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cecile87's review
4.0
I find the reviews here amazing as I don’t think any of them addressed the topic of race and white hubris that was rather noticeable in this book.
The white tribe is considered the norm, I know. But this book featured the casual cruelty and monstrosity of the male white-bodied creature; the “unneighborly savage,” as they would call those from other cultures or other skin colors. The author did say Beebe and his contemporaries were men of their times, but he didn’t let them off the hook.
Their self-proclaimed, self-serving pseudo-science of gender and racial superiority has left them, as the author described, with a lot of blood on their hands. True to this day, in fact. Blood, and some feces, too.
But Beebe, bless him, had an inner life full of introspection. He still had his tics, but having been exposed, in all his adventures, to so many different kinds of people and personalities, he questioned his right to judge and feel superior to others, many of whom made his life safer or better in some way. He even went on to sign some official declaration, alongside black leaders of the day, asking that racial discrimination be ended in this country.
Apparently, he had even mused that his friend Grant, who promoted “euthanasia “ and birth control in a book Hitler used as a bible—if his friend had left his insular fear-based world and got to know others, maybe even get attached to some—he could have avoided causing misery on a grand scale. Maybe geniuses of all stripes could have thrived to enhance the common good.
I picked up this book to learn about deep sea exploration after the recent destruction of the carbon-coated, salt water intolerant Titan—an interesting display of white male hubris, to say the least. The typical WMIC of everything mentality.
And not only were sea creatures scooped out of their environment, where they sparkled, to die unadorned by the magic of their luminescence, we learn of the Inuits and the Pygmy who were scooped out of theirs which ultimately led to their deaths.
At first, I had no idea what I’d gotten myself into. The author’s gaze here, however, is woke. I embrace the term “woke.” I will not let greedy extremist jackasses try to diminish this life affirming skill set and point of view.
The writing is crisp and lovely. Once I immersed myself, I could ride with all of the history and the deep dives. So much is packed in this small amazing book.
We learn about the amazing women scientists and they, too, were disenfranchised by the white capitalist patriarchal hegemony. Fortunately, their resilience served them well. I just wish resiliency wasn’t needed to deal with our suffocating, murderous patriarchy.
Why did white-bodied men need to call them girl scientists? No other way to feel manly? Or just stingy like a toddler? Why decide it’s manly to shoot innocent animals for fun and games when you just want to be destructive and believe you have power even over Mother Earth? We are all feeling the pain of that myth right now.
Anyway, an amazing book that took me places I had no idea it would take me.
The white tribe is considered the norm, I know. But this book featured the casual cruelty and monstrosity of the male white-bodied creature; the “unneighborly savage,” as they would call those from other cultures or other skin colors. The author did say Beebe and his contemporaries were men of their times, but he didn’t let them off the hook.
Their self-proclaimed, self-serving pseudo-science of gender and racial superiority has left them, as the author described, with a lot of blood on their hands. True to this day, in fact. Blood, and some feces, too.
But Beebe, bless him, had an inner life full of introspection. He still had his tics, but having been exposed, in all his adventures, to so many different kinds of people and personalities, he questioned his right to judge and feel superior to others, many of whom made his life safer or better in some way. He even went on to sign some official declaration, alongside black leaders of the day, asking that racial discrimination be ended in this country.
Apparently, he had even mused that his friend Grant, who promoted “euthanasia “ and birth control in a book Hitler used as a bible—if his friend had left his insular fear-based world and got to know others, maybe even get attached to some—he could have avoided causing misery on a grand scale. Maybe geniuses of all stripes could have thrived to enhance the common good.
I picked up this book to learn about deep sea exploration after the recent destruction of the carbon-coated, salt water intolerant Titan—an interesting display of white male hubris, to say the least. The typical WMIC of everything mentality.
And not only were sea creatures scooped out of their environment, where they sparkled, to die unadorned by the magic of their luminescence, we learn of the Inuits and the Pygmy who were scooped out of theirs which ultimately led to their deaths.
At first, I had no idea what I’d gotten myself into. The author’s gaze here, however, is woke. I embrace the term “woke.” I will not let greedy extremist jackasses try to diminish this life affirming skill set and point of view.
The writing is crisp and lovely. Once I immersed myself, I could ride with all of the history and the deep dives. So much is packed in this small amazing book.
We learn about the amazing women scientists and they, too, were disenfranchised by the white capitalist patriarchal hegemony. Fortunately, their resilience served them well. I just wish resiliency wasn’t needed to deal with our suffocating, murderous patriarchy.
Why did white-bodied men need to call them girl scientists? No other way to feel manly? Or just stingy like a toddler? Why decide it’s manly to shoot innocent animals for fun and games when you just want to be destructive and believe you have power even over Mother Earth? We are all feeling the pain of that myth right now.
Anyway, an amazing book that took me places I had no idea it would take me.
carkid2's review
slow-paced
0.5
If you don’t care about deep sea fish and want to learn about how racists zoos, movies and people can be this is the book for you.
euphorbiamilii's review
5.0
Absolutely loved this poetic dive into the depths of the ocean, the people who first ventured there in a tiny sphere, and the context in which they did it. The dive logs are mesmerizing— I could imagine William Beebe telling Gloria Hollister what he sees through thousands of feet of water, the indescribable, and the words are both love for each other and for the unknown becoming still alien but a little more knowable.
accidentalspaceexplorer's review
I got this from one of those blind dates with a book things and if it had been a date I would have walked out within the first hour. It's like it's only half the book - random snippets of content will be thrown together with no context or transitions. I quit after Chapter 3, titled Sinking Lower, which consisted of:
- One page of a dive log
- A five page story about one of the main scientists and his wife studying pheasants
- A three page story about the same guy and his relationship with Teddy Roosevelt
- A page of poetic fragments about nature during the guy's time in WWI?
There were no transitions between any of these whatsoever.
If I am reading nonfiction, it does not have to tell me a story. It does, however, have to tell me what the point of the book is, and why I should care. This one doesn't do either.
If I am reading nonfiction, it does not have to tell me a story. It does, however, have to tell me what the point of the book is, and why I should care. This one doesn't do either.
krobart's review
4.0
See my review here:
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2023/12/18/review-2284-the-bathysphere-book-effects-of-the-luminous-ocean-depths/
https://whatmeread.wordpress.com/2023/12/18/review-2284-the-bathysphere-book-effects-of-the-luminous-ocean-depths/
abomine's review
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Beautifully written, but a little unfocused (ex: here's a vignette about William Beebe's father's uncle's stepbrother's cousin's baby sister's former roommate. What does this have to do with the bathysphere or the history of deep sea exploration? Absolutely nothing). Still, I enjoyed this and it got me emotional thinking about the Untouchable Bathysphere Fish again.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexism, Misogyny, and Racism