Sinkable: Obsession, the Deep Sea, and the Shipwreck of the Titanic

While almost everyone knows the story of the Titanic’s first, and final, voyage—this is not that story. Stone, instead, chronicles the aftermath of the sinking and how one ship became a cultural zeitgeist that keeps resurfacing. Intertwined with the Titanic’s continuing saga is a look at the history of salvage operations, deep-sea diving, sailing, shipwrecks in general and one man’s life-consuming obsession. Stone’s book is an interesting intersection of science and psychology as he traces the history of the Titanic, and our continual fascination with it, after its sinking. Although centered around that most famous of wrecks, Stone enlarges his view to encompass other famous wrecks and the obsessions, and subsequent actions they create in the hearts of (by and large) men. The details are exquisite, the science is insightful and the personalities of the men who seek, and even claim, shipwrecks is over-the-top entertaining.