The silent world

About “The silent world”

The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery & Adventure is a 1953 book coauthored by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Frédéric Dumas, edited by James Dugan. Written in English by the French author, it is the basis for the 1956 Academy Award-winning film The Silent World. The book has been translated into 22 languages, sold over 5 million copies, and remains in print. It includes 48 pages of black and white photos and 16 pages of color photographs, the first significant underwater color images taken with artificial light and scientific color correction. The book details the development of the aqualung, a diving apparatus created by Cousteau and Émile Gagnan in 1943. It also covers early scuba diving experiences with Frédéric Dumas and Philippe Tailliez, and later explorations of shipwrecks.