The Underwater Museum

A one-of-a-kind blend of art, nature, and conservation, The Underwater Museum re-creates an awe-inspiring dive into the dazzling under-ocean sculpture parks of artist Jason deCaires Taylor. Taylor casts his life-size statues from a special kind of cement that facilitates reef growth, and sinks them to the ocean floor. There, over time, the artworks attract corals, algae, and fish, and evolve into beautiful and surreal installations that are also living reefs. This volume brings readers face to face with these wonders and explains the science behind their creation. Ocean enthusiasts, divers, art lovers, and anyone entranced by the natural world will be instantly engrossed by this pearl of a book.

A guide to the undersea sculptures of the award-winning British artist whose works “are both enchanting and ecologically meaningful” (Discover). A one-of-a-kind blend of art, nature, and conservation, The Underwater Museum re-creates an awe-inspiring dive into the dazzling under-ocean sculpture parks of artist Jason deCaires Taylor. Taylor casts his life-size statues from a special kind of cement that facilitates reef growth, and sinks them to the ocean floor. There, over time, the artworks attract corals, algae, and fish, and evolve into beautiful and surreal installations that are also living reefs. This volume brings readers face to face with these wonders and explains the science behind their creation. Ocean enthusiasts, divers, art lovers, and anyone entranced by the natural world will be instantly engrossed by this pearl of a book.

A one-of-a-kind blend of art, nature, and conservation, The Underwater Museum re-creates an awe-inspiring dive into the dazzling under-ocean sculpture parks of artist Jason deCaires Taylor. Taylor casts his life-size statues from a special kind of cement that facilitates reef growth, and sinks them to the ocean floor. There, over time, the artworks attract corals, algae, and fish, and evolve into beautiful and surreal installations that are also living reefs. This volume brings readers face to face with these wonders and explains the science behind their creation. Ocean enthusiasts, divers, art lovers, and anyone entranced by the natural world will be instantly engrossed by this pearl of a book.

Diving the Thistlegorm is a unique in-depth look at one of the world’s best-loved shipwrecks, the World War II British Merchant Navy steamship. In this highly visual guide, cutting edge photographic methods enable views of the famous wreck and its fascinating cargo which were previously impossible. Sitting upright in 30m of clear, inviting Red Sea waters, the ship is packed with the materials of war. Largely complete lorries, trucks, motorbikes, aircraft spares and airfield equipment are crammed into the forward holds and the remains of other vehicles lie amongst boxes of ammunition in the exploded aft holds. Often referred to as an underwater museum, the wreck fascinates visitors for dive after dive. The book is the culmination of decades of experience, archaeological and photographic expertise, many hours underwater, months of computer processing time, and days spent researching and verifying the history of the ship and its cargo. For the first time, Diving the Thistlegorm brings the rich and complex contents of the wreck together, identifying individual items and illustrating where they can be found. As the expert team behind the underwater photography, reconstructions and explanations take you through the wreck in incredible detail, you will discover not only what has been learned but also what mysteries are still to be solved. Limited run of hardbacks. Review ‘The most comprehensive guide to one of the world’s greatest shipwrecks’— Emad Khalil, Alexandria University (from the Foreword)

"Craig Foster and Ross Frylinck regularly dive together in the awe-inspiring kelp forests off South Africa, without wetsuits or oxygen tanks. Craig had dived this way for years, including alongside the octopus that inspired My Octopus Teacher. In Ross, he found a kindred spirit, someone who also embraced the ancient methods of acclimating his body to frigid waters, but whose eyes had not yet adjusted to the transcendent wonder Craig saw each time they dove. In the heart-wrenching stories that make up this unforgettable book, we swim alongside Ross as he grows from skeptic to student of the underwater wild. And in the revelatory marine science behind the stunning photos, we learn how to track sea hares, cuttlefish, and limpets, and we witness strange new behaviors never before documented in marine biology. We realize that a whole world of wonder, and an innate wildness within us all, emerge anew when we simply observe. "--publisher's website.

Communities around the United States face the threat of being underwater. This is not only a matter of rising waters reaching the doorstep. It is also the threat of being financially underwater, owning assets worth less than the money borrowed to obtain them. Many areas around the country may become economically uninhabitable before they become physically unlivable. In Underwater, Rebecca Elliott explores how families, communities, and governments confront problems of loss as the climate changes. She offers the first in-depth account of the politics and social effects of the U.S. National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which provides flood insurance protection for virtually all homes and small businesses that require it. In doing so, the NFIP turns the risk of flooding into an immediate economic reality, shaping who lives on the waterfront, on what terms, and at what cost. Drawing on archival, interview, ethnographic, and other documentary data, Elliott follows controversies over the NFIP from its establishment in the 1960s to the present, from local backlash over flood maps to Congressional debates over insurance reform. Though flood insurance is often portrayed as a rational solution for managing risk, it has ignited recurring fights over what is fair and valuable, what needs protecting and what should be let go, who deserves assistance and on what terms, and whose expectations of future losses are used to govern the present. An incisive and comprehensive consideration of the fundamental dilemmas of moral economy underlying insurance, Underwater sheds new light on how Americans cope with loss as the water rises.

A New York Times Notable Book Winner of the Kiriyama Book Prize In the heart of China's Sichuan province, amid the terraced hills of the Yangtze River valley, lies the remote town of Fuling. Like many other small cities in this ever-evolving country, Fuling is heading down a new path of change and growth, which came into remarkably sharp focus when Peter Hessler arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer, marking the first time in more than half a century that the city had an American resident. Hessler taught English and American literature at the local college, but it was his students who taught him about the complex processes of understanding that take place when one is immersed in a radically different society. Poignant, thoughtful, funny, and enormously compelling, River Town is an unforgettable portrait of a city that is seeking to understand both what it was and what it someday will be.