Customer Reviews

The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Thanks to all who have made such enthusiastic comments about the book, I am very touched but I want to make a specific point about the computer-generated images : it was indeed a mistake in the first print run not to mention that they were "fake" images (there are only 5 of such out of 220 pictures) but they are absolutely mentioned as such in the credits at the end. Also, in the second printrun, the correction was thoroughly integrated so a lot of you who are now buying the book will not be concerned by this comment because the images are now identified as computer-generated.

I'm sorry about this error but it was fixed as soon as we realized it so actually only a few copies are concerned, I hope it won't stop anyone from enjoying the rest of the images made by extremely dedicated and talented researchers.
Best, Claire Nouvian

Growing up I had tropical (fresh-water) fishtanks. When I got older, I graduated to marine (salt water) tanks. I was, and am, facinated by the creatures that live there, especially "reef" tanks that house the stranger life forms like invertebrates and corals. I eventually took up diving, mostly because it was the only way I could be "inside" my tanks.

"The Deep" is an astonishingly GORGEOUS compilation of the most incredible, other-worldly creatures that inhabit the oceans. THIS is what thrilled me, and still does, about underwater life: it is the closest you will ever get to being on an entirely different planet!

This book is great in two ways. The visuals and the idea that you are even looking at these creatures which until recently have been hidden from the world.

There should be no complaints about this book. One, the computer generated images are probably put together by massive information collected on each one of these creatures. It's not something that was "made up" or "fake". So yea, you are seeing something computer generated but you are at least seeing a true depiction of it.

I think its a great book. I love the photography and the layout of it. I am afraid of the water for these specific reasons, because there is much that we do not know about our oceans. And this just brings us a bit closer to understanding some of the creatures that inhabit it.

Great Book.

XXXXX

Where would you find these?

(1) Gorgon's head
(2) Fangtooth
(3) Pigbutt worm
(4) Black medusa
(5) Radiolarians

Possible answers: In outer space? On the Earth's surface? In a horror movie? On a farm? In an electronics store?

Correct answer: these are the names of creatures found in the abyss. (Technically, the abyss is a particular zone of the oceans extending 3000 to 6000 meters in depth. This term is also used to designate the deep oceans overall.)

You will find photographs of the five creatures indicated above and the pictures of many more deep ocean creatures in this stunningly beautiful book by Claire Nouvian, a journalist, producer, and film director who has travelled the world for more than a decade, filming wildlife for French and international television.

The book has photographs with captions (its main feature) interweaved with text. The contents of the book is divided into two parts:

(I) Life in the water column (meaning life in the water above the seafloor)
(II) Life at the bottom (meaning life on the seafloor or just above it).

The colour photographs are, in a word--astonishing. All the creatures (that look like they're not of this planet) imaged are marvels of evolution and adaptation. Rare and unidentified abyss-dwellers are even photographed.

Each photograph has a caption made up of several pieces of information: (1) the abyss-dweller's scientific name (2) its descriptive name (not all photographs have this) (3) its size (4) the depth at which it's found and (5) known information about the creature. As an example, I will give an actual example of such a caption for the creature found on the book's jacket cover (displayed above by Amazon):

(1) Teuthowenia pellucida
(2) Googly-eyed glass squid
(3) SIZE 20 centimeters
(4) DEPTH larvae and juveniles 0-900 meters, adults 1600-2500 meters
(5) Three sentences of known information about this abyss-dweller.

The number of pictures in this book is almost 210.

In the copy of the book I have, at the beginning the reader is alerted that there are "four computer-generated illustrations." When these illustrations are actually encountered, the caption for these illustrations states "computer-generated image."

The text that's interweaved with the photographs consists mainly of two-page essays that begins most chapters, factoids, and quotations.

There are a total of fifteen succinct essays indicated in the table of contents. Each is written by a researcher at a prominent research facility. Examples of such facilities include the USA's Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, France's French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea, and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology.

There is also an excellent five page introductory essay (not indicated in the table of contents). Be sure to carefully read this so as to orient yourself to the rest of the book.

Quotations from prominent people permeate throughout. One of my favourites was uttered by Jacques Cousteau in 1976:

"Under the sea, it seems my every gaze is as stolen from some forbidden world; and it triggers an emotional shock that never flags, no matter how many times I dive."

