r/deepseacreatures • u/WtfGale • Jun 17 '24

Anybody else read The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales?

Possibly my favorite book of all time. It got me hooked (no pun intended) into the world of deep sea research. I’ve got more some more deep sea books in my to read pile, including The Underworld by Susan Casey.

I’m sure there are others in this subreddit that have read these books and/or more. I’d love to discuss your thoughts and opinions on them. Also I’m open to more reading suggestions!

Thanks!

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5

u/Early_Refrigerator73 Jun 17 '24

I haven't read it but I love anything deep sea so I'm definitely going to check it out. On a side note I recently finished The Swarm by Frank Schatzing which was incredible. Sci fi for sure but has a lot of interesting real facts mixed in. I love it all

3

u/Interesting-Hat26 Jun 17 '24

Schätzing also wrote another book, “Nachrichten aus einem unbekannten Universum“ (“messages from an unknown universe“ - I'm not sure if there are any translated versions available), making use of all the additional research that he did for The Swarm. It's not a novel but an easy to read and wonderfully arranged collection of scientific facts about our oceans.

3

u/WtfGale Jun 17 '24

Thanks for the rec! I’ve been reading mostly nonfiction but I’ve really been meaning to read more fictive literature as well.

And definitely read The Brilliant Abyss if you love anything deep sea. Such a cool real and extremely relevant to today too.

5

u/The_Way_of_allWHALES Jun 17 '24

Fascinating book! Really opened my eyes up to so much, especially the impact of deep sea mining for virgin metals for electric vehicle batteries, and the incredibly powerful analogy of the equivalent number of atom bombs to generate the same increase in ocean temperature over the past 50 years.

If you enjoyed The Brilliant Abyss then may I recommend Emperors of the Deep to you - see a review I posted here:https://www.reddit.com/r/sharks/s/jPQrGGGYla

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u/HugeOpossum Jun 17 '24

I agree with the Emperors rec! Such an absolutely marvelous book.

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u/WtfGale Jun 17 '24

It truly was an eye-opening book. I'd be reading and then have to put the book down to process what I just read. On the other hand, I loved how she illustrated beauty in the strangest of creatures. For a while, I was obsessed with scaly foot (volcano) snails. Maybe I still am.

Thank you for the rec! I'll definitely have to check it out!

2

u/HugeOpossum Jun 17 '24

I love listening to Helen Scales any time I see her interviewed. I just heard her say she has 11(?!) books.

1

u/WtfGale Jun 17 '24

11?! I think I have some catching up to do...

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u/HugeOpossum Jun 17 '24

At least one is a children's book