No comments about Vercors Caves: Classic French Caving, Volume I.

No comments about Exploring Caves: Journeys into the Earth (Imax).

No comments about Climbing and Exploring Utah's Mt. Timpanogos : Also Featuring - History of Provo & American Fork Canyons, Sundance, Heber Creeper, Timp Hike, Timp Cave, ... Deaths & Rocky Mountain Goats & Geology.

5 comments about The Cave Divers.

1. 'Robert Burgess succeeds in conveying the excitement, eloquently painting pictures of the sights and describing the intellectual challenges and satisfactions, masterfully mixing adventure with history, sociology, archaeology and some hard-learned lessons in physics. There are chapters with unexpectedly happy endings and others detailing tragic mistakes made in this unforgiving environment... it is easy to see why this book earned a 'Book of the Year' award from Forward Magazine... As a photographer, Burgess is able to add another dimension to this book... Burgess' photos cover many decades and many caves... Overall, the book is a delight, entertaining and an easy read. It's a great vacation book, full of adventure, divided into chapters that can easily stand alone or mesh together...[Burgess] masterfully glides the reader through tales of history that cavers and non-cavers will enjoy.' Susan Brillhart Book Review IMMERSED. The International Technical Diving Magazine



2. New to technical diving, I found this historical perspective very interesting. Being French, I was most impressed by Burgess' firsts stories about early dives by pioneers. Each chapter recounts a Cave diving exploration history, and can be read independently. It is also well written, in an entertaining style and does not try to play it too "tekkie". The focus is on exploration. I spent a straight week nights on it, and loved it all the way down. You gonna be hooked.



3. Burgess's recount of these various cave diving episodes makes a good read. It is not very detailed on technical aspects, nor pretends to be a comprehensive re-tracing of the cave diving history. It does however weave in suspense filled short stories the beginnings of cave diving, its major players and their accomplishments. Without the boring list type of dry dates, names and events. Will interest the few passionate about the sport, as well as all adrenaline rush and adventure seekers. To me, it gave a backdrop, a character and a soul to many of those names I looked up to when I started venturing deeper and longer in the underwater realm.



4. Burgess's recount of these various cave diving episodes makes a good read. It is not very detailed on technical aspects, nor pretends to be a comprehensive re-tracing of the cave diving history. It does however weave in suspense filled short stories the beginnings of cave diving, its major players and their accomplishments. Without the boring list type of dry dates, names and events. Will interest the few passionate about the sport, as well as all adrenaline rush and adventure seekers. To me, it gave a backdrop, a character and a soul to many of those names I looked up to when I started venturing deeper and longer in the underwater realm.



5. The book is a good description of the history of the sport. Combined with the Master Exley's "Caverns Measureless to Man", one has a good set of stories on the origins of the sport and some of the scary stories.
   The second half unfortunately seems a little anecdotal and turns into something that only the die-hard archeology enthusiast would want to get further into. While entranced in the first few chapters, I got pretty bored with the rest. If you want horror stories from caving, read also Exley's Basic Cave Diving - A Blueprint for Survival. It's a hand-typed, thin pamphlet of a book, but it's one of those essential reads, even if you don't intend to do the sport - like me.

5 comments about Beyond the Deep: The Deadly Descent Into the World's Most Treacherous Cave.

1. What is it that drives cave explorers to descend to unbelievable depths, as if they were involved in an international game of subterranean chess?
   

   
   Perhaps the clues are to be found within the pages of a book entitled Beyond The Deep that chronicles the breathtaking 1994 San Agustin Expedition as told from the perspective of Bill Stone and Barbara am Ende.
   Much of the information was gleaned from their logbooks, diaries, and recollections, as well as from dozens of interviews conducted by their co-author Monte Paulsen.
   

   
   In 1977, 1979 and 1981 cave divers were unsuccessful in exploring the San Agustin sump or the underground tunnel that was flooded entirely with water. This sump is the deepest point in a cave known as Sistema Huautla, Oaxaca, Mexico.
   

   
   Many of the difficulties were the result of using traditional equipment as well as the inability to effectively transport the supplies and gear necessary to accomplish this incredible feat.
   

   
   In 1994 international exploring expert Bill Stone completed the constructing of an closed cycle life support system or as he termed it a "rebreather." This piece of apparatus was called the Mk-ll.
   

