Deep Blue Home: An Intimate Ecology of Our Wild Ocean

From the Back Cover "Breathtakingly learned and lyrical." — National Geographic Traveler "Whitty mines the world’s miraculous underwater ecosystems to uncover the secrets — and life-sustaining powers — of the deep . . . Relevant — and heartbreaking." — More At the center of Deep Blue Home is Julia Whitty’s penetrating exploration of the World Ocean as a single body of water connected by a vast and powerful three-dimensional current circling the globe. This undivided body of water profoundly controls and is controlled by Earth’s climate; its fate determines our own. Whitty’s career — first in science, later as a documentary filmmaker, and always as a writer and diver — has given her sustained access to the scientists dedicated to the study of an astonishing range of ocean life, from the physiology of “extremophile” life forms to the strategies of nesting seabirds to the ecology of “whale falls,” or what happens in the afterlife of a behemoth. No stranger to extreme places, Whitty travels the oceanside and underwater world from the Sea of Cortez to Newfoundland to the Galápagos. Her book provides extraordinary armchair entrée to gripping adventure, cutting-edge science, and an intimate understanding of our deep blue home. “[Whitty] writes with humor, reverence, true curiosity and an unfettered imagination.” — Los Angeles Times Orion Book Award Finalist * Northern California Book Award Finalist Julia Whitty’s first book, The Fragile Edge, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal Award, the PEN USA Award, and the Kiriyama Prize. Her cover articles have appeared in Harper’s Magazine and Mother Jones, where she is the environmental correspondent. She blogs at Blue Marble and Deep Blue Home. Product Description At the center of Deep Blue Home—a penetrating exploration of the ocean as single vast current and of the creatures dependent on it—is Whitty’s description of the three-dimensional ocean river, far more powerful than the Nile or the Amazon, encircling the globe. It’s a watery force connected to the earth’s climate control and so to the eventual fate of the human race. Whitty’s thirty-year career as a documentary filmmaker and diver has given her sustained access to the scientists dedicated to the study of an astonishing range of ocean life, from the physiology of “extremophile” life forms to the strategies of nesting seabirds to the ecology of “whale falls” (what happens upon the death of a behemoth). No stranger to extreme adventure, Whitty travels the oceanside and underwater world from the Sea of Cortez to Newfoundland to Antarctica. In the Galapagos, in one of the book’s most haunting encounters, she realizes: “I am about to learn the answer to my long-standing question about what would happen to a person in the water if a whale sounded directly alongside—would she, like a person afloat beside a sinking ship, be dragged under too?” This book provides extraordinary armchair entree to gripping adventure, cutting-edge science, and an intimate understanding of our deep blue home.

Review

“A lovely, soft-spoken book about the ‘joy, inspiration, wonder, laughter, ideas’ that come from relating to Earth’s ‘nonhuman world.’” —Kirkus Review “Here is a writer of power and persuasion; one worthy of the Rachel Carson mantle. Whitty allows us to peer into the ecological web of the mysterious World Ocean, sharing her passion for the continuation of the ocean's life-essential fabric.” —Linda Lear, author of Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature “Rhythmic, poetic, transporting, and illuminating, this is the sacred memoir of a woman among islands of miracles, yearning with all her heart to be right where she is.” —Carl Safina, author of Song for the Blue Ocean, The View From Lazy Point “An illuminating exploration of the swirling currents connecting oceans, science, people, and history, bearing the reader on a unique voyage of discovery above and below the waves.” —Daniel Bennett, President of The Explorers Club —