波浪下的數位命脈: 看不見的科技與國安戰線，海底電纜與我們的生活

by Samanth Subramanian, 謝達文 (Translator)

▂▂▂完整認識海底電纜的第一本入門書▂▂▂



「從第一條跨大西洋電報電纜鋪設至今，已經過了一又四分之三個世紀。
而至今，電纜仍然無可取代。」
×
「海底電纜的安全是國安議題，是經濟發展的前提，
是真正生死攸關的大事。」


★ 《經濟學人》2025年度最佳書籍
★ 作者實地走訪太平洋島國東加、非洲象牙海岸與臺灣馬祖南竿
★ 與鐵路、蘇伊士運河並列，19世紀技術革命的三大成就之一「海底電纜」


滑手機、追劇、刷卡消費、股票交易，我們的生活幾乎每一刻都離不開網路。然而，這些看似「無形」的連線，其實建立在一套龐大而脆弱的「實體」基礎建設之上：海底電纜。這些線路是維繫現代社會運作的「數位生命線」，但近年來，我們時常看到海底電纜受損的新聞，從自然災害到人為破壞，這些海纜的風險隨地緣政治的衝突升溫，日益浮現。或許，是時候好好認識這項帶來全球化的關鍵基礎「海底電纜」，而本書正是起點。

海底電纜究竟是什麼？

海底電纜由極細的光纖構成，以絕緣材料包覆，鋪設於海床之上，負責國家或地區之間的通訊傳輸，全球超過九成的數據傳輸，仰賴這些鋪設於深海、總長超過一百三十萬公里的光纖電纜。早在19世紀，人類就開始鋪設電報電纜，而今日的全球網際網路，仍建立在這張看不見的海底網絡之上。即使在衛星科技高度發展的今天，海底電纜依然是最可靠、速度最快、容量最大的通訊方式。衛星與微波等技術可以提供備援，但無法徹底取代。

從現場出發！看不見的科技與國安戰場

本書作者國際記者薩曼斯走訪世界各地，從太平洋島國東加、非洲象牙海岸到臺灣馬祖南竿，採訪了海纜工程師、企業高層與專家學者等，像是電信業者沃達豐（Vodafone）、中國華海通信前執行長、馬來西亞OMS集團董事長，以及Bayobab象牙海岸分公司總經理等。作者親歷現場，仔細記下鋪設與修復海底電纜的艱難任務，拆解這項龐大的技術，也討論背後複雜的全球權力結構。科技巨頭如Google、Meta已大量投入海底電纜的製作和鋪設；中國企業華海通信的崛起；各國政府將海底電纜視為戰略資產，而破壞電纜成了「灰色戰爭」的一種手段。

書中從東加火山爆發後，海纜受損的事件出發，描繪了整個國家斷網的情況，像是醫療、貨運與金融的停擺；也帶領我們前往非洲，直擊2Africa海纜鋪設的現場作業。同時，作者也來到臺灣馬祖，看見海底電纜受損可能對臺灣造成的衝擊，並訪問數發部的官員如何在中國威脅下，思考守住臺灣通訊安全的方法。 那些連接世界的訊號，穿越深不見底的海床而來，我們或許早已習慣這種「無形」的連線，卻從未真正理解它的存在。隱藏在海面之下的電纜，以及背後無數投入其中的人們，共同構築了這個世界，而我們的生活，正是被這張看不見的網緊緊連繫著。


╰➤ [ 本書特色 ]
1. 以第一人稱的報導與旅行書寫為架構，將原本看似複雜的科技議題，說成一段段生動又易懂的故事。在歷史、地緣政治與日常生活之間來回穿梭，帶領讀者一步步拆解藏在海洋之下的全球網路，讓原本遙遠陌生的海底電纜，也變得貼近而具體。

