Amazon.com (ISBN 0446671746, Paperback)

As Woods Hole oceanographer Robert Ballard demonstrates in his absorbing, profusely illustrated book about his years-long hunt for the wreck of the Titanic, science isn't all that different from Hollywood. Just as a Hollywood type--say, the director whose quest to make the world's most expensive film is chronicled in Paula Parisi's Titanic and the Making of James Cameron--must use the cachet of his studio connections to raise cash, a Woods Hole scientist must use that eminent institution's reputation to win financing for his or her projects. Like the movie that sprang from the finding of the wreck, Ballard's scientific exploration is a tale of triumph against long odds. He's also got some good historical data on the drama of the sinking. Here are a few ear-witness accounts of the moment of the iceberg's impact on the Titanic: "A disquieting ripping sound like a piece of cloth"; "A thousand marbles"; "As though somebody had drawn a giant finger along the side of the ship." Ballard quotes the most precise description of the fatal instant, given by colorful Second Officer Lightoller: "Not that it was by any means a violent concussion, but just a distinct and unpleasant break in the monotony of her motion." Ballard's book helps you get the feeling of climbing aboard and being there for that distinctly unpleasant moment. --Tim Appelo