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medievalmeal's review
5.0
I truly loved this- from all the incredible details of this amazing rescue, to all the stories Rick shared about his life in caves and his experiences with diver recovery, to all the anecdotes about everyone involved. Im obsessed with this rescue and so I loved just being able to really dig into what made this feat such a meticulous miracle.
fkshg8465's review against another edition
1.0
HATED this book. A very colonial, White way of looking at the world. He's certainly quite accomplished in his adventures, but I really hate the way he keeps talking about how he or his friends "discovered" this or that cave. How does he know he/they were the first to find it? I'm sure Columbus felt the same way. Hmph! Only reason I kept reading was to find out what happened to the poor children. But I hated every word getting there.
pemdas97's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
banjireads's review against another edition
4.0
I remember being invested in what was happing in Tham Luang when it was happening in 2018. I would read updates during my night shift to stay up to date and like most of the world, worried about the soccer team trapped deep in the cave. I recently watched the documentary, The Rescue, and quickly became re-interested and inspired by how it all transpired. How could a group of middle-aged men who cave dive for fun be the heroes? This book recounts Rick Stanton’s experiences with cave diving, explorations, and rescues and how that led to him being one of the men called to rescue the Wild Boars soccer team in Tham Luang.
I found this book enjoyable, but difficult to read. The difficult part of reading this book was its format. The book had Rick’s stories from his past interspersed with the developing story in Thailand. I felt like without the clear separation of the past and “present” (Thailand), the book lacked a cohesive flow. I also have very limited knowledge of cave diving and had to stop multiple times to google terms/equipment. I wish I knew there was a glossary at the end of the book, it would have saved a lot of interruptions. Rick's stories of cave-diving had me on the edge of my seat, especially the stories of his rescues and close calls. The rescue itself was incredible to read. The intense pressure they were under to succeed and the barriers they had to overcome were eye-opening to what they experienced when in Thailand. I also liked learning about the connections he made throughout his life that allowed him and John to know who they needed on their team. Learning about what makes him notable in the cave-diving community as an explorer and rescuer add a brighter light to his involvement in the Thai rescue.
I found this book enjoyable, but difficult to read. The difficult part of reading this book was its format. The book had Rick’s stories from his past interspersed with the developing story in Thailand. I felt like without the clear separation of the past and “present” (Thailand), the book lacked a cohesive flow. I also have very limited knowledge of cave diving and had to stop multiple times to google terms/equipment. I wish I knew there was a glossary at the end of the book, it would have saved a lot of interruptions. Rick's stories of cave-diving had me on the edge of my seat, especially the stories of his rescues and close calls. The rescue itself was incredible to read. The intense pressure they were under to succeed and the barriers they had to overcome were eye-opening to what they experienced when in Thailand. I also liked learning about the connections he made throughout his life that allowed him and John to know who they needed on their team. Learning about what makes him notable in the cave-diving community as an explorer and rescuer add a brighter light to his involvement in the Thai rescue.