Reviews

Beyond the Deep: Deadly Descent into the World's Most Treacherous Cave by Monte Paulsen, Barbara Am Ende, William Stone

blovelac's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

5.0

patrickcline279's review

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.

cellowraith's review

adventurous dark informative sad tense medium-paced

3.5

bmwpalmer's review

3.0

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.

alicem25's review

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

harmony's review

2.0

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.