2. 你將看到：海底電纜是如何設計與鋪設，背後的成本、原料、安全和風險等；斷裂的電纜如何在數千公尺深的海中修復，而相關從業人員又是如何看待這項高度保守、門檻極高的產業與自身的工作；為何科技巨頭開始主導全球網路的基礎設施，改寫過去的權力版圖，以及美中兩大強權如何在海底電纜上展開競逐等。

3. 還可以幫助我們進一步思考與提問：如果海底電纜被切斷，我們的生活可能會變成什麼樣子？面對這樣的風險，國家與社會可以如何提前準備？而在臺海局勢日益緊張且中國侵略之下，我們又該如何重新看待通訊自由，強化臺灣自身的數位韌性？

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Technology, Audiobook, History

Unknown Binding

Published May 12, 2026

About the author

Samanth Subramanian is the India correspondent for The National and the author of two books of reportage, "Following Fish: Travels Around the Indian Coast" and "This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War." His writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Granta, the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Intelligent Life, Aeon, Mint, Travel + Leisure, and Caravan, among other publications. His longer reported articles occupy the confluence of politics, culture and history, examining the impact of these forces upon life and society; his shorter pieces include op-eds, cultural criticism, and book reviews.

He also co-hosts The Intersection, a fortnightly science and culture podcast from Audiomatic.

"This Divided Island" won the 2015 Crossword Prize for Non Fiction and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Non Fiction Prize the same year. "Following Fish" won the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize in 2010 and was shortlisted for the Andre Simon Award in 2013.

Samanth Subramanian grew up in Madras, and he lives and works in New Delhi.

Reviews

[Erin Cook]

outstanding. my only gripe is it constantly refers to time periods based on North American seasons. what does 'late Spring' mean? I wish these American published books would stop doing that and be more exact. especially because we're not talking about the US! how is a US season the preferable marker of time when talking about Cote d'Ivoire?

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Niche subject, for sure, but undersea cables have fascinated me since I was a little kid.

[Michael Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a civil engineer myself, I like to think that I'm cognizant and aware of all the infrastructure that makes our modern lives possible. But this book pointed out a blindspot I'm not ashamed to admit I'd never considered: the thousands of miles of undersea cables that physically connect the world to the internet.

Like all of the best Columbia Global Reports, this book reads like a really long article from a journalist with a passion for a niche interest. The author's personal anecdotes add color to the overall discussion without getting in the way of the content, which is interesting enough on its own. The main case studies feature a small South Pacific island cut off from the world after an underwater avalanche severs their sole cable, a series of landfall operations on the west African coast, and an act of hybrid warfare in the South China Sea relating to a vulnerable Taiwanese territory.

Physically it seems the world is beginning to schism into multiple different internets as megacorporations (Meta vs. Google) and regional powers (USA vs. China) refuse to share cables with each other out of distrust. But geography dictates choke-points and other challenges which just means everyone is laying down their own cables over the same routes and coming ashore at the same nodes. Instead of acting as redundancies, it just seems an inefficient waste of limited time, space, and resources in the name of independence and security, which isn't even guaranteed as the discussion about how easy it is to tap into a cable explains.

There's a lot of interesting content in such a short read, and it also just feels like I walked away from this more informed, which I feel is a measure of a good nonfiction read.

[Santhosh Guru · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a fan of Samanth's writing, so I had no second thoughts on reading this book at all. This is such an obscure, nerdy but an interesting and important topic. What we take for granted, while we are immersed in our digital world, is the underlying infrastructure that makes this work.

I am technically savvy and curious person. I thought satellites (and Starlink like systems) are a huge component of making the Internet work but I was wrong. I was surprised to hear on this elaborate network of subsea cables that does the heavylifting of Internet. The history, politics and economics behind this network makes me more appreciative about this and wants me to dig deep into this rabbit hole.

A great companion piece for this book is a three-hour long podcast on datacenters https://pca.st/episode/ef8197cc-2518-.... It would make your appreciate what goes behind a ChatGPT prompt or a Netflix show or a simple Gmail search.

