In Oceans Deep

Courage, Innovation, and Adventure Beneath the Waves

By: Bill Streever

Narrated by: Jay Snyder

Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

In the spirit of Bill Bryson and Ian Frazier comes this fascinating examination of our past, present, and future beneath the waves.

In an age of unprecedented exploration and innovation, our oceans remain largely unknown, and endlessly fascinating: full of mystery, danger, beauty, and inspiration. Bill Streever - a longtime deep-sea diver himself - has masterfully woven together the science and history of Earth's last remaining frontier: the sea. 

In Oceans Deep celebrates the daring pioneers who tested the limits of what the human body can endure under water: free divers able to reach 300 feet on a single breath; engineers and scientists who uncovered the secrets of decompression; teenagers who built their own diving gear from discarded boilers and garden hoses in the 1930s; saturation divers who lived under water for weeks at a time in the 1960s; and the trailblazing men who voluntarily breathed experimental gases at pressures sufficient to trigger insanity.

Tracing both the little-known history and exciting future of how we travel and study the depths, Streever's captivating journey includes 17th-century leather-hulled submarines, their nuclear-powered descendants, a workshop where luxury submersibles are built for billionaire clients, and robots capable of roving unsupervised between continents, revolutionizing access to the ocean. 

In this far-flung trip to the wild, night-dark place of shipwrecks, trapped submariners, oil wells, innovative technologies, and people willing to risk their lives while challenging the deep, we discover all the adventures our seas have to offer - and why they are in such dire need of conservation.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Bill Streever (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic Reviews

"Science, history, and personal adventure come together in a wild and witty exploration of wind. When Streever deals with a natural phenomenon, he does so with aplomb...[he] has a knack for blending his research and personal experience into an easy-to-read account that is hard to put down." (Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"With a real knack for storytelling, Streever evocatively puts the reader in the helmets, flippers, and submersibles of sea explorers throughout history...Streever crafts a book to be enjoyed by divers and general readers alike." (Publishers Weekly)

"Clear prose animated by deadpan humor and enthusiasm for all things meteorological.... Streever absorbingly explains the processes that make air move...." (Publishers Weekly)

Boring

All about breathing under water. I thought it would be about what occurs under the sea. If you are a professional diver, it would be helpful. Otherwise a waste of my time. The title of the book is misleading. It should be Diving and Breathing.

Astounding

With minimal experience in SCUBA, and reverent appreciation for the oceans, I was interested by the title and cover art. I couldn't have imagined how fascinating and gripping this book would be. The author shares the joys and pains, triumphs, frustrations and amusing anecdotes of his own career and personal life inseparably connected to the deep oceans. But interwoven throughout this anthology of the deep sea intrepid, are fascinating histories, feats of unimaginable risk and courage, and occasional tragic failures. The science and technology of various military, commercial and recreational subsurface craft are explored. A truly gripping and fascinating work that was at the same time sad and uplifting, but also thoroughly inspiring.

Good one

narrator excellent.
I didn't like the lack of metric system. many audiobooks have both mentioned.

Terrific story

Thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading this great book. Highly recommend you read it soon.