DEEP-SEA EXPLORER

Ballard's discoveries of the Titanic and other famous wrecks have capped a brilliant career exploring the deeps. His tale makes good telling; after growing up around San Diego Bay in a competitive family environment, he studied, interned, and even worked as a dolphin trainer in various places before ending up at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where he met and adopted Alvin, first of several submersible research vehicles. Archbold, Ballard's usual coauthor (most recently for The Lost Ships of Guadalcanal, 1993), slips in a few well-chosen details of Ballard's private life and really captures the excitement—and dangers—of being thousands of feet below the sunlight, confronting the unknown. Illuminating reading for the thousands who have enjoyed Ballard's books or accompanied him vicariously on his travels via the real-time video displays of his Jason project. B&w photos; glossary; reading list; index. (Biography. 11+)