kodermike's review against another edition
4.0
A little dated in parts, this was my first foray into a Jacques Cousteau book. For me, Cousteau shined best in this book when recounting his own past. If I can find an autobiography by the man I'd love to read it - his life anecdotes read like a modern day Verne character. Active in WW2, then an explorer of the deeps and all the wonders therein.
draeprice's review against another edition
5.0
Really good chapters on the fishing industry, "Catch as Catch Can" and the nuclear industry, "The Hot Peace."
We should have listened to Jacques Cousteau decades ago.
We should have listened to Jacques Cousteau decades ago.
hollysbookadventure's review
There is very limited coverage of the explorations done by the author. This book is mainly a critique of captitialism, the government, and religious. All fine topics in their own right, but not what I wanted to listened to at this time. Dnf's around 40%
davidr's review
2.0
The book start out promisingly, like a memoir, with tales from Cousteau's fascinating life. Most of the tales are about his close brushes with death. Then the book changes course, and goes into the predations of humans on our environment. Very preachy. No positive approaches to saving the environment. A long rant against nuclear energy, but no mention of what should replace it. Toward the end of the book is a segue into philosophy. I expected better.
cwrite's review against another edition
3.0
Simultaneously depressing and important, Cousteau's book paints a picture of mankind's clumsy impact not just on the waters he explored, but the globe and its people.
gpare's review
5.0
one time, my brother did a project on jacques cousteau, meaning i had to do a project on jacques cousteau (because i am only slightly more focused than he and my mom made me), but i didn't mind this one because jacques cousteau is really really cool.
mondoweirdo's review
2.0
Oof, I came in looking for musings on exploration and the living world but things got off track somewhere amidst nuclear disarmament and bible quotations.
jayme's review
3.0
I really did enjoy this book, even though it was a bit of a mess. The introductory chapters to this edition were fantastic and reminded me why I loved Cousteau so much as a kid. What a badass pioneer of the sea!
Overall, it was published posthumously and co-written, so I think it suffered a bit in the editing and focus department. The first half of the book is fairly autobiographical, classic Cousteau kind of stuff, but then we launch into a pretty long diatribe about nuclear power and bombs with basically no segue. This is followed up by a great, but weird, philosophical, psychedelic chapter of "what if's" for the future. My favourite being the evolution of Homo aquaticus where we go back into the sea to live our best lives. My least favourite being the thought that if we were immortal our children would become even more useless, with a 15,000-year parental commitment required. What's left of my ovaries just shrivelled up at the thought.
I think I'd like to follow this up with his more classic [b:The Silent World|612512|The Silent World|Jacques-Yves Cousteau|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1540352210l/612512._SY75_.jpg|598968]. So maybe this particular book is not a must-read for anyone, but fans of Cousteau will still enjoy it. I did.
Overall, it was published posthumously and co-written, so I think it suffered a bit in the editing and focus department. The first half of the book is fairly autobiographical, classic Cousteau kind of stuff, but then we launch into a pretty long diatribe about nuclear power and bombs with basically no segue. This is followed up by a great, but weird, philosophical, psychedelic chapter of "what if's" for the future. My favourite being the evolution of Homo aquaticus where we go back into the sea to live our best lives. My least favourite being the thought that if we were immortal our children would become even more useless, with a 15,000-year parental commitment required. What's left of my ovaries just shrivelled up at the thought.
I think I'd like to follow this up with his more classic [b:The Silent World|612512|The Silent World|Jacques-Yves Cousteau|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1540352210l/612512._SY75_.jpg|598968]. So maybe this particular book is not a must-read for anyone, but fans of Cousteau will still enjoy it. I did.
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