Highly recommend this short book.

[doomedsardines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this one up, since it was a read for our university alumni book club. Topic seems to be popular these days with bunch of anglo-saxons trying to artificially create another fear for heavily brainwashed Europeans and Americans - that Iran or Russia will cut their internet cable so they won’t be able to doom-scroll or post their opinion, no one is interested in.

It is certainly an interesting read, with few facts that might surprise if you are far from this niche field. After all, 95% of the internet traffic goes via fibre optic undersea cables and there is no alternative, even Starlink will not become one. While cables are indeed subject to damage, both deliberate and accidental, situation is by far not as critical as many are trying to portray.

What is more worrying so, is only a handful of Big Tech firms and governments having the ability to invest into the laying of new cables, leading to unintended consequences like bifurcation of the internet. On one side we see Meta and Amazon investing billions in laying their own cables. On the other side, China is doing same while United States has sanctioned CN companies from participating in any cable-related tenders. In fact, there must be no direct cable connection between China and the USA today, despite traffic being all time high between the two countries, instead data is routed via other locations.

The book has good stories from the Subramanian’s travels around the world, but somehow it ends very abruptly. It could have been far more reaching journalistic research, but seems interest (or money) ended at some point. But short length doesn’t make it worth, we've just left waiting for more and maybe follow author on the many podcasts he joins since topic became a hot potato in a world torn apart by geopolitical tensions.

[WiseB · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is not any deep dive into Internet cables technologies, but rather a macro perspective of the “web” of cables being a key global infrastructure component of the Internet. The author reveals how these undersea cables are not merely technical artifacts but foundational components of the modern information economy, geopolitical power, and national security.

Data flows depend on geographically fixed chokepoints, fragile seabed assets, specialized ships, and a small number of corporations and states that design, finance, deploy, and maintain cables. This physicality creates vulnerabilities including accidental damage, natural disasters, espionage, sabotage, and strategic competition. At the same time, cables enable unprecedented economic integration, real-time communication, and the scalability of modern digital services.

The book also highlights the changing political economy of undersea cables. Whereas governments once dominated cable construction for imperial and strategic reasons, private firms, particularly hyperscale cloud providers, now play a central role. This shift raises questions about sovereignty, regulation, resilience, and the balance between efficiency and security.

[Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sbort, intensely interesting book about the explosive growth in the number of fiber optic cables spanning the world's oceans, carrying petabits of information every second between nations. Some of the most interesting chapters in Subramanian's book involve the technology in laying these fiber optic cables, the process of repairing them when they break, and the consequences of small island nations losing their cable, plunging them into complete internet darkness.

[Raghu Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The internet, AI, and much of digital technology occupy a lot of the world's consciousness nowadays, apart from the usual wars, terrorism, and geopolitical tussles. The internet evokes an image of being ethereal, existing in the sky as a weightless, wireless, and "cloudy" entity. This book by Samanth Subramanian shatters that image and brings it down to earth, in fact to the depths of the vast oceans. The physical infrastructure that makes our digital lives possible is an 870,000-mile network of fiber-optic cables pulsing on the ocean bed, conducting 95% of our internet traffic. They connect and reconnect the eyelets on our shorelines, lacing the earth together, stretching from Rhode Island to Bilbao in Spain or Penmarch in France. Subramanian takes us to the far corners of the world in transforming a technical subject into a “travel journey” that blends history, science, hi-tech, and geopolitics.

Subramanian offers a concise overview of the technology powering the cable infrastructure. When scientists and engineers invented the laser, it led to developing the highly purified glass, paving the way to creating fiber optic cables. Development in this technology proceeds at a dizzying pace. Along a fiber optic cable, it takes just 0.000006 seconds to send a Harry Potter book. For example, a Finnish company intended to invest a billion dollars in laying cables beneath the Arctic Ocean. Analysts projected these cables would reduce trade execution times for banks in Tokyo and London by twenty to sixty milliseconds. The first transatlantic optical fiber carried 565 million bits a second in 1988. In 2022, a Japanese experimental cable carried 1,000 trillion bits a second. Engineers achieve this through wavelength division multiplexing, an ingenious technique. It mixes differently colored lasers, with each color representing a separate stream of information, into a single beam of light. It then travels through the fiber and is unmixed at the other end back into its various colors, into its constituent data streams. In an instant, it multiplies the capacity of a fiber by 10 or 20 or however many colored lasers are passing through it.

