"I remember watching The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau as a mesmerized nine-year-old, completely awed by the beauty of the world under the ocean surface while at the same time absolutely taken in by the beautiful white ship Calypso (still the first thing that comes to mind when I think of a ship, any ship) and the amazing team of divers captained by a thin old man in a red wool cap —the one and only Jacques Cousteau. He was the man who embodied the allure of adventure and exploration while also showing deep care for the environment at the same time.

Me, in way too many conversations.

Jacques Cousteau started as a French naval officer obsessed with making movies underwater. He worked for oil companies who could finance his ambitions, but eventually came to develop into an impassioned environmentalist. He was able to turn on persuasion and charm to find funds for his ventures and passions from the most unlikely sources. He co-invented Aqua-Lung and brought the amazing sights of the oceans to people’s living rooms from his iconic ship Calypso helping bring attention to the fragile environmental equilibrium that we are destroying. His older brother ended up a Nazi collaborator while Jacques-Yves worked with the French Resistance. He lost a son to an aircraft accident, had a falling out with another son suing him over using the family name in other business ventures, and for over a decade had a secret family hidden from his first family, with both families ending up in bitter disputes after his death.

“No one aboard Calypso doubted that Cousteau was their leader, but they also knew that he was always open to ideas other than his own. He seemed to function as a catalyst for innovation rather than as an innovator, far more interesting getting a job done than in doing it himself. Everyone around him recognized that his greatest talent was inspiring other people to help him realize his vision. Cousteau never surrendered authority; he was quick to criticize or dismiss harshly those who were lazy, disloyal, or incompetent; and he always seemed to know where he was going, even if he didn’t say so.��

Brad Matsen presents a respectful yet candid biography of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, not quite skirting the difficulties in the man’s character, his complicated family dynamics and the utter mess his family and legacy descended into after his death in 1997. Matsen’s writing has a great easy flow to it, very readable and yet very detailed, and he chooses to primarily focus not on the personal life (although we still get glimpses into it) but on Cousteau’s work �� ocean exploration, underwater filming, and his inventions �� and I’m immensely thankful for it, since tabloid-style airing of dirty laundry evokes little besides annoyance in me. I’d rather read about the challenges of diving and fundraising (since ocean exploration is not cheap) than gossip any day.

“For Cousteau […] the men on the lunar surface were a footnote to the miraculous photographs of the whole earth that had been sent from space by the Apollo moon ships. “Now we can see for ourselves that the earth is a water planet,�� Cousteau said. “The earth is the only known planet to be washed with this vital liquid so necessary for life. The earth photograph can drive a second lesson home to us; it can finally make us recognize that the inhabitants of the earth must depend upon and support each other.��

I’m thankful to Jacques Cousteau for working hard to make us see the beauty of our majestic yet fragile oceans and eventually the peril they are in. And I’m thankful to him, selfishly, for making my life as a kid just that much richer with the hours of fascination. And for the inevitable rewatch yet again of all of his series that I can get my hands on. And to Brad Matsen for bringing the story of his life’s work to us.

4.5 stars, rounding up because, well, I love Jacques Cousteau!

"

"Ye gods, this book killed me!


Welcome to NASA in the 1980s when they finally also recruited women. Joan is one of the ASCANs and one hell of a nerd astronaut. Seriously, just seeing her not only rocking astronomy and every adjacent field but also navigating that shitshow that is her relationship with her sister made her my absolute hero.
While training for the Space Program, she meets all sorts of people, like intense Lydia, really nice Griffin - and Vanessa. Goodness gracious, I fell in love with Vanessa basically immediately. Like Joan. *lol* However, not only are relationships amongst a team forbidden, homosexuality was still a no-no in those days.

Right at the beginning, we're in the control room with Joan while Vanessa and other team members are up in space - and things go horribly wrong. I've never had a heart-attack and cursed the author's name to the wind so early on in a book (even when we got intense but practically sweet chapters, in comparison, through the flashbacks).

