"Mesmerizing . . . Original & often profound, [The Bathysphere Book] is a moving testament to the wonders of exploration." —Publishers WeeklyA wide ranging, philosophical, & sensual account of early deep sea exploration & its afterlives,The Bathysphere Bookbegins with the first ever voyage to the deep ocean in 1930 & expands to explore the adventures & entanglements of its all-too-human participants at a time when the world still felt entirely new.In the summer of1930, aboard a ship floating near theAtlanticisland ofNonsuch, marine biologistGloria Hollistersat on a crate, writing furiously in a notebook with a telephone receiver pressed to her ear. The phone line was attached to a steel cable that plunged 3,000 feet into the sea. There, suspended by the cable, dangled a four-and-a-half-foot steel ball called the bathysphere. Crumpled inside, gazing through three-inch quartz windows at the undersea world, wasHollister’scolleagueWilliam Beebe. He called up to her, describing previously unseen creatures, explosions of bioluminescence, & strange effects of light & color.From this momentous first encounter with the unknown depths,The Bathysphere Bookwidens its scope to explore a transforming & deeply paradoxicalAmerica, as the first great skyscrapers rose aboveNew York City& theGreat Plainsbaked to dust. In prose that is magical, atmospheric, & entirely engrossing,Brad Foxdramatizes new visions of our planetary home, delighting in tales of the colorful characters who surrounded, supported, & participated in the dives—from groundbreaking scientists & gallivanting adventurers to eugenicist billionaires.