Readers not expert in the subject would find the technical details captivating, evoking simultaneous awe and fear regarding our world. We marvel at science and technology’s brilliance, and fear our lives’ fragility exposed by immense seabed systems. A tiny group of private American tech firms like Google and Meta commission and own subsea cables. However, in the inky depths of the deep ocean, they’re protected by neither military nor legal muscle. For example, Taiwan is crucial in chip manufacturing for the modern world. But only fifteen submarine cables link Taiwan to the rest of the world. Submarine cables carry $10 trillion in financial transactions daily. The author believes the future of the internet will entail the weaponisation of its submarine cable systems because there is no Plan B for these cables. Despite using satellites, systems like Starlink offer much slower data transfer speeds (a dozen gigabytes per second at best) compared to physical cables (multiple terabytes per second).

Encryption protects most internet data that travels through undersea cables today. However, we must not think that this protects us completely. There is metadata, which internet ‘sniffers’ can access. Metadata reveals whether one is accessing Pornhub, or HoorayTheUighursShallBeFree.com, or something else. An eavesdropper can learn whom one emails, how many times he makes Amazon purchases, how long he spends watching Netflix daily, and where he travels. Michael Hayden, previously NSA director, even stated that the US kills individuals based on metadata. As long as undersea cables betray their data, countries will try to tap the cables of others and protect their own. It is already clear in the dynamic between the US and China.

The book’s key insight is that the modern world depends on the internet’s physical components, not its immaterial aspects. Almost 99 percent of global data zips through glass filaments just three inches wide. Since so much of political and national strength relies on the internet, we realize how much of global power hangs by a glass thread that is only inches wide. Subramanian illustrates this fragility right at the start of his book with his account of the 2022 Tonga volcanic eruption. The snapping of the nation’s single data cable by an earthquake on the seabed plunged Tonga into a state of isolation not seen in a century. Money became inaccessible as ATMs failed and trade halted. Doctors could not get access to the medical records. Subramanian also discusses the vulnerability of Taiwan through the frequent cable cuts around the island, which is often attributed to Chinese “gray zone warfare”. He highlights the global risk these events pose, emphasizing how crucial undersea cables are to every nation.

Saying ‘data is the new oil’ feels cliché. Subramanian shows how it indeed is true in geopolitics. Controlling information transmission infrastructure has been a source of power throughout history. Britain dominated the world in the nineteenth century through its telegraph network, which comprised undersea cables. The modern map of submarine fiber optic networks and an old map of the British Cable & Wireless routes have few differences. In the early twentieth century, the cable map could identify the centers of wealth and geopolitical power. Twenty-first century undersea communication cables exhibit similar characteristics. They embody the same essential structure of geopolitical power: the wealth and might of the US and Europe and the relative poverty of Africa.

Subramanian portrays tech companies in an imperial light, much like other recent works on digital technology. The author draws a parallel to the ‘bad boy’ of the 19th-century, the British East India Company. Karen Hao’s book, “The Empire of AI” compares OpenAI to an imperialist power like Britain in the nineteenth century. Subramanian views Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta as successors to 19th-century entities such as the East India Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company. These companies mimic their 19th-century predecessors as private, profit-seeking entities on which the US relies to carry the flag of imperial power and project national power worldwide. Undersea cables are expensive and extensive. Only companies like Google and Meta, which have deep pockets, can fund massive, high-risk infrastructure projects—like the 1.4 million kilometers of undersea cables that exist today. Poorer nations have to depend on these companies for their essential internet capabilities. Just as colonial powers once negotiated exclusive concessions, poorer nations today find they must relinquish some of their sovereignty to Western tech giants for better internet connectivity. The same asymmetry that prevailed in colonial times continues today in transferring data. Sometimes, one feels the comparison with imperialism and 19th-century colonialism stretches a bit, but overall, I think more similarities than differences exist.

