The best ocean adventures, both real and imagined

Why am I passionate about this?

The two constants in my life to date have been ocean exploration by day and reading epic adventures by night. As a Ph.D. marine scientist, I’ve had the incredible good fortune to travel the world conducting marine science research, work which to date has resulted in forty-two research articles and a textbook. But as much as I’ve enjoyed conducting the research, communicating about the sea has been even more engaging, taking me to the White House, both houses of Congress, and many countries around the world. And perhaps best of all, I’ve been able to couple my love of stories with my own research experience to produce four adventure novels. 


I wrote...

Calypso Down

By James Lindholm,

Book cover of Calypso Down

What is my book about?

An undersea laboratory in a violent storm, an attack imminent. Only Chris Black can save the mission gone awry. 

Indomitable marine biologist Chris Black arrives in Florida intending to assist young aquanauts on an internationally funded mission to Calypso, the new undersea laboratory deployed on the edge of a coral reef. But as online trolls jeopardize the integrity of the mission and mysterious attacks suggest that someone would prefer that Calypso never come up for air, Chris is called upon to join the underwater team. Already embattled by financial, political, and scientific skepticism, the mission goes awry when a tropical storm builds and threatens the safety of the scientists onboard. Will Chris be able to save the mission and everyone involved amidst a perfect storm?

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea

James Lindholm Why did I love this book?

This epic adventure is, hands down, my favorite nonfiction book of all time.

Not only does it tell the harrowing story of the SS Central America’s sinking through the eyes of its survivors, but it also tells the equivalently riveting story the search and recovery effort. As the title explains, this is the richest wreck in history. But recovering all that wealth from depths previously unvisited, using technologies developed on the fly specifically for the recovery? Incredible.

I could not put it down and have returned to it many times. Drop whatever you’re doing and go read this book!

By Gary Kinder,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The 20th-anniversary edition of Gary Kinder's bestselling dramatic story of shipwreck, treasure lost and found, and a new chapter in deep-sea technology

From bestselling author Gary Kinder, Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea is a "ripping true tale of danger and discovery at sea" (Washington Post), newly updated for this special 20th-anniversary edition.

In September 1857, the SS Central America, a steamer carrying nearly six hundred passengers returning from the California Gold Rush, was caught in a hurricane two hundred miles off the Carolina coast. Despite the heroic efforts of the captain and his crew, the ship, over…


Book cover of The Mediterranean Caper

James Lindholm Why did I love this book?

I’ve loved Clive Cussler’s books since long before I became an ocean explorer myself. His ability to weave real science and engineering into adventurous novels is without peers, and I can see aspects of Dirk Pitt and Al Giordino in real people I’ve worked with throughout my career.

This book is the first of the duo’s twenty-six adventures to date, and it is perhaps the most realistic of the series. Many of you will likely have read one or more of the recent adventures, but take the time to dive back into the mission where it all started. You won’t be disappointed!

By Clive Cussler,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Mediterranean Caper as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Dirk Pitt responds to a call of distress and finds himself coping with a modern Greek goddess in a red bikini, a vast drug-smuggling ring, a still-active Nazi criminal, and a perilous undersea labyrinth. Originally in paperback.


Book cover of Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II

James Lindholm Why did I love this book?

I love this book despite the incredible discomfort I experience every time I read it.

Diving in the cold waters of the North Atlantic on a good day is no picnic. But diving deep into the wreck of a mystery U-boat, not knowing if you are going to come out? Epic.

I just recently listened to the Audible book while driving back from an undersea research project in a van filled with young scientific divers. The climax had us all squirming in our seats!

By Robert Kurson,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Shadow Divers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

New York Times Bestseller 

In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm comes a true tale of riveting adventure in which two weekend scuba divers risk everything to solve a great historical mystery–and make history themselves.

