The Deep Range

Superb world-building. It’s not until page 158 that Clarke expressly states there have been ‘catastrophic political and social changes’. Even then he doesn’t tell us exactly what they are, but by then we’ve pieced it together.

The British have subjugated the planet. It’s ostensibly a democracy, but functionally a bureaucracy. They have control of the world’s food supply. Access to administrative power is controlled on racial lines, so strictly that even though they have the entire planet to draw on they struggle to find enough administrators.

There are now 5 billion people. I think this is supposed to sound like a lot. There would have been about 2.8 billion when the book was published. They have started to farm the sea for show more whales and plankton. They’ve installed nuclear generators on the sea bed to heat the sea and stimulate plankton production. I can’t even begin to explain how stupid an idea this is.

Clarke appears to be drawing a parallel between the whales and the humans, being fattened for the kill. I’m not surprised he moved abroad about this time. I would particularly recommend this book to vegetarians. show less

Typically for Clarke, a complex, humane, and wistful novel. Seasoned spaceman Walter Franklin suffers from extreme astrophobia after a space walk gone awry. He’s reassigned to the Bureau of Whales, which manages the world’s oceans (and ranches the world’s whales) in order to feed humankind. The adjustment and reintegration period is somewhat difficult. During his training, after suffering a psychotic break, Franklin attempts suicide (via a doomed excursion in a minisub), but eventually he recovers. His first family stays on Mars, meaning their paths will not cross again, since his children developed in low gravity conditions and cannot return to Earth, while Franklin’s phobia ensures he must remain terrestrially bound: “To his show more son, he willingly bequeathed the shoreless seas of space. For himself, the oceans of this world were sufficient.” Much of the novel involves the Bureau’s hunt for a giant squid nicknamed Percy, as well as Franklin’s parallel fascination with an ever-elusive ocean cryptid (possibly some kind of sea serpent), which he never manages to capture or even properly confirm. One suspects this hauntological metaphor is central to the text: the beguiling presence/absence of something living, mysterious, and strange, the very irresolution of which in no small way produces and sustains its appeal. Make what you will of the fatal consequences (for Franklin’s closest friend) of searching after this spectral macguffin. At what cost, the hunting of a snark? By the end of his career, Franklin has become Director of the Bureau of Whales, and the novel changes its focus from accommodating oneself to earthly conditions (however ironically displaced in Franklin’s fundamentally thalassic orientation) to interrogating animal rights in relation to humanity’s Gattungswesen. On the one hand, this seemingly abrupt shift reminds one of the theological dialogues about abortion that emerge in the latter part of A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959). On the other hand, Clarke’s concern regarding the moral standing of the human species (especially when viewed from the putative outside) is perennial in his work: “Within a century or so, we will literally be going outside the solar system. Sooner or later we will meet types of intelligent life much higher than our own, yet in forms completely alien. And when that time comes, the treatment man receives from his superiors may well depend upon the way he has behaved toward the other creatures of his own world.” show less

The ocean is in its way just as forbidding, dangerous and fascinating an environment for exploration as space. It's surprising to me really how few science fiction works use it as a setting. Other than Frank Herbert's Under Pressure (aka The Dragon in the Sea) I can only think of Clarke's young adult novel Dolphin Island and this one, The Deep Range. As it so happens I think this is one of Clarke's most entertaining books, even if not one of his better known. Set in the Pacific Ocean--or rather under it--following Walter Franklin who trains to become an underwater warden. While Dolphin Island features dolphins, this book focuses on whales. (And whale farming, which probably would horrify a lot of readers today, even if in the end that's show more turned around somewhat.) I'm not sure if this would hold up on reread, but the book left a vivid impression of what an alien and beautiful and rich environment can be found right here on earth. show less

Arthur C. Clarkes' book The Deep Range, from the mid 1950's, is another optimistic science-fiction look at Earth's future. Set about 200 years in the future, Clarke sees a unified Earth, sovereign nations being done away with about a century prior to the time this book is set in. The premise is that hunger has been eliminated by a unified world effort of developing the oceans into "fields" of plankton, nurturing herds of whales (as well as other aquatic species) similar to how land based ranches have nurtured cattle. Whales are the main nutrient used to feed mankind as well as using all their parts (blubber, ground bones, etc.).
Following the protagonist, Walter Franklin, as he switches his career from being an astronaut to a sea warden, show more we are brought into the future. We follow his training and though his eyes we learn of how and why the oceans/seas have been cultivated. In the first half of the book, he is guided by Don Burley who begins as his instructor becomes his peer and finally a close family friend - Walter's children call him "Uncle". Through their adventures we learn the beauty and hazards of working the seas. As time goes on we see the warm affinity the men feel towards the beautiful whales they care for.
The second half of the book (spoilers) after the death of Don, we follow Walter as he has become a world administrator of the aquatic farms he has cared for over the years. In the second half, we also begin to learn of a push by a world Buddhist leader to lead mankind away from the eating of flesh into vegetarianism. In this section we learn of the darker side of Watler's world. The slaughtering of the sea animals, focusing on the whales.
This is a beautiful and optimistic book that probably won't ever happen in real life.
I am enjoying my sojourn into the past/future as I read Clarke's early writings. There is a gentleness to his writing during his early period.
I highly recommend reading this.
Ok... so I do get a kick out of something I find in books like this. The role of women is nearly non-existent. All the scientists and wardens and astronauts are men. In this book he meets a doctoral candidate, Indra, who he marries. By all accounts of her description, she is a driven and brilliant scientist... but get married and becomes a housewife whose job is to keep a comfortable home, raise the children, and support her husband! LOL show less

