Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea

A superb memoir of the author's study of ocean bioluminescence, and a near perfect mix of science and autobiography. She is on a crusade for better funding for ocean exploration, and she is absolutely right that it is vital to our survival as a species. The science is well explained, her own life story is fascinating, and it is all told with a wicked sense of humor--whatever you do, don't skip the footnotes. Just outstanding.

Edith Widder’s obsession with bioluminescence is, well, illuminating! Marine biologist, explorer and all-around-bad-ass, Edith Widder writes about her experiences studying something we know very little about: light in the deep sea. From her initial journey into the deep ocean, where she first sees the breathtaking view of underwater “fireworks,” to successfully communicating with (multiple) giant squid, the author shares her life’s work in a way that’s engaging, exciting and downright inspiring. In the book, we learn about hidden worlds, never before seen behaviors, and are shown how important bioluminescence is to both survival and communication—in fact, the ability to produce light is so critical to survival that it’s show more been selected for independently more than fifty times during evolutionary history!

In addition to some seriously interesting science, there were a few non-science quotes that also stood out to me. The first was Edith’s advice on how to look at the world a little differently:

“One way to open your eyes to unnoticed beauty is to ask yourself, What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?”

The second was advice shared to her during a moment of extreme difficulty:

“You know, success in life depends on how well you handle plan B. Anyone can handle plan A.”

Between the astonishing discoveries and everyday inspiration, I had trouble putting this one down. This is only the beginning of understanding the weird and wonderful world of bioluminescence, so climb in, take the plunge, and remember to turn out the lights. show less

On the whole this is a pretty good memoir of a life in science, with an emphasis on the science, as Widder made a career focused on bioluminescence as a phenomena.

The most personal part of the book is Widder describing her near-tragic medical disaster as a result of a back surgery that went terribly wrong, and how she bounced back to become a downright daring field researcher, with a tremendous amount of time spent underwater as a diver, a submersible operator and crew on research subs in general.

The most interesting portion for me related to Widder's involvement in successful efforts to document the Giant Squid in its natural habitat, which was the culmination of a life-time of work.

The most astringent portions deals with the bane of show more fake news, with particular emphasis on the dreck put out by the Discovery Channel, such as the hoaxes about the survival of Megalodon and the supposed reality of mermaids.

A little bit scattershot, but I found the book quite enjoyable. show less