45 books like The Deepest Map

As the saying goes, especially in science, “we stand on the shoulders of giants,” but I was absolutely thrilled to find out about this man from the early annals of science, who was first a pirate!! Talk about being well-rounded!

As someone who dresses up as a pirate every Halloween and never misses celebrating an International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I hung on every page, nay every word, of this swashbuckling scientific drama. I could not believe that it was true. But it is, and I found it to be not only super fun but hugely informative and inspiring.

This is a book about my all-time scientific heroes, so I could not put it down. I loved how it revealed beautiful details about the life of this woman whom I had grown to love merely by looking at her maps, a woman who had single-handedly invented the field in which I now work!

The more I researched her real backstory, the more convinced I became that this story, not only in words but also in data and MAPS, must continue to be told for the future of science and our planet. It is a remarkable testament to persistence, conviction, and courageous quirkiness. I think about Marie Tharp and this book nearly every day.

I often fail to see the close connection between the culture at sea in centuries past and how some of that has persisted to this day, both at sea and in many aspects of our culture, especially science.

This book hit me squarely between the eyes with that. I was deliciously captured within the pages of the story both for some of the unsettling, even shocking descriptions of hardships back in that day (and would I have been able to survive were I in that circumstance, even as a woman) and the cautionary tale it brings about loyalty, ethics, courage, and just plain doing your job to the best of your ability.

Even as an oceanographer myself, I was transfixed and transported by this book. And I loved hearing about the author’s own explorations to the deep. I love the pieces of deepsea exploration history that are in this book; that blew me away, even as someone who has contributed to exploration myself!

I loved the plotlines better than any movie or TV drama, for sure! And not only is the prose thrilling, ethereal, and beautiful, but it has helped me to renew my strength, as a foot soldier in the environmental call to action that is a huge part of this story.

I always had a love of all things maritime growing up, so it’s no wonder that, upon discovering an audiobook version read by none other than literary maverick Harlan Ellison, I fell madly for this icon of nautical adventure. It has everything you could want: the archetypal mad genius Captain Nemo, the ornate submarine Nautilus, exotic creatures and locales, and a unique cast of “guests.”

From the touching dedication of servant Conseil to our narrator, Professor Aronnax, to the forthright harpooner Ned Land, this exploration of uncharted waters and unwilling captives paints as vivid a picture of a life and world unseen as it does the costs of leading such a life. Few tales earn classic status quite like this one.

I loved this book because it inspired me to keep an adventurous and exploratory attitude. It really made me want to be Edith Widder.

I am completely fascinated by bioluminescence, a large topic in this book, and while I learned a ton, it only drove me to want to learn more and pursue my interests in this field further.

Learning about wondrous creatures and what we are trying to understand about them in the context of conservation allows us the lens to prioritize our work and resources and keep moving forward. I found myself underlining every other line of this book; there is so much to be amazed by.

I will never dive miles below the ocean’s surface, but this book about the deep-sea submersible Alvin, which is operated by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, takes me from the sunlit surface to the dark world without the sun thousands of feet below.

I enjoyed learning how the submersible’s pilot maneuvers this small craft, large enough for only the pilot and two scientists, to the bottom of the sea. The author did a lot of research, including interviewing one of the Alvin’s pilots, so her book is filled with the kind of authentic details that make for good science writing. 

This book is captivating visually and narratively, and while it’s a nonfiction exploration of early deep sea exploration, it’s also a beautiful tale through the images and artifacts, both personal and scientific, to those involved in the creation of this new way of seeing the ocean world.

I find the deep sea to be such an intriguing, terrifying place, and I have a deep appreciation and reverence for the fact that we know so little about it. That it has the power to maintain mystery and secrets. As part of that, I enjoyed knowing that the people involved in this journey were seeing a minuscule fraction of the ocean’s deep sea creatures in their natural habitat for the first time ever seen by humans. It must’ve been so thrilling and special to experience, and by reading this book, the reader gets to be on that journey with them a little… show more.

This book is claustrophobic, unflinching, and horrifying, so I can’t watch videos from seafloor subs, drones, or observatories. I’m used to sci-fi that takes place in the cold black isolation of a spaceship, but here we have the cold black isolation of the seabed, which triggers all the thalassophobia. Add the meticulous routines of a crew surviving in a place where humans shouldn’t be and, above all, the awful psychological pull of the void, and you get deliciously potent nightmare fuel.

But maybe more than that, I love that Watts is one of those authors, like Richard Morgan, who creates spec-fic characters with questionable morality, who can and do alarm the reader. Everyone I know who’s ever read this book has never forgotten it, shudders when I mention it and knows who Lenie Clark is. 

I view this book as an equal mix of cosmic deep-sea horror, exploration of loneliness, and marital devotion.

I really appreciate that this book follows two flawed women across multiple periods of time, on land and in the deep sea, and across the full length of their relationship. The weight of one of them disappearing beneath the ocean for months profoundly affects both of them–mentally, emotionally, and physically–in different and weird ways, but underneath everything is an enduring love.

I particularly enjoyed the slow-moving body horror in this one, plus the escalating creep of being stuck at the bottom of the ocean for months and the overarching terror of losing the one you love.