   
   This would permit the cavers and divers to explore the San Agustin Sump far longer than anyone was able to accomplish in the past.
   

   
   It was Stone's contention that the problem was primarily a technological challenge. Once this was overcome, the rest would fall into place.
   

   
   The next step entailed the meticulous organization of the various components of the team.
   There was expedition leader Stone, six dive team members, 35 support team participants and 5 members of the photo team.
   

   
   These individuals wanted to "place their own boot where no one hand before." According to Stone, "every member had made enormous personal sacrifices in the pursuit of this elusive grail. They'd left family behind for a third of a year; had trained relentlessly for two years just to get there; had gone deeply into debt; and were subjecting themselves daily to physical hardships."
   

   
   Why do it? Perhaps Stone sums it up when he asserts, "after so many years of struggle, he'd found the route, the secret doorway to the gaping, unexplored beyond."
   

   
   One of the shortcomings of the book is the extensive use of technical jargon. The authors did indicate in the introduction that they have substituted common words for technical jargon wherever possible.

   However, unfortunately, far too often I had to refer to the glossary at the back of the book to understand a paragraph or sentence. No doubt this deflated some of the suspense of the saga.




2. Fascinating book about the ultimate 'adventure' junkies-- who explore the world's most treacherous cave in Mexico. An amazing crew of people. What's so unusual is that these are divers-- deep see divers, not just guys and gals who go down into the cave on ropes or climb rocks. They call themselves CAVERS -- details make the true-life adventure come alive. What's disturbing though is that lives were lost on this expedition and the authors tend to gloss over those lost in their quest for the ultimate experiences. Cinematic and even outrageous tale of diving into disaster.



3. I really wanted to like this book but I found myself struggling to finish it. No doubt, the experience itself was immeasurably exciting / interesting, but the book was, well, kind of boring.

   It could have easily been half the length and not lost much, and as another reviewer indicated, I never really got a feel for what is so great about crawling though caves. I'm sure it IS great, at least to those who are as into it as these people are, but I didn't get why or how from the book. I also found the third-person writing style a bit contrived, somehow.

   If you DID like this book, I would highly recommend 'The Last Dive' which is in a similar vein but I found very exciting and extremely well written.




4. I'm a scuba diver. I have also done a lot of spelunking in my late teens and early 20's. I never really considered combining the 2. It just didn't cross my mind.
   
   Now I never will.
   
   There were so many times in this book that I simply got the willies. (Did I spell that right?) It became more frightening that some of the horror I've read.
   
   It also (in my humble opinion) addresses one of the greatest downfalls of some explorers; Not taking into consideration one's mortality.
   
   While I doubt I'll ever willingly mix traditional scuba diving with spelunking I may consider it if I had access to the re-breathers this team used.
   
   This book is NOT for the claustrophobic.



5. I still recommend this book highly. The story of these explorers is simply amazing. As someone who is very very claustrophobic (my worst fear is being stuck in some confined space), I have to be an "armchair" explorer, and this book makes you confront these fears. In the end it's very rewarding.
   
   The book's only flaw is the "reconstructed" dialogue. I don't know who recommended the author(s) adopt this format, because it is really awkward in places. The narrative of, say, a Jon Krakauer book or a Simon Winchester book is much, much more effective than a lot of the bogus, even boring dialogue that comes across here. There are a lot of characters the author(s) and the readers have to deal with, so perhaps giving most of them "voices" was thought of as the best way to do it, but after a while it gets a little tiring and actually disrupts the build-up of the action.
   
   Still, it's an awesome story of exploration and what drives us to keep pushing the limits.

No comments about Cave Exploring: The Definitive Guide to Caving Technique, Safety, Gear, and Trip Leadership (Falconguides).

5 comments about Beyond Mammoth Cave: A Tale of Obsession in the World's Longest Cave.

