Not everyone I know has read this book, either in its present incarnation or as the hardcover The Octopus's Garden, but they should. The reissue of The Octopus?s Garden in paperback as Deep-Ocean Journeys gives readers another chance to learn about a fascinating world, while partaking in a very personal journey of discovery led by a remarkable woman scientist and submersible pilot. The book itself is a delight, with the somehow-out-of-place kelp forest of the hardcover jacket replaced by a new deep-ocean illustration by Karen Jacobsen (who also illustrates the text), and with a smooth compact feel befitting a quality paperback. Helix has done a good job. For those with a general interest in the sea, Deep Ocean Journeys makes a nice companion to the recently released paperback version of Sylvia Earle's Sea Change.

In my Navy days, and later while engaged in various programs for NASA, I have had the good fortune to meet and work with a number of capable and confident women who were commanding hi-tech machines and excelling in previously male-dominated fields. Few of them have faced quite the social challenge that Van Dover met in becoming an Alvin pilot (where as pilot-in-training she could be discriminated against both because she was a woman and because she was a scientist!), and none of them have written as eloquently about their experiences, their vehicles, or their chosen destination. Van Dover shares with us her dreams and motivations along with the challenges - and she writes convincingly about why her study sites are both beautiful and important. Indeed, because of efforts of women like Van Dover, future women and men both may find it odd that gender discrimination could be a factor in such areas of endeavor. If we are ever so fortunate, Van Dover's tale will still have the power to inspire young scientists to overcome personal obstacles and achieve their goals in the study of nature.

Although, Dr. Van Dover's own story is part of what makes this book compelling, her capabilities as a naturalist and writer describing the fascinating world of life at deep-sea hydrothermal vents make the book a pleasure. That the vents are new worlds for scientific discovery, which have been known for only 20 years, should give us all pause - particularly before we make sweeping pronouncements about the limits of life on Earth, or about the perceived absence of life elsewhere in this solar system. Our ignorance is at once humbling and exciting, providing new opportunities for the curious student of nature. What is presently known about these new biological worlds is introduced by Van Dover in picturesque, flowing, and sometimes elegant prose. Here she describes "a chorus of tubeworms" found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean:

Through chapters with names like "The Abyssal Wilderness," "On Broken Spur," "Black Smokers," and "'Blind' Shrimp," Deep-Ocean Journeys helps us appreciate what life is like on the sea floor, and the measures required for its study. Particularly apparent in the book is the strong coupling between geophysical and geochemical processes at the vents and the strange ecosystems by which they are accompanied. These are biological communities that directly depend on chemosynthetic bacteria, both in the vents themselves or as symbionts in vent macroorganisms - while indirectly relying on the oxygen supplied to the deep-sea waters by surface photosynthesis. These communities include organisms that settle, grow, persist, and reproduce in waters laced with sulfides, and where the water temperature gradient may be 350? or more within a few millimeters. This is a very strange place, made stranger and more exotic by water pressure of 250 atmospheres and more - a pressure differential routinely faced by the men and women who journey there in Alvin and similar submersibles operated by the French, Russians, and Japanese.

In contrast, it is useful to remember that the pressure differential between the surface of the Earth and deep space is only 1 atmosphere, making the engineering challenges of space travel quite different than those of the deep ocean. Several trends, however, are making it likely that future oceanographic and space exploration will become more closely linked, both technologically and thematically. Increasingly, improvements in robotics have the potential to give humans telepresent control of remote vehicles in real or virtual environments - blurring the line between "being there" and not - and providing the potential for more routine science operations in dangerous and difficult environments such as space and the deep sea. Also, the space-life science community is learning the lessons of the deep ocean vents through the work of scientists like Van Dover, and has become much more aware of the potential links between the planetary environment and life. More directly, recent results from the Galileo mission to Jupiter have provided evidence that the jovian moon Europa may have its own ocean - and one that could very well have hydrothermal vents, to boot. Future deep ocean journeys may take place millions of miles from Earth, and the lessons learned from oceans here should help us unlock the secrets not only of Europa, but of planets in other solar systems that we are only now learning to detect.

Van Dover is certainly aware of the prospects for these other oceans, but I am sure she would be quick to point out the potential for further, unforeseen discoveries right here on Earth (what she terms "the Trilobite Factor"). The reader, upon finding out that Alvin has yet to dive south of the Equator, should at least consider her point.

It is quite likely that the next two decades of deep ocean exploration will be as interesting and eventful as those that are the subject of Deep Ocean Journeys. This book is a great way to learn about what has been done, to draw inspiration from the experience of a dedicated and resourceful scientist/pilot, and, if you are lucky, to prepare to join the business yourself. Whether as participant, observer, or future beneficiary, there should be enough new discoveries out there to inspire us all. My vote would be to one day have Cindy Lee Van Dover write about them, too.

Creatures of the Thermal Vents The Smithsonian Institution's "Ocean Planet" page describes the discovery and ecosystem. By Dawn Stover.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - information from and events at one of the world?s premier marine research institutions.

Hydrothermal Vent Geochemistry - in-depth diagram and brief explanation of such vents' chemical cycle. From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.

The Astrobiology Web - exploring life in extreme environments and beyond Earth's biosphere. The field is discussed by the site's founder, Keith Cowling, in the HMS Beagle Op-Ed "Astrobiology: Formulating the Big Picture."

HMS Beagle's Cutting Edge dialogue "The Origin of Life" discusses current explorations, both in space and deep within our oceans, for the beginning of biological life.