The book, though brief at 130 pages, touches upon a broad spectrum of topics without delving into any single one in depth. It serves as an educational read, opening our eyes to the extensive and unseen network of undersea cables that operate ceaselessly, underpinning every moment of life on our planet. Subramanian's work prompts reflection, allowing us to perceive this network either as a clandestine force enabling global control or as a foundational element that makes contemporary life possible. Personally, I found the book to be an engaging, entertaining, and informative experience, imparting significant insights into our world.

[Yi Jie Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hidden Weight of Our Digital Lives
We speak of "the cloud" as if our emails, Netflix streams, and bank transfers float weightlessly in some ethereal elsewhere. Samanth Subramanian's The Web Beneath the Waves performs a necessary and unsettling service: he drags the cloud down to the ocean floor, where it belongs.

The book opens with the 2022 eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai volcano—a blast so powerful it was heard in Alaska. Within hours, Tonga's single submarine cable was severed, and the nation of 100,000 people simply vanished from the internet. Not just Facebook. Banking, medical referrals, government coordination, foreign remittances (44% of GDP), the ability to apply for emergency helicopter evacuations—all gone. Tonga had dismantled its satellite backup because the cable had worked so reliably. Subramanian's central insight lands like a punch: The more reliable a system becomes, the more we dismantle its backups. And then it fails.

The Ghosts of Old Cables
One of the book's most fascinating arguments appears in Chapter 2 ("The Cartography of Cables"). Subramanian visits Porthcurno, Cornwall—a village that was once the center of the British Empire's telegraph network. In 1870, a cable from Porthcurno to Bombay carried the first message: "How are you all?" The reply came in five minutes: "All well."

Here is the startling claim: Modern fiber optic cables largely follow the exact same routes as those 19th-century telegraph lines. If you overlay a map of today's submarine cables onto a map from 1901, the thickest thatch remains the North Atlantic. Cables still hug the west African coast. They still land in Mumbai and Chennai rather than elsewhere on India's long coastline.

Why? Partly geopolitics (the wealthy nations stayed wealthy), but also sheer physical constraint. Cable companies look for beaches with soft sand, gentle slopes, and calm water—then they must negotiate with local governments, secure environmental permits, and avoid submarine canyons like the Congo Canyon where avalanches snap cables. Once a route is proven safe and permitted, it becomes the default. As Subramanian writes, "along the historical optimum routes, it's now getting pretty crowded down on the seabed."

He offers a telling example: Mumbai now hosts dozens of data centers precisely because cables have landed there for over a century. When he asked an Indian cable executive why new cables don't land in Cochin (further south), the reply was: "If you land it in Cochin, you will in any case have to run the cables back up to the data centers in Mumbai. As a result, you don't really diversify." Infrastructure begets infrastructure. The past literally shapes the flow of data.

The Three Revolutions
Subramanian traces three seismic shifts. First, in the 1990s, private financiers (FLAG) broke the monopoly of state-owned telecoms, crashing bandwidth prices. Second, Big Tech—Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft—became the primary owners of new cables, funding 80% of recent capacity. Third, geopolitics: the US (via Team Telecom) and China (via permitting delays in the South China Sea) now treat cables as strategic assets, excluding each other's companies and building parallel, duplicative networks. The "splinternet" is no longer a theory; it is under construction.

Verdict
At just over 100 pages, The Web Beneath the Waves is a model of concise, urgent nonfiction. Subramanian's prose is elegant, his reporting is meticulous, and his argument is essential.

[Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heard about this book from a recent review in The Economist, and I agree that it is excellent. It is short (little over 100 pages) but I actually found that to be a refreshing change -- I knew going in I wouldn't have to wade through a long historical background or anything.

The author brings to life the sheer ridiculousness of today's internet and the subsea cables that make it possible. Namely, he exposes the contradiction that while the internet has become invaluable for virtually all aspects of daily life in the modern world, it is extraordinarily vulnerable. As we've now seen in the news, all you have to do to potentially bring a country to its knees for weeks or more is drag the anchor of a ship across the seabed where you know one of their subsea cables -- whose locations are public knowledge -- is routed.

The author explains the consequences of a damaged cable, the costs and processes of laying and replacing cables, and the geopolitical/tech power struggle that governs their use. He interviewed a variety of personalities related to telecom around the world, in places as widespread as Tonga, Ivory Coast, Malaysia, and Taiwan. The reporting is lucid and enlightening, and always efficient and fast-paced. Highly recommended.

I will add one mind-boggling fact I learned. As incredibly advanced as fiber-optic communication is, before setting out, cable-laying ships still wind their cable around a drum manually, by human beings walking around in circles day and night. This can take over a month to store thousands of miles of cable, as is often the case.

[Stephen Lyons · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating Look at the Internet’s Hidden Backbone — Informative but Slower-Paced”

The Web Beneath the Waves is an eye-opening look at a critical piece of global infrastructure that most of us rarely think about: the vast network of undersea cables that quietly powers the modern internet. I was genuinely intrigued by the information and found myself fascinated by how much of our daily digital life depends on these fragile lines resting on the ocean floor.

The book does an excellent job unpacking the hidden complexity behind global connectivity. The geopolitical implications alone are compelling — from national security concerns and espionage risks to sabotage threats and the vulnerability of cables to natural disasters. It’s sobering to realize how exposed and strategically important this infrastructure really is.

That said, while the subject matter is inherently dramatic, the reading experience felt slower than I expected. I found myself wishing the narrative leaned more into the tension and urgency of these real-world stakes. With higher pacing and more storytelling momentum, the book could have delivered greater adrenaline and emotional impact to match the significance of the topic.

Overall, this is a highly informative and thought-provoking read that will permanently change how you think about the internet. Readers looking for deep insight into global connectivity and infrastructure will appreciate it most, even if those hoping for a faster-paced, thriller-style narrative may find parts of it a bit measured.

[Shweta Ramdas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The trouble with an e-book is you have no sense for how large it is. After 'this divided island' and 'a dominant character', I went in expecting a tome. Halfway through the book, (just as I realised I was already halfway through the book!) it hit me that this wasn't a deep dive into the history, science and engineering acrobatics behind internet cables but an overview. And while I appreciate the deftness with which the author describes the physics of information transfer through lasers in a single paragraph, and the weaving narratives of globalization, geopolitics and technology, I came away wanting more, feeling a little let down by having been given a trailer of the undersea cabling infrastructure without having access to the full movie. Can we have the unabridged version next please?

[William Nist · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are 900,000+ miles of fiber optic cable under the oceans, carrying internet information to every corner of the globe. They have our government's national defense communications as well as our individual Schwab Accounts! They can be tapped, they can be disrupted, and they can be intentionally sabotaged. I am surprised that more of the later has not happened, although I understand that there has been some recent Russian sabatoge in the Baltic Sea.

This brief booklet explores the history of cabling, and examines a volcanic disruption of a cable serving a remote Pacific Island. It is a warning.

[Santosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Samanth beautifully puts across something that I've always felt - that the facade of our world as digital makes it so easy to forget the material nature of everything. This is a fantastic look behind the facade and at the true face of the world. The cables mark a towering achievement of humanity as a whole, though we are mostly unaware of it and take it for granted. The amount of work that goes into this and the number of people who are so dedicated to this just makes me smile in satisfaction. Great, short read!

