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A review by archytas
Deep Water: The World in the Ocean by James Bradley
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Bradley almost fools you, in the early part of this excellent book, into thinking that this is going to be a series of science essays on oceanography and associated topics. Chapters on fish and sea mammals, currents and flows, are engaging and intriguing but seem largely stand-alone. A hint, however, comes when Bradley talks of the duality of swimming, "a sense in which we are simultaneously contained within our bodies and part of something far larger." And so, gradually, he warms us into a bigger, holistic story of what is happening to our planet and how both human activity and ecosystems cannot be seen as isolated or local systems.
The book is tremendously researched. I could quibble (and of course I am) about the lack of hyperlinking of the referenced sections in the ebook, but the references are clearly laid out for those who want to know more, and the breadth Bradley covers is staggering. From fish farming, to cobalt mining, to eco-shipping, plastics pollution, fish cognition, whale singing, turtle navigation, artic ice development and melt, human migration, krill lifecycles, deep sea trench worlds, coral bleaching and reef recovery and global supply chain evolution are all topics covered in depth and with thought. The book is such a delight to read, with easy, accessible prose and a wealth of curiousity-driven findings to share. The picture builds to a total view, a coherent story about what is indivisible, even as each corner has beauty to see in the detail as well as the whole.
What emerges is slightly terrifying, no matter how much warming up Bradley attempts to do. This is possibly the most comprehensive summary of what the Anthropocene actually looks like that I have read. And it isn't pretty. Because he focuses on systems, Bradley also highlights things that are hard to change. It is easier, for example, to build a "green" ship than to dismantle global manufacturing of disposable products which only a fraction of the world can afford. Still, Bradley highlights that there is little sustainability without the latter. He relentlessly reports the ever-worsening picture of temperature rise, ice melt, and tipping points that we never knew existed until we passed them.
This is not a sensationalist book, and Bradley is also careful to highlight the adaptability and resilience of both oceans and their inhabitants, and indeed of humans. From biologists breeding more heat-tolerant coral to cobalt recycling and the growing opposition to deep ocean mining, he paints a picture of many hues. And perhaps most importantly, his love of the ocean expressed through research and shared knowledge reminds us, as he concludes, "however much is lost, there is still more to save."
The book is tremendously researched. I could quibble (and of course I am) about the lack of hyperlinking of the referenced sections in the ebook, but the references are clearly laid out for those who want to know more, and the breadth Bradley covers is staggering. From fish farming, to cobalt mining, to eco-shipping, plastics pollution, fish cognition, whale singing, turtle navigation, artic ice development and melt, human migration, krill lifecycles, deep sea trench worlds, coral bleaching and reef recovery and global supply chain evolution are all topics covered in depth and with thought. The book is such a delight to read, with easy, accessible prose and a wealth of curiousity-driven findings to share. The picture builds to a total view, a coherent story about what is indivisible, even as each corner has beauty to see in the detail as well as the whole.
What emerges is slightly terrifying, no matter how much warming up Bradley attempts to do. This is possibly the most comprehensive summary of what the Anthropocene actually looks like that I have read. And it isn't pretty. Because he focuses on systems, Bradley also highlights things that are hard to change. It is easier, for example, to build a "green" ship than to dismantle global manufacturing of disposable products which only a fraction of the world can afford. Still, Bradley highlights that there is little sustainability without the latter. He relentlessly reports the ever-worsening picture of temperature rise, ice melt, and tipping points that we never knew existed until we passed them.
This is not a sensationalist book, and Bradley is also careful to highlight the adaptability and resilience of both oceans and their inhabitants, and indeed of humans. From biologists breeding more heat-tolerant coral to cobalt recycling and the growing opposition to deep ocean mining, he paints a picture of many hues. And perhaps most importantly, his love of the ocean expressed through research and shared knowledge reminds us, as he concludes, "however much is lost, there is still more to save."