I was born in the autumn of her twenty-third year. L.O.Ĭhapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18Ĭhapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 The Last Chapter

To Cathy, Mildred, Liza, Destiny, and Lamar Jr. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Control Number: 2019002815 ISBN 9781948836081 ISBN 9781948836203 (ebook)Įditing by Joe Rhatigan Copyediting by Scott Calamar Proofreading by Laura Cherkas and Lisa Story Text design and composition by Aaron Edmiston Cover design by Sarah Avinger Cover image by Scott Hebert Printed by Lake Book Manufacturingĭistributed to the trade by Two Rivers Distribution, an Ingram brand Special discounts for bulk sales (minimum of 25 copies) are available. Central Expressway, Suite 800 Dallas, TX 75231 Send feedback to No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.īenBella Books, Inc. In passages containing dialogue, quotation marks are used when the author was reasonably sure that the speaker’s words were close to verbatim and/or that the intended meaning of the speaker was accurately reflected.Ĭopyright © 2019 by Nunnbetter Productions.Īll rights reserved. Some names and locations have been changed or omitted to protect the privacy of individuals. These are the ultimate keys to the ocean's salvation-and thus to our future on this planet.This book is based on notes and recollections of Lamar Odom.

Widder shows us how when we push our boundaries and expand our worlds, discovery and wonder follow. A thrilling adventure story as well as a scientific revelation, Below the Edge of Darkness reckons with the complicated and sometimes dangerous realities of exploration. Alongside Widder, we experience life-and-death equipment malfunctions and witness breakthroughs in technology and understanding, all set against a growing awareness of the deteriorating health of our largest and least understood ecosystem. In the process, she reveals hidden worlds and a dazzling menagerie of behaviors and animals, from microbes to leviathans, many never before seen or, like the legendary giant squid, never before filmed in their deep-sea lairs. She only wanted to know one thing: Why was there so much light down there?īelow the Edge of Darkness takes readers deep into our planet's oceans as Widder pursues her questions about one of the most important and widely used forms of communication in nature. Concerns about her future career vanished. She turned off the lights and witnessed breathtaking underwater fireworks: explosions of bioluminescent activity. Widder's first journey into the deep ocean, in a diving suit that resembled a suit of armor, took her to a depth of eight hundred feet. With little promise of funding or employment, she leaped at the first opportunity to train as a submersible pilot and dove into the darkness. As her vision cleared, Widder found the intersection of her two passions in oceanic bioluminescence, a little-explored scientific field within Earth's last great unknown frontier: the deep ocean. A new reality of shifting shadows drew her fascination to the power of light-as well as the importance of optimism. She's done things I dream of doing.' -James Cameron Edith Widder's childhood dream of becoming a marine biologist was almost derailed in college, when complications from a surgery gone wrong caused temporary blindness. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BOOKLIST - 'Edith Widder's story is one of hardscrabble optimism, two-fisted exploration, and groundbreaking research. A pioneering marine biologist takes us down into the deep ocean to understand bioluminescence-the language of light that helps life communicate in the darkness-and what it tells us about the future of life on Earth in this 'thrilling blend of hard science and high adventure' ( The New York Times Book Review).

Darkness to light a memoir