The Underworld

by Susan Casey

First published 2023

The deep ocean has terrified and fascinated humans throughout history. For centuries, people imagined the depths as a realm of monsters and death. Today, new technologies allow scientists to dive miles down and discover what actually exists below. Susan Casey traveled the world with marine biologists, oceanographers, and explorers to document their findings. She descended to the deepest places on Earth, where tectonic plates crash together and mountains rise higher than surface peaks. The deep ocean teems with extraordinary life: pink predators, creatures stretching a hundred feet long, animals with glass skeletons, and sharks that live five hundred years. Casey traces the history of deep-sea exploration from ancient myths to modern submersibles. She reveals how this vast underwater world affects our planet's future and why we must understand it quickly. Climate change, industrial fishing, pollution, and mining companies now threaten these depths that scientists are only beginning to explore.

Genres: science, adventure, environment, non-fiction, biology, climate-change

Vibes: emotional, thought-provoking

Tropes: exploration, scientific-discovery

Setting: Earth

352 pages · Hardcover · Doubleday

More by Susan Casey

Readers who liked The Underworld also liked

View on Siftivo