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

Obsession is the overriding theme of this book about the sinking of the Titanic and the event’s establishment as the world’s most well-known shipwreck. Former National Geographic staffer Stone (The Food Explorer) revisits familiar and documented facts about the sinking—the ship’s construction, events and mistakes made during the voyage, and the forensic deconstruction of all that was known at the time. With the aid of time and technology, Stone investigates and reports, not only about the events surrounding the Titanic but why the mysteries that surround her continue to captivate the world’s attention, including notable men of their time who proposed audacious and impossible methods to raise her intact. And, with over three million shipwrecks at the bottom of the world’s oceans, Stone delves deeper into the reasons why ships sink, dispelling myths and focusing on other wrecks whose loss of life far surpasses the lives of the affluent Golden-Age ocean liner. Stone narrates his own material as he chronicles the lengths he was prepared to go for authentic research, new source materials, and firsthand interviews, all to understand why the Titanic continues to capture people’s imaginations.