This oldie of Clarke's dates back to 1957. I really enjoyed it. I decided to read it when I looked at the credits page and it said, among many other things: "All the characters in this story are fictitious except the giant grouper in Chapter Three." The author's note sets the story 75 years from today (1957 + 75 = 2032) although the cover says "a thrilling novel of life under the sea one hundred years from now." So I think we can take this as a 25 year story arc. Perhaps not quite that long as we read it.

I found this to be a really interesting story of a possible future. The Big Idea here is that in the future rather than cattle ranches we have wardens and whale farms. The wardens liken themselves as modern shepherds of their flocks and show more have powerful mini-subs that they patrol with in addition to extensive resources to coordinate with. The sea in this future through various farming and management supplies the food for earth's population. Really interesting stuff going on in here and within this story. One must remember that this came out when the ocean was seen as the new frontier and Cousteau was cutting edge and there were great unknowns out there. There still are great unknowns in the oceans.

There's no "woo-woo" stuff in here until towards the end and I thought that little bit of it was unnecessary. The vast majority of the story is all reasonable (if overly optimistic) extrapolation of the future from a 1957 viewpoint. (multi-generation colonies on Mars in 2032 would fall into the overly optimistic side). Very enjoyable old-fashioned storytelling.

All the interesting ocean stuff is wrapped around the training and following the career of a troubled man who finds new meaning in life after personal tragedy by becoming one of the sea wardens. I'm not too sure whale farming would fly with the public in modern society, especially perhaps where killer whales are hunted as nasty predators of the flocks. This novel imagines a very healthy ocean. There's a bit of Jules Verne and Cousteau and even a little Moby Dick literally mixed in here to help give a sense of wonder to the oceans. Fun stuff that I would truly have loved as a young teenager and can still appreciate now. show less

Way back in High School I was able to take a class in Science Fiction. It didn't live up to my expectations, mainly because my expectations were to get graded for simply reading stories, not for quizzes, papers, or any of those other requirements that the teacher tacked onto the class. I did, however, get a nifty little book of science fiction tales, one of which was a short story called "The Deep Range". It was far from my favorite, being essentially a cowboy story with the cows being replaced by whales. Yet, the name stuck in my head after many re-readings of the collection. I had also heard at some point that Mr. Clarke had expanded the short story to novel length. Anyway, at the last library sale, I was perusing the science fiction show more paperbacks and found this very novel. I bought it, brought it home, and have finally read it. Mr. Clarke has expanded it beyond the cowboy tale, exploring how the oceans might be converted to agriculture. Being slightly more mature, I appreciate his work more than I did in my youth. However, my enjoyment of the book came less from his story and more from his 1950s view of the future. The Deep Range presents a 21st Century where mankind is calmly farming the oceans and peacefully feeding the world. There's no hint of global warming, pollution, or endangered species. Whales are calmly raised and slaughtered, orcas and other predators simply killed when they pose a threat. Also amusing are how little a graduate student wrestles whether to continue her research or pursue an MRS, and how all the world's religions except Buddhism have declined in the face of scientific knowledge. ("And the Mohammedan faith... had suffered additional loss of prestige when the rising Star of David had outshone the pale crescent of the Prophet.") So I guess if you're more of a history buff than a futurist, I'd have to recommend that you check it out.
--J. show less

A future where humanity farms the oceans for food. Former astronaut Walter Franklin, facing psychological trauma, becomes a submarine whale warden managing sea herds, eventually grappling with ethical questions regarding ocean exploration and conservation versus exploitation.

During the early 21st century, Earth featured advanced sonar, underwater sonic barriers, and large-scale plankton farming. Walter Franklin, a space engineer suffering from astrophobia, finds rehabilitation by learning to shepherd whales.

The tension between exploiting the ocean's resources and preserving its mysteries, with Franklin transitioning from protecting herds to directing the Bureau of Whales.