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10 reviews for:
Beyond the Deep: Deadly Descent into the World's Most Treacherous Cave
Monte Paulsen, Barbara Am Ende, William Stone
3.95 AVERAGE
10 reviews for:
Beyond the Deep: Deadly Descent into the World's Most Treacherous Cave
Monte Paulsen, Barbara Am Ende, William Stone
3.95 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
For a non-fiction book, this reads surprisingly almost like fiction in a way that makes me think it would make a good mockumentary. For someone who has read more about diving than spelunking, the logistical parts of cave exploration were somewhat challenging to wrap my head around because I couldn’t really picture them, but the maps and photos included were helpful. I also thought it was helpful to have input from most of the major team members to get the social dynamic element that might otherwise have been lost if it’d just been the authors’ POVs. I’d love another book on this subject if they ever get to explore Sump 9.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
It was difficult to follow all the people involved especially with the unfamiliar terminology. Lots of names dates and locations. If I already had experience diving/caving maybe it would be easier to read.
adventurous
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
I would say I was so "meh" on this book because I'm not genuinely interested in the subject matter - cave diving - except that I am not at all interested in deep sea diving, either, and yet [b:Shadow Divers|9530|Shadow Divers|Robert Kurson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166028017s/9530.jpg|1267146] was fascinating to me. So I have to believe that this story just wasn't told as well. Even with the diagrams and photos, it was difficult for me to really picture the events as they took place. Sometimes people were referred to by their first names, sometimes by their last names, and it was hard to keep track of the large cast of characters. There were several times in the book where a certain discovery would take place and I thought it was a good thing, but then the people were disappointed in it. So yeah, there was a fundamental disconnect between me and the subject matter, and the writing wasn't deft enough to surmount it.
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
I'm so intrigued by deep caving like what's in this book, the physical and mental fortitude these people have is incredible, and they achieve such amazing feats
I tend to go down rabbit holes in my reading patterns, so after reading "Into the Planet" pretty much at random, I picked up this "also recommended". Whereas with the other book I felt invited into the intimate experience of a woman's life in diving, this book felt dry, academic, and frankly kind of self-aggrandizing. Stone (who writes about himself in the third person, presumably to make the work feel more objective than it is) is the leader of a dive team pushing his divers, cavers, and friends to the breaking point, encouraging them to push past discomfort and fear, often to their detriment. After one death and several near-fatal accidents nearly every diver on his team has abandoned the effort when Stone, along with his girlfriend, makes one final attempt and manages to secure some kind of coveted record. The entire debacle is fueled by his ego and arrogance, and that shines through even when he's writing about himself and trying to paint his expedition and actions in the most forgiving light.