“The Deep” – Claire Nouvian

In the first lines of his speech on the oceans on June 15th, 2004, the lifelong secretary of l’Académie des sciences Jean Dercourt stressed that a scientific discovery could occur in a society “which can either welcome it, or ignore it”. Claire Nouvian offers us a completely unedited book for scientific use but also for ocean lovers. The Deep (Fayard, 2005) consists of a discovery that the public cannot ignore not only because it opens the door to a world that is the largest habitat on earth; but also because this work forces us to be conscious of the fragility of the ecosystems that make up all of the world’s oceans. While man walks on the moon and leaves this planet for the conquest of others, millions of kilometers from Earth, he has, close to home, a space that is practically unknown, with a fantastic and unreal allure. A world that he puts in danger.

Mysterious Animals
In mid-water or on the bottom of the ocean, the researcher goes from curiosity to curiosity. Giant squid, graceful bioluminescent jellyfish, translucent octopi with globular eyes, menacing fish with sharp teeth… Each expedition aboard the submersible in “the largest space devoted to life on earth” offers the researchers the possibility to discover new species equally strange and fascinating as one another. The majority of underwater species are still unknown to us and end up as many of the discoveries made by these deep sea researches.

The outstanding book The Deep by Claire Nouvian puts forward the first portrait of the deep sea and discovers, for the first time, life up to 10,000 meters deep. The largest oceanographic research institutes in the world contributed to this work by allowing the author access to the unedited images and to recent scientific findings.

With more than 200 breathtaking and unedited photos, realized thanks to rare submersibles and robots capable of diving more than 6,000 meters, as well as four 3D images that show the geography of the deep sea.

Released in the autumn of 2006, the book The Deep was proclaimed an international success in less than one year. It was translated in 11 languages: French, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese and published more than 150,000 copies.

The book was a success particularly in the United States and brought home many awards, such as the World Prize for Best Underwater Photography Book (Special Mention – 2006) and the Prize “Beautiful Book” from “l’Académie de Marine” (2007)

Language: English
Dimensions: 30x26x3cm
Length: 256 pages
Description: THE DEEP, the Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss The University of Chicago Press

Awards:
Voted one of the 2008 Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association