Blind Descent
Blind Descent The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth Best Read [ Blind Descent ] by [ James M. Tabor ] – kino-fada.fr My willpower fails me when it comes to food, but for books, I can stick at them, I can finish them even when it is mind numbingly boring, like this one If Jon Krakauer had written it, there would have been scene setting, interesting characters and a narrative that led to a climax followed by the aftermath There was none of this in this book Of the two characters, there was nothing I liked about Stone and his succession of young and younger women and ignoring of his family and by the time it g My willpower fails me when it comes to...Humanity is very concerned with great height Flying, scaling Everest and walking on the moon are obvious examples But can you name the deepest cave on earth I didn t think so Neither can most people But there are explorers who live for the challenge of finding the deepest part of our planet There are many wonderful books about explorers and adventurers Among them are Krakauer s Into Thin Air, which looks at those who climb or try Everest and Richard Preston s The Wild Trees, whi...The BEST COVER PHOTO in the last 100 books easily, hands down It s the picture of a smooth, vertical chimney about 500 feet long in Cheve cave in Oaxaca state, Mexico, the deepest known supercave in the Americas It s about 150 feet in diameter and could hold the water volume of 750 Olympic sized pools AND THERE near the bottom of the picture, the black profile of a person on rappel, tiny, underlit, and...A book about a race to discover the deepest cave on earth has the potential for Krakauer like suspense, but Tabor destroys whatever tension might be present and there should be a lot, since spelunking is at least as difficult and dangerous as mountain climbing, if notso by constantly and oppressively hyping the excitement and pushing the thrill in our face It s as though he doesn t trust the subject enough to leave it alone One can imagine him amping up the prose describing a trip with A book about a race to discover the deepest cave on earth has the potential for Krakauer like suspense, but Tabor destroys whatever tension might be present and there should be a lot, since spelunking is at least ...My best friend and I listened to this on CD while working on various projects The topic it covers is fascinating supercaving and trying to find the deepest point on the planet The perils of supercaving make climbing Mount Everest look like a vigorous weekend backpacking trip At least from Mt Everest, there is a chance of rescue if you get into trouble, within a reasonable amount of time Where these cavers go, if you get hurt you are up a creek, to put it politely The book covers two exp My best friend and I listened to this on CD while working on various projects The topic it covers is fascinating supercaving and trying to find the deepest point on the planet The perils of supercaving make climbing Mount Everest look like a vigorous weekend backpacking trip At least from Mt Everest, there is a chance of rescue if you get into trouble, within a reasonable amount of time Where these cavers go, if you get hurt you are up a creek, to put it politely The book covers two explorers, American Bill Stone and Ukrainian Alexander Klimchouk Stone and his expeditions through Cheve and Huautla comprise about 2 3 of the book Klimchouk s ventures through Krubera almost seemed to get the... ..But cave explorers like Vesley and Farr could not see the route and so could not anticipate the dangers, a partial list of which includes drowning, fatal falls, premature burial, asphyxiation, hypothermia, hurricane force winds, electrocution, earthquake induced collapses, poison gases and walls dripping with sulfuric or hydrochloric acid There are also rabid bats, snakes, troglodytic scorpions and spiders, radon and microbes that cause horrific diseases like histop...It s always interesting to read about people undergoing tremendous physical ordeals and deep caving definitely counts as an ordeal The conditions under which these explorers lived sometimes for weeks defies belief At the same time, however, I m shaking my head at the stupidity of it all Despite the author s repeated claims that all of this is done for science , no mention is ever made of what science got out of a bunch of people tormenting themselves in a deep hole It s pretty clear i It s always interesting to read about people undergoing tremendous physical ordeals and deep caving definitely counts as an ordeal The conditions under which these explorers lived sometimes for weeks defies belief At the same time, however, I m shaking my head at the stupidity of it all Despite the author s repeated claims that all of this is done for science , no mention is ever made of what science got out of a bunch of people tormenting themselves in a deep hole It s pretty clear it s all done for adrenaline, kicks, and fame Spoiler warning That said, this would have been at least a four star book, except for the author s blinding arrogance He claims that caving is the last exploration left to mankind Space exploration, done Undersea exploration, done despite the fact that less than 5% of t...A fast paced, white knuckled read, somewhat akin to Into Thin Air and other extreme adventure accounts loads of deadly and near deadly accidents as well as heroic rescues Despite the fact that the feats in the book rate a solid 5 stars truly amazing stuff , the book itself pulls a 4 I did really like it The writing is solid and straightforward, with just enough pizazz to keep the pages turning as if the adventure alone wasn t enough for that.Essentially an account of two men, acr...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 cav 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 th...Caving scary, but like watching a train wreck, I m intrigued Sort of like reading Into Thin Air or Eiger Dreams about climbing the most dangerous, forbidding places on earth, only going the opposite direction INTO the mountains The cave descriptions also reminded me of how House of Leaves describes the spaces behind that closet door naming indescribably huge openings things like the cathedral room , etc This book is so reminiscent of Krakauer s accessible journalistic prose put to Caving scary, but like watching a train wreck, I m intrigued Sort of like reading Into Thin Air or Ei...
- English
- 24 January 2017 James M. Tabor
- Hardcover
- 286 pages
- 1400067677
- James M. Tabor
- Blind Descent