Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth By James M. Tabor
Random House, 2010. 286 pgs. Nonfiction
The supercaves of the world present one of the last places on Earth still available to adventurous explorers seeking to carve out their own place in history. To do this, cavers must endure weeks underground in complete darkness scaling walls of sheer rock and diving through underground lakes and rivers. The dangers are real and sometimes the ultimate price is paid. But these brave men and women embrace the spirit of Hillary, Armstrong, and Shackleton as they plunge themselves deep into the earth, searching for its deepest point.
Tabor’s writing reads a bit like the evening news, each sentence a bit of a cliff-hanger with impending danger in every phrase. Not that the topic doesn’t lend itself well to this type of prose. Cave exploration is incredibly dangerous and requires participants to keep constantly alert. For some, this may be the makings of a thrilling piece of armchair exploration. For me, it seemed a bit over dramatic.
CZ
1 comment:
Deep cave exploration is something I would never, ever do – I guess that’s why this was the perfect book for me. Reading Blind Descent is a heart stopping, nail-biting experience that will trigger your claustrophobia, nyctophobia, bathophobia, arachnophobia, acrophobia and aquaphobia all at once and for free! SH
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