Book Sharing Monday :: Into the Deep

Into the Deep: The Life of Naturalist and Explorer William Beebe is written and illustrated by David Sheldon. William Beebe was an American explorer, author and naturalist, who was born in 1877. William Beebe wrote many books on nature, two of which you can read online at Project Gutenberg. The Log of the Sun: A Chronicle of Nature's Year sounds very interesting. William Beebe was also known for being a pionneer of the science of ecology, realizing that studying animals in their natural habitat was better than collecting them and bringing back to museums and zoos. The other major event he is known for is the creation and use with Otis Barton of the Bathysphere. The Bathysphere is a deep-sea diving vessel, without power. In 1934, the two men went in it and set a record for the deepest dive at the time (3,028 feet).

The photo below is from Wikipedia, showing William Beebe and Otis Barton with the Bathysphere:

In reading more about William Beebe, I came across this interesting entry in Wikipedia, the Timeline of Diving Technology.

We enjoy reading about exploration, especially related to nature and the ocean, so this non-fiction picture book was perfect and introduced us to William Beebe.