The Silent World (subtitle: A story of undersea discovery and adventure, by the first men to swim at record depths with the freedom of fish) is a 1953 book co-authored by Captain
Jacques-Yves Cousteau and
Frédéric Dumas, and edited by
James Dugan.[1]
Background
Although a French national, Cousteau wrote the book in English.[2] Cousteau and
Émile Gagnan designed, built, and tested the first "
aqua-lung" in the summer of 1943, off the southern coast of France. In the opening chapters, Cousteau recounts the earliest days of
scuba diving with his diving companions
Frédéric Dumas and
Philippe Tailliez. The aqualung allowed for the first time untethered, free-floating extended deep water diving, and ushered in the modern era of scuba diving. Later chapters include excursions diving to shipwrecks.
It was the basis of the Academy Award-winning documentary The Silent World (1956). It has been very successful; as of the book's 50th anniversary, it has been translated into some 22 languages and sold over 5 million copies,[3] and is still in print, notably as a 2004 hardcover edition published by the
National Geographic Society.[4]
The book contains 48 pages of black-and-white photos by various photographers, and 16 pages of color photos, made available by National Geographic Magazine. The hand-held work in
Ektachrome "is the first ever made in significant depths, using artificial light and scientific color correction."[2]
The Silent World (subtitle: A story of undersea discovery and adventure, by the first men to swim at record depths with the freedom of fish) is a 1953 book co-authored by Captain
Jacques-Yves Cousteau and
Frédéric Dumas, and edited by
James Dugan.[1]
Background
Although a French national, Cousteau wrote the book in English.[2] Cousteau and
Émile Gagnan designed, built, and tested the first "
aqua-lung" in the summer of 1943, off the southern coast of France. In the opening chapters, Cousteau recounts the earliest days of
scuba diving with his diving companions
Frédéric Dumas and
Philippe Tailliez. The aqualung allowed for the first time untethered, free-floating extended deep water diving, and ushered in the modern era of scuba diving. Later chapters include excursions diving to shipwrecks.
It was the basis of the Academy Award-winning documentary The Silent World (1956). It has been very successful; as of the book's 50th anniversary, it has been translated into some 22 languages and sold over 5 million copies,[3] and is still in print, notably as a 2004 hardcover edition published by the
National Geographic Society.[4]
The book contains 48 pages of black-and-white photos by various photographers, and 16 pages of color photos, made available by National Geographic Magazine. The hand-held work in
Ektachrome "is the first ever made in significant depths, using artificial light and scientific color correction."[2]