1. The book is a well-written page turner written in an informal and approachable style. The two authors, who experienced much of the story first-hand, achieve an exciting dynamic by alternating chapters back and forth; each chapter dealing with similar events and topics but from the distinct perspectives of the two authors. Some may criticize the opinionated tone, but I think few will disagree that it is poignant and clear. The book is important because it will have general appeal and edification to the caver populace, most of whom are recreational-cavers not involved in project-surveying. Hopefully it will create empathy and understanding of the project caver experience among the general caver community. Moreover the book may, as much as is tenable, make caving vicariously comprehensible to non-cavers. The authors have accurately portrayed the ingloriousness of caving and avoided romanticizing caving to noncavers. The book honestly portrays the frequently unbalanced mixture of hardships, and joys that go into long-term project caving: the personal conflicts, the bouts of frustration, the physical exhaustion, the incredible ego-inflation, the tedious agonizing work of surveying, the costs to other aspects of the caver's life, work, and relationships, and the occasional elation of an accomplishment. The book strikes a balance between humility and open-mindedness. There is recognition that project-caving, in the grand scheme of human-experience, is irrational and insignificant. At the same time, the book does not short-change the power of the personal experience of obsession with project-surveying, and the potential significance of this liminal experience as a study in the best and worst in human nature.



2. This book arrived on a Friday and I could not put it down until I finished it. It's a truly amazing story of determination, obsession and political intrigue.

   One piece of helpful background information is that the Cave Research Foundation has had a monopoly on exploration within Mammoth Cave National Park for nearly fifty years. The CKKC held a virtual monopoly on the exploration of Roppel Cave. As these two large cave systems grew toward each other, it was inevitable that there would be a conflict of interests between the two organizations. While some reviewers have been disturbed by certain events in the book, the authors have been very up front about having done some things that they were not proud of later in the course of this intense competition.

   The Caves Beyond and The Longest Cave tell the story of the explorations that took place between 1950 and 1972. The cave itself is the central player in these books. Beyond Mammoth Cave looks more deeply into the minds of the cavers involved and - for the first time - shows them warts and all. This made them more rather than less human and was a side effect of the drive and determination to the point of obsession needed to explore this great cave system. I highly recommend this book as a chronicle of real people involved in a real life adventure with both genuine heroics and significant missteps along the way.




3. This book arrived on a Friday and I could not put it down until I finished it. It's a truly amazing story of determination, obsession and political intrigue.

   One piece of helpful background information is that the Cave Research Foundation has had a monopoly on exploration within Mammoth Cave National Park for nearly fifty years. The CKKC held a virtual monopoly on the exploration of Roppel Cave. As these two large cave systems grew toward each other, it was inevitable that there would be a conflict of interests between the two organizations. While some reviewers have been disturbed by certain events in the book, the authors have been very up front about having done some things that they were not proud of later in the course of this intense competition.

   The Caves Beyond and The Longest Cave tell the story of the explorations that took place between 1950 and 1972. The cave itself is the central player in these books. Beyond Mammoth Cave looks more deeply into the minds of the cavers involved and - for the first time - shows them warts and all. This made them more rather than less human and was a side effect of the drive and determination to the point of obsession needed to explore this great cave system. I highly recommend this book as a chronicle of real people involved in a real life adventure with both genuine heroics and significant missteps along the way.




4. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you like adventure, you'll enjoy this book. At a time when it seems like we've discovered nearly everything about the world around us, this book helped me realize there are plenty of discoveries to be made right here in our own backyard.

   I like the way the first chapter of the book describes the connection trip between Roppel cave and Mammoth cave, then the rest of the book takes you back to the beginning and steps you through the events which culminated in that connection... discovering new cave entrances... exploring passages which lead to vast new discoveries... pushing the limits of human endurance... and narrowly averting serious injuries.

   I enjoyed reading the honest accounts of how these modern day adventurers looked for new cave entrances, then how they explored the caves they found. Don't wait! Buy this book now!




