Below the Edge of Darkness: A Memoir of Exploring Light and Life in the Deep Sea

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. A new reality of shifting shadows drew her fascination to the power of light — as well as the importance of optimism. As her vision cleared, Widder found the intersection of her two passions in oceanic bioluminescence. With little promise of funding or employment, she leaped at the first opportunity to train as a submersible pilot and dove into the darkness. She turned off the lights and witnessed breathtaking underwater fireworks: explosions of bioluminescent activity. Concerns about her future career vanished. She only wanted to know one thing: Why was there so much light down there?

Below the Edge of Darkness takes readers deep into our planet’s oceans as Widder 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. A thrilling adventure story as well as a scientific revelation, this stunning book reckons with the complicated and sometimes dangerous realities of exploration. Widder shows us how when we push our boundaries and expand our worlds, discovery and wonder follow. These are the ultimate keys to the ocean’s salvation — and thus to our future on this planet.

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