Book Review: Deep
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
By Clara Moskowitz
On supporting science journalism
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Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves
by James Nestor
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014
Initially a skeptic, journalist Nestor quickly became enthralled by the extreme sport of freediving, whereby humans plunge hundreds of feet into the sea without the aid of oxygen or sophisticated equipment. The result of his investigation into freediving, among the most dangerous adventure sports in the world, is this mediation on humans' relationship to the ocean, “the last truly quiet place on Earth.” Nestor meets a diversity of freedivers who are drawn to the sea for many reasons—some for the glory of record breaking, some for the escape they find in the depths, and a surprising number of maverick scientists who freedive “because it's the most direct and intimate way to connect with the ocean.”
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