Richard Smith is a marine biologist and conservationist, an award-winning underwater photographer and videographer, a public speaker, and the leader of diving expeditions around the world. In 2018, he identified a new species of pygmy seahorse, having first photographed it five years previously. His book, The World Beneath (Apollo Publishers, November 19, 2024), is a richly informative volume introducing the world's most fascinating sea creatures.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
The World Beneath takes you on an underwater adventure, where quirky sea creatures and colorful reefs around the world's oceans share their secrets and stories.
On your nightstand now:
I feel like I have quite an eclectic collection of nightstand books. I recently picked up Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island from a charity shop. It's probably long overdue a read, so it's at the top of the pile to remind me to read it. Next, I have Parrot Conservation: From Kakapo to Lear's Macaw. Tales of Hope from Around the World by Rosemary Low, who has been a great force for parrot conservation and education around the world. I had the chance to meet her a couple years ago and could have listened to her stories all day. I also have The Genus Salamandra by Uwe Seidel and Philip Gerhardt. I'm randomly obsessed with fire salamanders, which are amazing amphibians that are found across Europe, but are severely at risk from climate change and disease. Finally, The Resilient Garden and Allotment Handbook by Sally Morgan, which I bought at a local literary event. I am trying to grow organic produce in my garden and at the same time encourage wildlife, so this has been really insightful. It just needs a chapter on how to stop my wily but adorable chickens from dust bathing in the middle of the veggie patch and flattening everything!
Favorite book when you were a child:
Since I was five years old, I wanted to be a zoologist. I have a very tatty copy of Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature by Harry W. Greene that I schlepped around for quite a while. It was definitely not intended for little people, but I loved it. I inhaled the information from every page.
I was involved in a serious car accident as a child and had to undergo years of very painful procedures, and a great escape from that was listening to the audiobook (on cassette) of Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals. I would put it on when I went to bed and listen for hours. It's full of humor and animal antics. Right up my street and a book that I love to this day.
Your top five authors:
I have always loved Gerald Durrell, the eccentric British naturalist. As well as his often autobiographical books, his biography by Douglas Botting was fascinating. Since Jurassic Park, which was one of the first novels that I read, I've loved Michael Crichton's work. I enjoy his fantastical tales with the scientific background to make things seem somewhat believable. David Attenborough is obviously most well-known for his natural history documentaries, but I have always loved his writing too. Life on Earth is a classic and some of those early natural history observations were certainly formative for me. A friend of mine has filmed with Sir David for years and kindly passed on a copy of my book to him. One of my most treasured possessions is the handwritten note I received by post, where Sir David exclaimed, "Why haven't I seen the display of the Galapagos Pike Blenny, I've dived around the Galapagos!" A fiction book that I loved was The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. I appreciated the richness of writing and the location being in India really took me on a journey. For holiday reading, I do enjoy a murder mystery and have really relished the Britishness of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club series.
Book you've faked reading:
For my master's degree I studied Marine Ecology and Evolution, during which I was meant to have read Darwin's On the Origin of Species. Needless to say, I didn't; however, Darwin's work was of course fascinating, and I should read the book... one day!
Book you're an evangelist for:
I read Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer whilst I was doing a parasitology unit for my undergraduate degree and became slightly obsessed with the amazing world of parasites. They are creepy but biologically fascinating. There hasn't been too much work on underwater parasites, so on my travels I have found quite a few that appear to be new species. I included a chapter on marine parasites in my own book. I'll talk to anyone who will listen about parasites. Just the other day I was recommending this book to my hairdresser after a discussion about the new Alien movie!
Book you've bought for the cover:
I just picked up The Golden Mole and Other Vanishing Treasure by Katherine Rundell as an impulse buy. I suppose it was more the title, than the cover per se, but I am always drawn to little-known creatures and want to learn more about them. The golden mole checked that box, and the book had great reviews. My Ph.D. research was the first study on the biology of pygmy seahorses, so you can see the theme.
Book you hid from your parents:
I was raised by my father, who wasn't an avid reader. He would always fall asleep during story time. As a small child I would have to shake him awake if he fell asleep mid-sentence. To be honest, it would be more likely that he hid books from me, so I wouldn't badger him at bedtime to read to me.
Book that changed your life:
After learning to scuba dive at age 16, I carried around the physical book of Reef Fish Identification: Tropical Pacific by Gerald R. Allen, Roger Steene, Paul Humann, and Ned DeLoach, etching every detail of the fishes in my brain. I imagined how marvelous it would be to see some of the amazing rarities that it highlights, but the life-changing moment came when I met one of the authors, Ned, and his wife, Anna. We immediately bonded over weird and wonderful fishes, which over the years has led to us making elaborate expeditions to southern Australia and Tasmania plus several off-the-beaten-path locations in Japan. Without that initial literary link, we may never have connected and discovered our kindred spirits.
Favorite line from a book:
When it comes to anything aside from fishes I have a terrible memory. I could take you to the last place I saw a pygmy seahorse on a remote reef in the Solomon Islands, but I'm afraid lines from books escape me however moved I may be by them at the time.
Two books you'll never part with:
I would never be without my Nature Quiz Book by Michael Chinery. It has made many a long torturous road trip fly by. My close buddies and I now even have spin-off games. My dear friend Ida Kaller-Vincent is an absolute inspiration. She is a marine conservationist but is equally content climbing some of the world's most challenging mountains such as Ama Dablam in Nepal and Denali in Alaska. Her climbing inspired her first novel, Mountain Murder, which I absolutely adore, and I have a beloved signed copy of.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
When I was in my early teens, my father and I went on a grand adventure to Chile. We were great travel buddies until he passed a few years ago. I would love to read Jurassic Park again, as I vividly remember reading as we drove through the foothills of the Andes in Chile together. It was a wonderful trip, and I'd love to step back into those memories.