Ghosts of the Abyss: A Journey Into the Heart of the Titanic

The Titanic looks like, well, a wreck in this lavishly illustrated coffee-table companion to Titanic director Cameron's 3-D undersea documentary. Titanic historian Lynch and artist and Titanic buff Marschall recap the story of the ship's doomed maiden voyage, describe the technology and logistics of undersea film-making, and ponder the parallels between the Titanic tragedy and the 9/11 attacks, which occurred during filming (""both events were met with outrage and disbelief-and the tragedies would remain indelibly etched on the collective memory of the world""). But the book's raison d'etre are the photos, and here it runs up against the fact that, unlike architectural ruins, nautical ruins are not very picturesque. Cameron's sonar imaging, lighting rigs and robot cameras yield not much more than visually similar images of gloom and rot, rendered in the deep-sea palette of blue-green and rust washed out by the glare of submarine floodlights. The authors juxtapose archival images of the ship's Edwardian luxury decor and furnishings with photos of their waterlogged remains, and it is here-and in the viewer's imagination-that the pictures become haunting. (Mar.)