5. Everyone who thinks cavers are crazy will be very happy to know that Jim
   Borden and Roger Brucker prove it in their magnum opus BEYOND
   MAMMOTH CAVE. In it Borden documents every complaint he ever had against
   the elderly dictatorial rulers (I blush in embarrassed pride) of the Cave
   Research Foundation and tells how he ran roughshod, young, and innocent
   over the entire caving establishment to find a new cave--Roppel Cave--and
   explore it. But then past-president of the Cave Research
   Foundation and senior citizen Roger Brucker, exhibiting his wizardry in
   conning deception, came slogging up a deep river in Mammoth Cave to make
   THE BIG CONNECTION with Roppel Cave and thus incorporate Borden's baby into
   the Mammoth Cave System. Borden squealed like a pig, but eventually made a
   deal with Brucker, alienated half his friends in his rival organization, the
   Central Kentucky Karst Coalition, and roared in from the Roppel side to
   meet Brucker (they had their lieutenants with clubs along with them just in
   case) and at the point of connection each held his nose with one hand and
   shook the other's hand with his other hand, and then they roared on past
   one another with the Roppel crowd exiting on the Mammoth side and the Mammoth
   crowd exiting on the Roppel side (without guides) just to show the idiots
   that they knew where the dreaded connection was all along.

   Buy this great book. You won't be able to stop reading it once you
   start, even if you want to (and many might).

   Give this book to everyone who thinks people are idiots for going caving.
   As I remark above, once they read it, no longer will they be in doubt.

   Now if you really want to bomb people out, you should give them all three
   volumes of the AMERICAN CLASSIC CAVE TRIOLOGY;

   THE CAVES BEYOND by Joe Lawrence, Jr. & Roger W. Brucker
   (St. Louis: Cave Books, 1975 in print), in which the
   famous fruitless Floyd Collins' Crystal Cave Expedition
   is documented. Sixty people spent a week underground
   and discovered exactly 13 yards of new cave, but even
   so, several of them got lost.

   THE LONGEST CAVE by Roger W. Brucker and Richard A. Watson
   (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1987, in print)
   in which strong men quail as wire muscled Patricia Crowther
   squeezes through the Tight Spot to nail the connection of the
   Flint Ridge Cave System to Mammoth Cave, and John Wilcox utters
   those immortal words, "I see a tourist trail!"

   BEYOND MAMMOTH CAVE by James D. Borden and Roger W. Brucker
   (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2000, in print).
   Buy it now before the last remaining copies go to the shredders.

   --Red Watson, past-president of the Cave Research Foundation
   and co-author of THE LONGEST CAVE

2 comments about Snow Caves for Fun and Survival.

1. "How many rabbits have you seen sitting by a fire to keep warm?"

   So begins Snow Caves for Fun and Survival, in which Wilkinson demonstrates how people can learn from nature and survive in the wilderness without a fire by using materials at hand- snow, fallen logs and tree branches, whether it be on a winter camping trip or during an emergency situation. Rabbits and birds burrow in the snow and so can humans! Diagrams and photographs aid in the explanations of how to build snow caves, igloos, and other temporary shelters that could save your life.

   This book would appeal to two groups: those interested in winter camping and those interested in learning basic survival techniques. For the serious camper there are chapters on Food, Clothing, Tools and Gear. The author draws on this experience as an outdoorsman and describes his own close calls: how to dry out your clothing after accidentally falling into freezing water, etc.

   This reviewer spent the first 25 years of life in Minnesota and thought I knew all there was about snow, but I learned a lot from this book. I wish the topic of cave-ins had been dealt with in more depth, since as a small child I was instructed by my parents about the danger of snow collapsing on me.




2. This book and a couple shovels are all you need to dig a snow cave. After reading this book I purchased several other "winter survival" books and they hardly cover the subject at all.
   
   Cave collapse will be on your mind no matter what, but if you build according to his guidelines there will be minimal sagging.
   
   The gear discussion is a little dated but snow is pretty much timeless.
   
   If you travel/ski/snowboard in snow you should know the methods described in this book in case of an unplanned overnight stay.

2 comments about The Taming of the Slough.

1. It is what it is - a detailed book about Peacock Springs and some of the other U/W caves of north Florida. It is detailed, well researched book on a specific cave system, from a scuba divers point of view. If you want to learn about this area - might be the ONLY book you can get - hence it is invaluable. Has sections on the biology of caves, geology, maps of caves, past explorers, etc.
   I wish they'd spend more time on specifics of all the divers who died in these caves - just to keep the many amateur divers out of them and alive!



2. The Slough was unfinished and it is not as good as the Caves Measureless to Man as a result of this. However it is considered a classic as a standard textbook for underwater cave exploration techniques.

No comments about A FalconGuide to Mammoth Cave National Park: A Guide to Exploring the Caves, Trails, Roads, and Rivers (Exploring Series).