling ideas and insights on every page, The Bathysphere Book is an exhilarating read and one of the best things I've read in years. Its reckoning with ecology - its refusal to ignore the legions of animal life humanity is tangled up in - is shiveringly exciting, important, and new.' - Martin MacInnes, author of In Ascension and Infinite Ground

'A breathtaking book, full of suspense, revelation, and beauty. Masterful!' - Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus

'Brad Fox blends excursions into science, history, colour theory, sea exploration and language to weave together a genre-defying book about oceans that is imbued with intelligence, curiosity and wonder.' - Joanna Pocock, author of Surrender

'Brad Fox has created a brilliant work of literary art-at once almanac and seance, wonder-cabinet and hallucinogen. The vigor, pluck, and compression of his language turn a linear chronicle into a time-bending, gem-laden constellation, with surprising flashes of wit, gossip, and melodrama' - Wayne Koestenbaum, author of 'Ultramarine' and 'The Cheerful Scapegoat'

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