feynmaniac1729's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

ellabirt's review against another edition

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5.0

Great read! Super engaging, accessible, and covered so many topics! Loved it

jordyn_lightyear's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

haleymaas's review against another edition

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challenging informative slow-paced

3.5

disastersnail's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

goofymango's review against another edition

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adventurous informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

marlsog's review against another edition

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5.0

“Whenever I return to shore, it always takes time for the sea to let me go.”

I recently wanted to expand the genres of books I read and decided to pick this one up. As someone studying marine biology, I wanted to explore a part of the ocean I knew little about. This book is a great introduction to the abyss. Filled with anecdotes about zombie worms to yeti crabs to hydrothermal vents to seabed mining I was extremely invested in the science of the abyss. Halfway through I decided I need to read more of Scales books. I am 100% sure that I will be referencing this book in future assignments.

servicedawg's review

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dark informative sad medium-paced

4.0

We’re cooked. 

sabsteenwitch's review against another edition

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I just couldn’t get into it

jillianzacchia's review against another edition

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4.0

The Brilliant Abyss was both enlightening and devastating. It was my first ARC, and to prove I adored it, I highlighted 79 passages while reading.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
By: Dr, Helen Scales

The ARC reading experience was difficult because none of the sections or chapters were separated (it was one never ending chapter which is why it took me three months to read) and none of the beautiful images from the final novel were in the proof. I’m sure the final book will be much cleaner.

Synopsis:

Divided into 4 uneven parts, the first half, or part one, discusses the diverse and barely explored life of the creatures in the deep sea. This deep sea biologist focuses on describing, in beautiful detail, the creatures she’s had the pleasure of seeing (with a remote controlled submersible) specifically in and around seamounts (underwater mountains) and hydrothermal vents. For the first half of the book you learn about the delicate balance of marine life miles below the surface of the water.

Then we get to part two and realize that not only is it interesting, the deep sea is fundamental for the health of our society. The deep sea absorbs carbon, helping offset emissions, but more importantly, creatures living in the deep sea could hold the cure to countless diseases, including cancer.

When I got to part 3 and 4, I flew through the book in a day. It was soul crushing. She details the devastation of deep sea fishing for orange roughie, that could live up to 250 and only mate every 40. This population isn’t bouncing back. Even worse, whole ecosystems will be destroyed once deep sea mining projects go into effect, including delicate microbial communities that have taken millions of years to evolve. Animals we didn’t know existed until recently could go extinct.
The worst part, this is seen as a foregone conclusion. Without mining the sea we might not have enough metals to build the wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars we need to replace fossil fuels.

Her proposal, LEAVE THE DEEP ALONE and explore only for scientific research or to make health related discoveries. Recycle metals and keep working on reinventing green technologies to be less reliant on anything that needs to be mined.

If you are passionate about the environment and the ocean, and are able to get through highly scientific and academic passages, this book will definitely open your eyes.