[Cade · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited for this book because I loved Mother Earth Mother Board by Neal Stephenson. The author explicitly starts by saying this may be something of an update to Stephenson's work. Well, it ain't. This does not at all land like MEMB. It is more concerned with the geopolitics and especially "equity" of internet access rather than the interesting technical aspects of actually laying, servicing, and operating the cables.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read about about data cables. I never realized how important (and fragile) they are, and how they can't be replaced by satellites. Makes me wonder how my life would be different if they were lost, like say in a conflict with China. Kudos to the author for a nice, succinct, get-to-the-point book. He didn't feel the need to add filler to make this a usual sized 300 page book. I appreciate it.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise, thorough, and fascinating primer on a subject that folks know little about, but should.

You get the feeling that when people refer to the "cloud," that they think it's an actual cloud. Puny earthlings and their misconceptions. People also think the world is wired by towers and satellites.

WRONG!

Cables, baby. It's cables. Everything here is RIGHT, and people should pay better attention.

[Thaths · Rating 4 out of 5]

My friend Samanth's short, but packed book on the politics, physics, geography, economics, etc. of the (undersea) fiber optic cables that bind the world together. Using the severance of a cable connecting a remote Tongan island as an umping off point the book explores the history, policy and politics of these cables. This nouvella-length book is a worthy successor (exactly 30 years later) to Neal Stephenson's Mother Earth Mother Board.

[Jeff Shultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting primer on subsea cables

Fiber optic cables carry nearly everything on the internet - even Starlink is connected to the rest of the internet via fiber.

The Web Beneath the Waves explains how many of those cables pass under the seas between nations, and what it takes to keep them safe, what happens when that fails, and the consequences of that failure to everyday people. And a little bit about how there is a growing cold war involving them as well.

[Pachyderm Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brief, lyrical survey of the Internet's underwater Infrastructure & the people who maintain it offers a timely reminder of the entent to which the modern world depends on a fragile filigree of subsea cables- and of the many waysin which the supposedly disembodied online world is vulnnerable to physical, commercial, and geopolitical interference.

[Isabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Submarine cables would be expected to make a very boring subject, but the author makes it thrilling. An essencial book to raise awareness to our dependence on the internet and its fragility, in particular how it is becoming controlled by a few private US corporations.

[Michael Gay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating book about that which I had never really thought about. It does however read more like an extended magazine article - and a couple of political comments slip in to reveal the journalist's bias. But all-in-all a good read.

[Miriam Murcutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, well-written and lively book about the importance the network of underseas cables plays in allowing us to surf the Internet and connect to the outside world. It's a story of good guys and bad guys, triumphs, disasters, global politics and big business. Read it. You'll be surprised.

[Sharron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise, well written, brilliant, in fact. How did I not know about the issues addressed in this book? They affect everyone on the planet, most especially those in the first world but not exclusively by any means. Next critical question - how do I get everyone I know to read this book ?

[Filip Olšovský · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful look at an unexplored topic. It has a narrative, journalistic moments, and fascinating facts. Just extend it by another 100 pages and the result will be the ultimate non-fiction book of our time, where certain topics will not be merely touched upon.

[Matilda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5✨ If the narrator didn’t feel the need to put on an accent for certain interviews I would have given this a 4.75.
A nice mix of information awareness driver, nature documentary level narration and personal interviews.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engaging, easy to understand, extremely niche and interesting. I reserve 4 and 5 stars for really mind altering books, so this book wasn’t exactly that experience for me. But this is still an excellent read on a subject I knew nothing about and was intrigued in.

[Ankur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book on niche topic. Helped me get a decent understanding of the challenges faced in proving high speed continuous Internet service to the world. It would have been halpful if some pictures were included especially of the cable splitting, repair, etc.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very quick read outlining the importance and incredible coverage of undersea cables and the information and data they push.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating. That's all I have to say about this book and the topic in general.