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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
tense
slow-paced
Quite an interesting topic, but I found the author's descriptions a bit repetitive. The author focuses more on the American team's quest for the deepest cave rather than the Ukranian's even though the Ukranians were the ones who were successful. I wish the book had been more evenly divided.
I'm sure a dramatic tale of adventure, science, and pushing physicial boundaries is buried in there somewhere, but this author is not the one to unearth it. The book manages to be over-written and under-detailed at the same time, and it suffers from an erratic time frame. The book has, however, made me want to look for others on what should be a fascinating story of the journey to the bottom of the earth.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
4 stars for the descriptions of caving, 3 for the rest of the book. It's about two cavers and leaders of expeditions: Bill Stone and Alexander Klimchouk. Tabor's fawning description of Stone makes him come across as a domineering monster who gets people killed, which Tabor admits, but Tabor still feels that Stone's drive to discover and trend-set makes him ultimately a heroic figure. I found this very irresponsible.
Every woman introduced has her physical features described or how attractive she is. I have no idea what almost all of the men in the book look like, but I know the stature and hair color of every female caver in the book.
Every woman introduced has her physical features described or how attractive she is. I have no idea what almost all of the men in the book look like, but I know the stature and hair color of every female caver in the book.
I was all in on this book at the beginning but the sensationalist writing, the excusing of one of the leaders' behaviour as alpha male (yuck), the clear favoring of the Americans over the Ukrainians despite Ukraine finding the deepest cave lost me.
I was all set to love it. I love reading about caves. I tired quickly of reading what felt like a puff piece on Bill Stone though. Maybe I'll go read that Outside article they mentioned that wasn't presented in a glowing light.
I was all set to love it. I love reading about caves. I tired quickly of reading what felt like a puff piece on Bill Stone though. Maybe I'll go read that Outside article they mentioned that wasn't presented in a glowing light.
adventurous
fast-paced
I've grown to really love adventure and survival books and thought this would definitely be an interesting read in the genre. I wasn't disappointed. Blind Descent tells of cave exploration adventures in 2 of the world's deepest caves. I was initially concerned that the author wouldn't be able to make me see the cave in my mind as he told the story and that the author couldn't possibly hold my interest throughout the entire book, but I was absolutely enthralled and found myself daydreaming of cave diving between reads.
When I first thought what I might encounter in this book, I wondered what fun there could be in dropping into a deep hole that went down thousands of feet, but these caves aren't simply deep holes. The process includes rappelling down some very large shafts as well as walking some straight stretches before hitting another shaft or waterfall. Sometimes they have to send divers to swim through water they call "sumps" in order to find another opening into the cave beyond. Other times they find themselves trying to squeeze through very tight openings between rocks or even digging to make room for their bodies to fit though tinier openings carved by water over time. The experience is physically demanding and sometimes even deadly. And the exploration can last, sometimes, decades.
This particular caving book chronicles (as much as possible) deep cave discoveries in the Cheve Cave of Mexico and the Krubera cave in The Republic of Georgia. The caves are very different and so are the leaders of the expeditions. The Mexican cave is climatically normal and fairly open while the Georgian one is very cold and filled with very tight, slippery spaces. The leader of the Cheve Cave expeditions (an American) is hot-headed and lusty while the leader of the Krubera expeditions (a Ukranian) is level-headed and systematic.
There's far more information in the book about the Cheve Cave expeditions than the Krubera expeditions. I think this partially is because of language barriers for interview and partially because there probably was much more of a story to tell about the Cheve cave expeditions. In fact, I was glad the Krubera section of the book was fairly short because I wanted to get back to reading about the Cheve Cave.
I wish the book would have had pictures. I'm sure the book would have been more expensive to publish with pictures. However, a quick search online yields many pictures from various sources, including some really nice pictures of Cheve Cave on Flickr.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves adventure or survival stories or caving.
Note: While I critique both purchased and free books in the same way, I'm legally obligated to tell you I received this book free through the Amazon Vine program in return for my review. Blah blah blah.