Revealing factoids also abound throughout the book. Here's an interesting fact:

At 150 meters depth, 99% of sunlight has been absorbed by water. Below 1000 meters, it's total, inky blackness for all.

(It is from this factoid that I came up with the title of this review.)

Based on the photographs and text, this book deserves a solid 5-STAR RATING.

Unfortunately, there are some problems with the book. The majority are minor (for example, the first two pictures found at the very beginning of this book have their captions on the credits page--the very last page), but the major problems primarily deal with the table of contents and index. (Note also that the credits page is not indicated in the table of contents.)

The table of contents is incomplete. For example, why isn't the introductory essay's (see above) title not mentioned in the table of contents? This introductory essay has four sub-sections. Why weren't these sub-section titles not mentioned? I feel that a ground-breaking book of this type should have a detailed table of contents.

The index is also incomplete. All it does is give the scientific names of the known species in this book and what page to find them on. That's it!! Why wasn't, for example, all the important information found in the fifteen chapter essays and the introductory essay appropriately indexed? Again, a grounding-breaking book of this type should have, I feel, a detailed index.

What is Nouvian's function with respect to this book? If you look at the book's cover, it seems that she is the author. She is NOT. If you look at the credits page, she is in charge of "photographic research." Amazon thinks she is the editor, but according to the credits page, she is not. Very confusing.

Based on these major and minor problems, this book should perhaps be given a 3-STAR RATING.

Finally, my final rating is an average of the two RATINGS given above.

In conclusion, this is a mesmerizing book giving us a glimpse into an alien world--the abyss.

(published 2007; preface; introduction; 20 chapters; main narrative 245 pages; appendix; glossary; index; bibliography; acknowledgements; credits)

<<Stephen Pletko, London, Ontario, Canada>>

XXXXX

We say "Out of sight, out of mind" and to our cost we believe it and live it. The creatures of the deep sea could have been nothing but out of sight for centuries; even when we had started to think about the life deep in the oceans, the scientific dictum in the nineteenth century was that in the depths there was no light, no oxygen, and no foodstuffs, so there was no life. Deep-sea trawling seemed to bring up tentative evidence that maybe there were some creatures that eked out a living down there, but it was not until the twentieth century that bathyspheres and other submersibles got an idea of just how lively the depths were. They are still out of sight for most of us, but a gorgeous picture book can cure that: _The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss_ (University of Chicago Press) by Claire Nouvian has astonishing portraits of alien creatures that would seem to spring from the minds of Hollywood special effects animators. (One of them pictured here is indeed supposed to be the inspiration for the monster in _Alien_.) We are familiar in our own terrestrial realm of how evolution has crammed plant and animal life into every available niche; it has happened as well in the seas, and it has happened all the way down.

Nouvian is a journalist and film director, and for this volume has gotten short explanatory chapters from biologists who are experts in, say, hydrothermal vents or the polar depths. These stand as good explanations for the photographs, which in this big, glossy book are the real show. There are nightmare creatures here, like the black-devil anglerfish, with needle-like teeth in a gaping, frowning mouth and flabby and wrinkled skin, with a little lighted antenna above her head. The anglerfish has an extraordinary means of reproduction; the female is much larger than the male, and when he finds her, he attaches to her and becomes smaller still, gradually dissolving his tissues into hers and becoming her internal repository for sperm. Vampyroteuthis infernalis_, literally "the vampire squid from hell", has several photographs here, and rightly so. The blood-red skin of this creature and its strange appearance like an umbrella with teeth (they are actually fleshy fingers) along its ribs made it appear infernal to the first observers, but it is as harmless and shy as any other octopus. Some creatures on the other hand are cute as can be. A little "Dumbo octopus" looks like a friendly creature from a PacMan game, yellow with little flaps instead of tentacles, fins that look like ears, and a siphon that looks like an extruded tongue. "They are often observed resting on the bottom," says the text accompanying the picture, "with their mantle spread around them. What are they doing there, sitting so quietly in the dark? Nobody knows." The yeti crab, discovered in 2005, caused a media sensation; it is ghost white and has hairy legs and claws, and inspired a stuffed animal in its image in Japan one week after its discovery was announced. Many of the jellyfish here look like flying saucers descending. The appearance of the Pigbutt worm needs no more description than its name. There is a siphonophore which is like a long columnar jellyfish in a spiral, but the thousands of tentacles are not only toxic to prey, but bioluminescent, so that its photo looks like a firework. The ping-pong tree sponge looks like a sixties lighting fixture, each branch radiating from a central core and ending in a perfect sphere. They are all strange, and the word to describe them might be otherworldly, but they only look that way. They are as much part of our living world as we are, and especially as new discoveries we must value them. There are threats from pollution, global warming, and deepwater trawling, and if we are not careful, the creatures we are seeing for the first time won't be there to see at all. This beautiful book with one surprising picture after another gives colorful tour of an essential yet mysterious natural realm.

