Space exploration gets the headlines, but Casey makes a convincing case that the deep ocean is more interesting.
A fascinating account of the ocean below its twilight zone.
Many scientists and adventurers have explored waters down to 600 feet, where the sunlight barely reaches, but award-winning journalist Casey, author of the bestseller Voices in the Ocean, points out that this zone, the epipelagic, “occupies only 5 percent of the ocean’s volume. For all its loveliness, it’s merely a ceiling. The real action takes place below.” Real action is not in short supply, as the author, an oceanography enthusiast, demonstrates her journalistic professionalism, beginning with a compelling history. Clumsy exploration persuaded some 19th-century experts that the deep was lifeless, but 20th-century technical advances allowed scientists to descend to the bottom (36,000 feet at its deepest) to reveal wildly strange life forms, boiling hydrothermal vents, and volcanoes—an entire ecosystem living on chemicals and heat pouring from the center of the Earth. At these depths, there are creatures that breathe methane, fish with glasslike skeletons, and other animals that communicate through their skin. The farther down you go, “the more astonishing everything becomes.” Today, dozens of deep-sea vehicles, built and operated by governments and universities as well as the occasional entrepreneur and billionaire, roam the oceans. Casey chronicles her travels around the world interviewing designers, adventurers, and scientists; she also joined some expeditions and participated in deep descents. She reminds readers that far more people have visited the International Space Station than the ocean floor, and getting down there remains more dangerous. Readers will be thrilled by the author’s descriptions of truly bizarre sights and creatures as well as dazzling archaeological treasures (according to estimates, some 3 million ships linger on the seabed). Less moving is the human detritus that has reached the deepest trenches, including ubiquitous microplastics; synthetic fibers as well as industrial, chemical, and pharmaceutical waste; and bombs, live ammunition, and unneeded weapons, which the world’s armies routinely dump into the sea.
Space exploration gets the headlines, but Casey makes a convincing case that the deep ocean is more interesting.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9780385545570
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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