The Brilliant Abyss

So comprehensive and insightful that it will be a long time before its surpassed It is hard to imagine a more timely or important book than The Brilliant Abyss. Carefully conceived and luminously written, it is certain to be a bestseller, which gives me hope that its urgent message might help save the world. * New Statesman * Scaless approach is enthralling and richly expressed and highlights how closely our lives depend on the deep. * Observer * Scaless great gift is for transmuting our awe at the wonders of the deep sea into a kind of quiet rage that they could soon be no more The deep, she argues, is too vulnerable, and too crucial to the working of the planet to blindly ransack. * New York Times Book Review * Accessible, enjoyable and written with infectious passion, this book is a compelling guide to a fascinating and often overlooked part of our planet. * The Week * Fascinating The Brilliant Abyss is a manifesto for change as much as it is a description of an ecological crisis. Its overall effect to insist that whats already down there matters, even or especially when it is hidden from our view. * New Republic * Helen Scales is one of those rare scientists who can capture the excitement of science. The Brilliant Abyss has a thrill on every page as she explores the deep and little known ocean. But this comes with a warning. Mans destruction is now reaching the remotest corners of the planet and our survival depends on stopping it. * Mark Kurlansky, author of Cod * Helen Scales explains why leaving the deep alone is so important play your part by arming yourself with the facts. * Coast magazine * Helen Scales beautiful account reveals the astonishing complexity and importance of the creatures of the abyss, to the planet and to us. * Callum Roberts, Professor of Marine Conservation and scientific advisor, BBC Blue Planet II *

Helen Scales is a marine biologist, diver, surfer, broadcaster and writer who's spent hundreds of hours underwater watching fish. A familiar voice for the oceans, she's pondered the mysteries of the deep sea with Robin Ince and Brian Cox on BBC Radio 4's The Infinite Monkey Cage and donated an imaginary tank of seahorses to The Museum of Curiosity. She's a regular writer for BBC Focus and BBC Wildlife magazines. Among her radio documentaries she's explored the dream of living underwater and followed the trail of endangered snails around the world and back again. @helenscales / helenscales.com

Prelude PART ONE: EXPLORE 1: Here is the Deep 2: The Whale and the Worm 3: Caught in a Jelly Web 4: In a Chemical World 5: Highs and Lows PART TWO: DEPEND 6: Deep Matters 7: Deep Cures PART THREE: EXPLOIT 8: Fishing Deep 9: The Eternal Junkyard 10: What's Mine is Yours PART FOUR: PRESERVE 11: Green vs Blue 12: A Sanctuary in the Deep Epilogue Acknowledgements Notes Additional Resources Index Plates