best book of 2023

“Casey’s descriptions of the shimmeringly strange life teeming below the waves capture her wonder and ravishment in prose that morphs into poetry … enthralling.”

—The Boston Globe

“Not just a knowledgeable guide, Ms. Casey is also a memorable wordsmith…[Casey’s] book has more than enough deep-sea biology and geology to dazzle.”

—Wall Street Journal

“A fascinating history of mankind's journeys to the depths of the ocean and the intrepid scientists and adventurers who have devoted their lives to the work … Casey's book satisfies our greatest curiosities about the mysteries of the ocean.”

—Time

“In [The Underworld] Casey proves to be an exceptional adventurer and chronicler but also a member of a community dedicated to exploration and conservation of our least-understood aquatic wild places.”

—Los Angeles Times

“[The Underworld] is a fine tour of the history and challenges of exploring this most fantastical and forbidding of earthen worlds.”

—The Washington Post

“[An] entertaining account…wondrous…Casey excels at conjuring the “marvelous weirdos” that glide through submersibles' beam." —Scientific American

“One of the most accurate and vivid portrayals of a deep-sea dive that I have ever read”

—Science Magazine

"Masterful and mesmerizing, Susan Casey's THE UNDERWORLD is an irresistible mix of splendid scholarship, heart-stopping adventure writing, and vivid, visceral prose. Her book about the ocean's deeps is both uplifting and profound in the literal sense. I was riveted to every page."

—Sy Montgomery, author of The New York Times bestseller THE SOUL OF AN OCTOPUS

"Prepare to submerge. Susan Casey is a reporter in a league of her own. She will go anywhere to get her story. This one is full of astounding news, great characters, wondrous explorations, and a full measure of outrage. Deep-sea mining, you will come to understand, must be stopped."

—William Finnegan, author of Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life

About the Author

Susan Casey, author of New York Times bestseller’s Voices in the Ocean, The Wave, and The Devil’s Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks and is the former editor in chief of O, The Oprah Magazine. She is a National Magazine Award-winning journalist whose work has been featured in the Best American Science and Nature Writing, Best American Sports Writing, and Best American Magazine Writing anthologies; and has appeared in Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, and Outside. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.