Words really can't describe this book. It's just page after page of astonishing photos of creatures from the deep sea. All the photos are of the highest technical excellence, and the creatures displayed seem like they must be from another planet. The most exotic land animals you've ever seen come off as quite mundane in comparison to what you'll see in The Deep.

Joe Cocker's lament at Woodstock might well be echoed by the horde of bizarre creatures inhabiting the world's ocean depths. Their forms are alien - in fact, at least one may be the Earthly version of the film's off-world predator. Their habitat is cold and dark, yet there is more opportunity to flourish, and perhaps more species reflecting that condition, than the surface we're familiar with now contains. Many live on the remains of life drifting down from the surface or shallow layers. Others seek out prey in a number of zones in the water column. For there are but two things inhabiting this stygian realm - animals and minerals. Life is spent "looking for something to eat or somebody to love". In this spectacular album of photographs, accompanied by informative essays by oceanic researchers, we are given a first clear view into an unknown zone of life's largest arena.

Although quite possibly the zone where life began billions of years ago, the deep sea has long been hidden. Sunlight fades quickly, and perceptible colours shift from blue to red, then disappear. In the deeps, red is the dominant biological colour because nothing can see it. Reflecting this, the photographs are dominated by scarlet-hued creatures who only wish to be seen by potential mates. Others are almost perfectly transparent, a survival trait in a locale where having too much brain, heart or eyes can be fatally visible. Shapes vary across species with infinite ingenuity, but no few of these creatures can modify their profile either on demand or as part of their normal life cycle. With survival always a challenge, both predators and prey must be able to adapt effectively. From our viewpoint, seeing these animals in fully-illuminated conditions, they seem to stand out vividly. Nouvian and the researchers point out why we need to reconsider the images to what life is like in the chilling depths. Depths where the pressure is the equivalent of a cow standing on your thumbnail. And Joe Cocker's plaint might need revising in the face of mating habits of the black seadevil. The male attaches himself to his mate's body and is slowly absorbed into her flesh when she's utilised all his sperm to fertilise her eggs.

In her Preface, Nouvian opens by relating her astonishment at seeing a film of creatures found deep in the Monterey Canyon off the California coast. "These animals aren't real!" she exclaimed - probably in chorus with the other viewers. As you turn the pages, you can hardly blame her: an octopus with "rabbit" ears, a sponge resembling the Brussels "Atomium", and a host of species that have never seen the sun - a condition we were all assured in school wasn't possible. There were hints - the 19th Century exploration ship HMS Challenger brought up evidence of deep life, as had many a fishing net. Relocating deep-sea creatures to the surface is a hazardous undertaking - for them. Those transparent bodies are fragile, shattering or dissolving shape when they emerge. William Beebe descended into the Western Atlantic in a steel ball, but it's the introduction of the Remote Observing Vehicles that have brought information from the deep for us to see. Look quickly, because the bottom of the sea isn't immune to the effect of shifts in climate we're generating.

It is the greatest area on the planet where life exists. We would do well to begin to understand it. This book is an outstanding introduction to this unknown part of our world. Take it up and learn about forms of life seen only in dreams and visions - until now. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Many people are attracted to science fiction because the writers make interesting speculations about how life can be different under conditions other than those we experience as humans. Such books often conjure up images of bug-eyed aliens with beautiful colors and amazingly symmetrical features.