When I first thought what I might encounter in this book, I wondered what fun there could be in dropping into a deep hole that went down thousands of feet, but these caves aren't simply deep holes. The process includes rappelling down some very large shafts as well as walking some straight stretches before hitting another shaft or waterfall. Sometimes they have to send divers to swim through water they call "sumps" in order to find another opening into the cave beyond. Other times they find themselves trying to squeeze through very tight openings between rocks or even digging to make room for their bodies to fit though tinier openings carved by water over time. The experience is physically demanding and sometimes even deadly. And the exploration can last, sometimes, decades.
This particular caving book chronicles (as much as possible) deep cave discoveries in the Cheve Cave of Mexico and the Krubera cave in The Republic of Georgia. The caves are very different and so are the leaders of the expeditions. The Mexican cave is climatically normal and fairly open while the Georgian one is very cold and filled with very tight, slippery spaces. The leader of the Cheve Cave expeditions (an American) is hot-headed and lusty while the leader of the Krubera expeditions (a Ukranian) is level-headed and systematic.
There's far more information in the book about the Cheve Cave expeditions than the Krubera expeditions. I think this partially is because of language barriers for interview and partially because there probably was much more of a story to tell about the Cheve cave expeditions. In fact, I was glad the Krubera section of the book was fairly short because I wanted to get back to reading about the Cheve Cave.
I wish the book would have had pictures. I'm sure the book would have been more expensive to publish with pictures. However, a quick search online yields many pictures from various sources, including some really nice pictures of Cheve Cave on Flickr.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves adventure or survival stories or caving.
Note: While I critique both purchased and free books in the same way, I'm legally obligated to tell you I received this book free through the Amazon Vine program in return for my review. Blah blah blah.
3.5-4
No soy claustrofóbica, pero bastan algunas de las descripciones de este libro para hacerme respirar profundo y asegurarme que tengo espacio para moverme. No ayuda que hay un elemento de incertidumbre cerca de lo que se puede encontrar en lo profundo de las cuevas y galerías que se mencionan aquí.
Los que me conocen saben que no soy particularmente temerosa, pero mis dos mayores miedos son el océano y las profundidades de la tierra. Y ambos miedos nacen de la inmensidad, el misterio y lo desconocido de esos lugares. Es por eso que me parecen a la vez fascinantes y terribles las aventuras de las dos personas menciondas en este libro: Stone y Klimchouk.
Además de darme ñáñaras, con el libro aprendí bastante sobre el proceso de visitar diversos lugares profundos (a veces hay que excavar, nadar, arrastrarse, etc), así como los riesgos implicados y la clase de consecuencias que hay si algo no va de acuerdo al plan.
Es una lectura atrapante y no quería soltar el libro pero debo reconocer que mucho de su atractivo tiene que ver con el tema mas que la forma en que está escrito: siento que el autor podría haber explotado más el material tan interesante que tenía. Dándole un mejor ritmo, dejando de la tensión de las situaciones hable por si misma sin tener que exagerarla y con una mejor edición sería una maravilla.
No soy claustrofóbica, pero bastan algunas de las descripciones de este libro para hacerme respirar profundo y asegurarme que tengo espacio para moverme. No ayuda que hay un elemento de incertidumbre cerca de lo que se puede encontrar en lo profundo de las cuevas y galerías que se mencionan aquí.
Los que me conocen saben que no soy particularmente temerosa, pero mis dos mayores miedos son el océano y las profundidades de la tierra. Y ambos miedos nacen de la inmensidad, el misterio y lo desconocido de esos lugares. Es por eso que me parecen a la vez fascinantes y terribles las aventuras de las dos personas menciondas en este libro: Stone y Klimchouk.
Además de darme ñáñaras, con el libro aprendí bastante sobre el proceso de visitar diversos lugares profundos (a veces hay que excavar, nadar, arrastrarse, etc), así como los riesgos implicados y la clase de consecuencias que hay si algo no va de acuerdo al plan.
Es una lectura atrapante y no quería soltar el libro
