Submersed

Wonder, Obsession, and Murder in the World of Amateur Submarines

By: Matthew Gavin Frank

Narrated by: Mark Deakins

An exquisite, lyrical foray into the world of deep-sea divers, the obsession and madness that oceans inspire in us, and the story of submarine inventor Peter Madsen's murder of journalist Kim Wall—a captivating blend of literary prose, science writing, and true crime

"[A] thrilling study of an obsession—to sink below the surface, to depths both metaphoric and in fact. Full of wild characters and strange histories, by the end we are convinced, in no small part by the beauty of [Frank's] language, that this is one of the most important stories ever told."—Nick Flynn, author of This Is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire

Submersed begins with an investigation into the beguiling subculture of DIY submersible obsessives: men and women—but mostly men—who are so compelled to sink into the deep sea that they become amateur backyard submarine-builders. Should they succeed in fashioning a craft in their garage or driveway and set sail, they do so at great personal risk—as the 2023 fatal implosion of Stockton Rush's much more highly funded submarine, Titan, proved to the world.

Matthew Gavin Frank explores the origins of the human compulsion to sink to depth, from the diving bells of Aristotle and Alexander the Great to the Confederate H. L. Hunley, which became the first submersible to sink an enemy warship before itself being sunk during the Civil War. The deeper he plunges, however, the more the obsession seems to dovetail with more threatening traits. Following the grisly murder of journalist Kim Wall at the hands of eccentric entrepreneur Peter Madsen aboard his DIY midget submarine, Frank finds himself reckoning with obsession's darkest extremes.

Weaving together elements of true crime, the strange history of the submarine, the mythology of the deep sea, and the physical and mental side effects of sinking to great depth, Frank attempts to get to the bottom of this niche compulsion to chase the extreme in our planet’s bodies of water and in our own bodies. What he comes to discover, and interrogate, are the odd and unexpected overlaps between the unquenchable human desire to descend into deep water, and a penchant for unspeakable violence.

A Good Subject, Ruined

The author seems to have metaphors for everything. It seems he lives in a thesaurus. Trying to be poetic with a otherwise technical subject falls flat. However, when he discusses the murder and things associated with, it tends to be somewhat matter of fact. It is sad that what would have been an interesting Technological read was ruined by the author‘s poetry. However, the reader did a fine job.

Horrible waste of time.

Agonizing, excruciating, mind numbing details. Less about the subject matter than the authors stretch to flowery dialog constantly drifting off into long rambling discourse that is distracting and often nauseating.

very insulting book

I thought I would buy this audiobook learn a little something about personal submarine culture and the murder of a journalist however it feels like I bought a hit piece on a certain group of people particularly the personal underwater submarine community I can only make it a few hours and I had to leave the book it is rather racist and just really strange that someone would literally write a book to go after a group of people put everyone the whole culture into one group apparently the author believes this group of people who build submarines in there garage are stupid rednecks that are misogynist but in fact it is the author of the work who comes off obviously with much hatred misunderstanding and racism towards this group of people I've never said this before in my life and I've also never said avoid this book at all costs but that's what I'm giving it sorry but it is what it is