Others love to see photographs of exotic wild animals, whether beautiful prey surviving amidst the carnivores in the African veldt, rare species on volcanic islands in the Galapagos, or male Emperor Penguins huddling to keep their eggs warm during the worst of the Antarctic winter. You can't help but change your life perspective by seeing those images.

If either shift in focus appeals to you, you have the treat of a lifetime ahead of you: The Deep will change your view of life forever.

Simply because we couldn't explore the depths of the ocean until very recently, people assumed that nothing was going on far beneath the surface. I can see why. I once took a harbor cruise in a submarine and we didn't have to go down very far before all color was leached out of the water and there was a desert around us. Naturally, the further away from the surface, the less light and oxygen there are. Life as we are used to it require lots of both.

But the oceans hold many surprises. The mountain ranges in the oceans are taller than the Himalayas. The canyons make the Grand Canyon look tiny by comparison. Around vents of volcanic discharge in rift zones, toxic minerals are transformed into useful food by bacteria and life flourishes based on different chemistry than we see on the surface. A dead whale can create an oasis of life deep in the ocean for decades. Methane seeps can also feed life and make it flourish. Deep sea coral are vaster than those we see in atolls. Jelly fishes and sea cucumbers flourish at incredible depths and in intense pressures. And it's not always dark. Many creatures provide their own light and can vary the intensity and color at will to look like the ocean itself -- a whole new dimension to camouflage.

Migrations of species vary also. The daily rhythm is to go up or down in depth to take advantage of food and to avoid predators. Seasonally, the vertical migration also occurs for similar reasons. Tiny creatures may swim thousands of meters up and down as a result.

The variety of life in the deep oceans is staggering: Most of the species on earth are there . . . and most have not yet been seen. There are probably 10 million species we haven't experienced yet. Can you imagine that?

The beauty and the eeriness of these creatures are almost beyond description. Some look like a science fiction illustrator's view of Martians. Others look like prehistoric creatures . . . and indeed some of the species are hundreds of millions of years old.

There's also a human lesson here: Like in most of the earth, the natural beauty is being plundered for gain. While deep sea trawling only captures 0.2 percent of the world's catch, it is destroying areas bigger than Europe as habitats for exotic life forms. Because these areas are outside the boundaries of any country, they are harvested in unlimited ways.

You'll gaze in wonder at these photographs and have your mind expanded wonderfully by the excellent essays in the book.

Unlike many books that capture images of animals, many of these photographs are larger than life . . . allowing you to enhance your observations over what you could experience in the wild. If you are like me, you'll wonder why the author put in four computer-generated images that obviously look phony. The real thing is unbelievably amazing without any tricks.

Deepen your sense of wonder at God's amazing creation with The Deep.

Our world is an amazing place, and the word "amazing" is meant in its truest sense. What "The Deep" does is to show just how intricately and delicately interconnected this planet is while revealing a hitherto unknown ecosphere in our deep oceans. Events on or near the surface nearly always take precedence but here the deep sea is documented and photographed as never before.

There are some creatures so alien in appearance that it is hard to believe they exist on this Earth. Many have been photographed for the very first time, and not a few are still unclassified. There are sea spiders, Spanish Dancers, glass squids, all manner of fish and jellies and one "cute" thing called a Yeti crab. They thrive in near total darkness, sometimes thousands of meters below the ocean's surface. It is a whole different world down there, and it exists right here on Earth.

Of course any text involved will relate the environmental destruction that man is wreaking in the deep sea. The author does this without preaching. It is just fact, and she is simply covering a part of the world that gets no media coverage because it is largely unknown.

Claire Nouvian's "The Deep" is a visually fascinating coffee-table book. The sturdy binding and thick printing paper contain some truly awe-inspiring photographs of the earth's deep sea creatures. The photographs themselves are crystal clear and taken up close to capture as much detail as possible. "The Deep" is a great gift idea for nature-lovers, ocean-lovers and anyone interested in just how fascinating life on this planet--in all its forms--is.

This is the most amazing book that I have seen in a long time! Extraordinarily beautiful fotos of equally stunning and fascinating creatures! The beauty and creativity of nature takes your breath away! A must to have!