For John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, deep wreck diving was more than a sport. Testing themselves against treacherous currents, braving depths that induced hallucinatory effects, navigating through wreckage as perilous as a minefield, they pushed themselves to their limits and beyond, brushing against death more than once in the rusting hulks of sunken ships.
But in the…


Book cover of Neptune's Eye

James Lindholm Why did I love this book?

I love mysteries, undersea adventures, and books that transport me to new places. This book does it all.

I first read it when I moved to New England for graduate school many years ago. As a new research diver living on Cape Cod, reading about Aristotle's “Soc” Socarides’ adventures introduced me to the region, both above and below the ocean’s surface.

The story was so compelling that on weekends, I would dive in the morning and then spend the afternoons driving around trying to find the locations featured in the novel. 

By Paul Kemprecos,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Neptune's Eye as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Absorbing . . . Soc is an appealing, witty protagonist . . . and the Cape Cod locale is rendered with panache in this fast-paced enjoyable yarn.”
—Publisher’s Weekly

UNDERWATER UNDERHANDEDNESS . . .

A simple missing-persons case: Find Frederick Walther’s beautiful young daughter, who disappeared after a love affair turned sour. Simple, that is, until Leslie Walther’s lover turns up dead in a fishy place—the seal pool at the Woods Hole aquarium. Part-time fisherman—part-time private eye “Soc” Socarides finds the highly loathsome Tom Drake had a number of acquaintances, business rivals, ex-lovers, and an ex-wife—all with reason to want…


Book cover of Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks

James Lindholm Why did I love this book?

Great white sharks, rocky islands shrouded in fog, and a behind-the-scenes look at how science is conducted? I’ll take that any day, and indeed I have.

I first read this book while on a research vessel off the Farallon Islands. If you’ve read any of Casey’s other books, you’re familiar with the compelling level of detail she provides. Whether or not you’ll ever visit the islands yourself, this gripping story will leave you feeling like you have.

By Susan Casey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Devil's Teeth as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Since "Jaws" scared a nation of moviegoers out of the water three decades ago, great white sharks have attained a mythical status as the most frightening and mysterious monsters to still live among us. Each fall, just twenty-seven miles off the San Francisco coast, in the waters surrounding a desolate rocky island chain, the world's largest congregation of these fearsome predators gathers to feed. Journalist Susan Casey first saw the great whites of the Farallones in a television documentary. Within months, she was sitting with the program's two scientists in a small motorboat as the sharks - some as long…


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Api's Berlin Diaries: My Quest to Understand My Grandfather's Nazi Past

By Gabrielle Robinson,

Book cover of Api's Berlin Diaries: My Quest to Understand My Grandfather's Nazi Past

Gabrielle Robinson Author Of Api's Berlin Diaries: My Quest to Understand My Grandfather's Nazi Past

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Retired english professor

Gabrielle's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Gabrielle found her grandfather’s diaries after her mother’s death, only to discover that he had been a Nazi. Born in Berlin in 1942, she and her mother fled the city in 1945, but Api, the one surviving male member of her family, stayed behind to work as a doctor in a city 90% destroyed.

Gabrielle retraces Api’s steps in the Berlin of the 21st century, torn between her love for the man who gave her the happiest years of her childhood and trying to come to terms with his Nazi membership, German guilt, and political responsibility.

Api's Berlin Diaries: My Quest to Understand My Grandfather's Nazi Past

By Gabrielle Robinson,

What is this book about?

"This is not a book I will forget any time soon."
Story Circle Book Reviews

Moving and provocative, Api's Berlin Diaries offers a personal perspective on the fall of Berlin 1945 and the far-reaching aftershocks of the Third Reich.

After her mother's death, Robinson was thrilled to find her beloved grandfather's war diaries-only to discover that he had been a Nazi.

The award-winning memoir shows Api, a doctor in Berlin, desperately trying to help the wounded in cellars without water or light. He himself was reduced to anxiety and despair, the daily diary his main refuge. As Robinson retraces Api's…


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