"An electrifying, many-faceted masterwork."--"Booklist"

The beloved explorer Jacques Cousteau witnessed firsthand the complexity and beauty of life on earth and undersea--and watched the toll taken by human activity in the twentieth century. In this magnificent last book, now available for the first time in the United States, Cousteau describes his deeply informed philosophy about protecting our world for future generations. Weaving gripping stories of his adventures throughout, he and coauthor Susan Schiefelbein address the risks we take with human health, the overfishing and sacking of the world's oceans, the hazards of nuclear proliferation, and the environmental responsibility of scientists, politicians, and people of faith. This prescient, clear-sighted book is a remarkable testament to the life and work of one of our greatest modern adventurers.

Jacques Cousteau, 1910 - 1997 French marine explorer, writer, and film producer, Cousteau has popularized the undersea world for people of all ages. In 1943, he was partially responsible for the invention of the Aqua-lung, making it possible to extend the duration of underwater swimming. After World War II, he persuaded the French naval minister to create a marine study center at Toulon. Several years of study dramatized the need for application research, so with a 25-million-franc gift, the ferry Calypso was purchased. Its voyage to the Red Sea resulted in a film that won the Grand Prix at the Paris documentary film festival. It was followed in 1956 by The Silent World, an Oscar winner. Ensuing explorations resulted in over 36 films. The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau (1967) documented a scientific world cruise from the Red Sea through the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, as far north as Alaska. A 1972 television series filmed the expedition in the Antarctic and along the Chilean coast, and a 1975 archaeological expedition took Cousteau and his team to Greek waters. Cousteau has also written over 15 books, including a 20-volume encyclopedia, The Ocean World of Jacques Cousteau. He has produced numerous videotapes and has written a column, "Pulse of the Sea," for the Saturday Review, in addition to numerous articles for National Geographic magazine from 1952 to 1966. In 1974, he founded the Cousteau Society to preserve the oceans. He estimates that in his lifetime he has spent over seven years underwater, and that "during that time I have observed and studied closely, and with my own two eyes I have seen the oceans sicken."