Since I spent the last few days re-reading an old favorite--The Blue Castle, by L.M. Montgomery--because I needed something happy with an ending I already knew, I'll take this time to promote an audiobook that I really enjoyed a couple of months ago: In the Waves: My Quest to Solve the Mystery of a Civil War Submarine by Rachel Lance.
This is a work of nonfiction, and it follows Lance's PhD research into the sinking of Hunley, a Confederate submarine. She manages to convey her fascination with the Hunley, believed to be the world's first successful combat submarine, without glorifying the Confederacy or what it represented.
Given that this is an investigation of the sinking of a submarine and its crew during war, this book does have its fair share of... gore might be too strong a word, but not by much. There are lots of explosions and plenty of the science behind them. (If Mythbusters were based on a book, I suspect it would read very much like In the Waves.) These more action-packed aspects are tempered by the reality of life as a PhD candidate, but even sections about funding and policies and procedures manage to be interesting. In short, this is narrative nonfiction at its best. It made for great listening and would likely be fun to read, too. If you like Mythbusters or science writing or mysteries from history, this is worth a look.
I had no idea there were submarines during the civil war! In the Waves sounds super interesting.
ReplyDeleteRight? Who knew?? There weren't a lot of submarines, but this one did manage to blow up a ship before it sank. It's a great book!
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