Mondes invisibles
by France Bourely
Editions de La Martiniere
216 pages, 45 euros

Jacques Cousteau explored the oceans’ deepest fathoms. The crew of the Space Shuttle punched through the Earth’s atmosphere and into infinite space. Possessed with the same spirit, author and photographer France Bourély takes us on a breathtaking visual odyssey far beyond the reach of the naked eye.

Dubbed a “micronaut” by NASA astronauts, Bourély uses a scanning electron microscope as her “spaceship.” A visionary scientist, she guides us on a journey into the unknown. We land in lunar landscapes on the back of an ant, explore secret valleys in orchid petals, scale the pistils of a daisy, cross mountains made of pollen, discover crevices on the back of caterpillar, or take shelter under a bush of bristles.

France Bourély can be described as a philosopher, a scientist, an artist, and a navigator all at once. This amazing book opens the door to a hidden paradise, revealing the startling beauty of the microscopic dimension that surrounds us all. By transporting us to the lands of the unseen, Bourély seeks to awaken our senses and transform the way we perceive our infinitely complex and always harmonious universe.

Foreword by Michael Lopez-Alegria, NASA astronaut and captain US Navy

Extract:

“Are you someone who wants…to see

Are your eyes ready to transgress the frontier of the invisible?  Have you ever faced the black of night to look at the stars, dived into the depths of dark waters, rummaged under heavy rocks, or crawled through underground caves? Have you ever scaled a wall to find out what was hidden behind it, overcome your vertigo to enjoy a bird’s-eye view, grappled with some mysterious text or the contents of a secret drawer? Have you searched an attic for a hidden treasure? Would you admit to having, at least once, peered through a keyhole?

If you feel you have the soul of an explorer ready to do anything to shed light on a mystery, on the impenetrable and indecipherable, or if you are simply curious, wanting truth and craving clarity, then without knowing it, you have always been a conqueror of the invisible, a Micronaut… “