So yes, this book is more about relationships than space exploration. Nevertheless, the book is also a love letter to NASA, the space program, every discovery and the people who made that possible. And I was so here for that! :D

The characters were ... lively. Honestly, I didn't hate Lydia too much. From the beginning, it was clear that she had never had support, never fitted in and nobody had made an effort until Joan. Seeing her evolution was cool (despite a number of cringes).
Donna was cool, as little as we learned about her and she helped in having women of all sorts on the team, including one who (view spoiler)[fell in love and chose having a family over space (hide spoiler)] which is absolutely legitimate, too.
I'm grateful that the author also created nice male characters, not just assholes. The bookgods know there are plenty assholes, but not ONLY assholes and it's important to have good men represented.
Then there was Barbara. Holy fucking shit, did I hate that bitch! I have rarely hated anyone as much as this despicable, sorry excuse for a human being. She should NOT have been allowed to procreate in the first place, didn't deserve her daughter, and should have been slapped by Joan at least once every chapter, but at least punched right in the face during that confrontation around Thanksgiving. Seriously! If I hear ONE MORE PERSON wanting a red carpet and fanfare for feeding and clothing children - literally the legal minimum you HAVE TO DO - I'm gonna go berserk! *yells in frustration*
(See the quotes I highlighted for example. I’ll add the rest once I have my print copy and can find the passages.)

An absolutely perfect counter-balance was Joan's and Vanessa's love story. No, the relationship wasn't perfect and in my personal opinion some fights went too far (I know it's "normal" if you ask people but most people are in the wrong relationship anyway) but they were both awesome and when they were together, they were basically magic. The chemistry was off the charts and palpable. In fact, I was surprised my book didn't go up in flames. *lol* That is not to say that the author made it about sex. That would have been cheap. I was glad to see that when we did witness the physical attraction, it was about an expression of intimacy and trust - as it should be.

It is therefore no surprise that the cliffhanger we got right at the beginning of the book was not only never far from my mind, but killed me. I was so fucking anxious all the time! They say reading is relaxing and good for you - my doctor would beg to differ if she had taken my vitals these past few days. *lol* The suspense never let up and yet, somehow, still didn't take away from me enjoying the story unfolding in front of me.

Yes, a perfect blend if you ask me and probably my favorite book of 2025 (yep, I'm calling it). No idea how the author did it but boy, did she ever.


P.S.: (view spoiler)[I didn't like where this ended. I need MORE. *lol* (hide spoiler)]"

"This is a landmark of corny. It's like whenever TJR saw the opportunity for facile sentimentalism, she took it and amped it. The dialogues, they are like what AI would do if you fed it a ton of self-growth books (directed at women) and a bunch of Danielle Steel (it might have been a bit better with a bit more Andy Weir). Regurgitating in easy pieces things about love, and faith and

Sorry, I am sure this will be a very popular book, it is everywhere, it is a tempting setup, I was tempted myself because astronauts. I enjoyed some of her earlier books, I think they are the modern day equivalent of those 80s-90s "bestseller" - female centric, women having remarkable careers in interesting settings, nice pace, some surprises and dramatic twists, but with a 21st century sensitivity. And now she was doing it to astronauts. Sounded good. But it was oh so cheesy.

Maybe part of what I disliked is that despite this being an ostensibly liberal book, in obvious details carefully pointed out ( lgbt relationship, feminist speeches by many of the women characters backed by boorish males in the background, women in science, the importance of science) it all seems surface level and like it does not exam underlying restrictions, just reinforces them - it ends up being about a woman yes but (view spoiler)[ she being a scientist does not mean she does not have faith in God (I expect that would be unpopular by some reviews I saw here who already thought this was too non religiouns?), love is the most important thing (and her lack of interest in dating totally would back any accusation she is secretly a lesbian, because guess what it turns out she is), she dreams of a wedding because, sacrificing her career to take care of a child (where are the grandparents here? And all of this is necessary because hey evil sister is a selfish bitch with subtlety or sympathy), and if the love interest was a man likely readers would be criticizing them over being a bit overbearing and smug in a lot of things. I mean, if she was an astronaut who did not want a wedding or be in a relationship, or needing to take care of a kid as the most important thing ever, or if she was an atheist, she would still be interesting and relatable. And maybe more empowering..

Even the ending, it was cheap, easy, corny. 4 space shuttles were built (and a prototype), that was real tragedy, but the drama and the resolution here just felt cheap, shallow in comparison to the real history (hide spoiler)]

So I did not like it: the contrived plot, the earnest dialogues, the sheer artificiality of it all. I think I am quitting her books here, even as "summer reads"."

"Якось вже задовбало протистояння Єви та Соммерсета, особливо по дитячому виглядає коли Єва кидає свою куртку на підлогу при вході😑 І тут ще тупа порада Пібоді, щоб та не відволікалась на якісь стосунки з Макнабом, бо у них справа, хоча вона з Рорком і все окей."