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Summary: Caving/Diving Adventure at its best!
Review: It was hard to put this book down once the caving and diving actually got going. Being a keen scuba diver I thought I would only be interested in the extreme diving and the trial of the newly-invented rebreather but actually found all aspects of the adventure extremely interesting. The writing flowed very well and gave me a feeling of being there, alone in the cave/diving etc. The pictures certainly helped show the beauty and mystery of the Huatla (excuse spelling) Cave System. It must have been awesome standing alongside the underground waterfall where no other person had ever stood!This book is a story about human endurance and the will to go on despite devastating setbacks (such as the death of one of your party members!) and the psychological affects this has on the different personalities involved. It is hard for us common-folk to understand why people would push themselves to the limit like that but this book definitely allows us to empathise with those that do, by describing, in detail, the bounty that awaits. Regardless of the bounty, I think I'll stick to openwater reef and wreck diving! I HIGHLY recommend this book.
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Summary: Fascinating, well paced, beautifully written.
Review: This book is an incredible insight into the world of caving. I knew nothing about the sport or what drives people to do such a thing until after I had read this book. This book really gave me a feel for this incredibly demanding (both physical and emotional) activity.
Don't worry if you are the claustrophobic type, you can read this book and enjoy the cave exploration but be glad that you are not there.
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Summary: Best Caveing book
Review: This is the best caveing book I have ever read. The maps are so easy to follow their decents and what's happening there. By notes next to the map. I would highly recommand buying it.It is amazing what they went threw to make sure we were able to read about it.Keeps you interested enough not to want to put it down.
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Summary: Best Caveing book
Review: This is the best caveing book I have ever read.Pictures inside
where no man has gone before.Top of the line book.Maps make it easy to keep track of where they went and what happened there.
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Summary: Beyond The Deep
Review: This was an experimental book for our book club, it was meant to experience something new and to give us an inside look at the scientific minds of these fabulously driven men and women who take and adventure and transform it into a full blown obsession, thus sacrificing their lives, their family lives, their sanity, but to understand the superficial way of thinking of the rest of the world you have to really think of the contributions to our world these people make for our benefit. For example years spend in a laboratory translate into just a simple new pill for an illness, which not many of us would give it a second thought. I thought it was a gripping tale of adventure, exploration, clash of personalities, crew sacrifices, leadership gone haywire,and mental exhaustion. Resilience and the promise of the ultimate reward at the end of the rainbow is what made this book, scientifically explicit as it was, such a page turner. You had to know what happens to the best man in that crew and if they find the booty (as they called it). The pace that it was written in deems itself worthy of being called a suspense that holds your grip until the end, as any literary work of fiction might do. Bill Stone's 13 years of dedication to develop his rebreather to facilitate and enable his divers to spend longer hours underwater was and is quite a scientific achievement to be revered. Team work and dedication is what makes the end of the story rewarding.-GREAT ADVENTURE, unusual choice for us but very much an eye-opener of a book. S.Wildburger- Dallas TX
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Summary: GOING DOWN
Review: This was another one of those books that the title caught my attention. I have no experience exploring caves other then working underground mines but i thouhgt this was very informative book that was fairly easy to read. I couldnot imagine being underground for the strechs these people were also i also found camp five really a interesting place to sleep. Even if you have no experience caving pick this book up
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Summary: What Drives Divers To Descend To Unbelievable Depths?
Review: What is it that drives cave explorers to descend to unbelievable depths, as if they were involved in an international game of subterranean chess?
Perhaps the clues are to be found within the pages of a book entitled Beyond The Deep that chronicles the breathtaking 1994 San Agustin Expedition as told from the perspective of Bill Stone and Barbara am Ende.
Much of the information was gleaned from their logbooks, diaries, and recollections, as well as from dozens of interviews conducted by their co-author Monte Paulsen.
In 1977, 1979 and 1981 cave divers were unsuccessful in exploring the San Agustin sump or the underground tunnel that was flooded entirely with water. This sump is the deepest point in a cave known as Sistema Huautla, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Many of the difficulties were the result of using traditional equipment as well as the inability to effectively transport the supplies and gear necessary to accomplish this incredible feat.
In 1994 international exploring expert Bill Stone completed the constructing of an closed cycle life support system or as he termed it a "rebreather." This piece of apparatus was called the Mk-ll.
This would permit the cavers and divers to explore the San Agustin Sump far longer than anyone was able to accomplish in the past.
It was Stone's contention that the problem was primarily a technological challenge. Once this was overcome, the rest would fall into place.
The next step entailed the meticulous organization of the various components of the team.
There was expedition leader Stone, six dive team members, 35 support team participants and 5 members of the photo team.
These individuals wanted to "place their own boot where no one hand before." According to Stone, "every member had made enormous personal sacrifices in the pursuit of this elusive grail. They'd left family behind for a third of a year; had trained relentlessly for two years just to get there; had gone deeply into debt; and were subjecting themselves daily to physical hardships."
Why do it? Perhaps Stone sums it up when he asserts, "after so many years of struggle, he'd found the route, the secret doorway to the gaping, unexplored beyond."
One of the shortcomings of the book is the extensive use of technical jargon. The authors did indicate in the introduction that they have substituted common words for technical jargon wherever possible.
However, unfortunately, far too often I had to refer to the glossary at the back of the book to understand a paragraph or sentence. No doubt this deflated some of the suspense of the saga.
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Summary: Great Read!
Review: When's the movie?! This book was a great read. I couldn't put it down during the final 100 pages. If you like a good story, you'll like this book. Dig a little bit more and you'll see that Barb is an inspiration to all who want to live their own dream - and help others live theirs. Gloria Steinhem take note! Not nearly enough is devoted to the obvious hours and days she learned, trained, and most importantly gained and sustained confidence in the bleeding edge rebreather. She apparently did a majority of the thankless task of obtaining sponsor support (how do you think they got all that gear they were hauling around!) I was impressed throughout that Barb was obviously the toughest person there. She should be an inspriration in the struggles and rewards of teamwork to all women - and for that matter - all men as well.
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Summary: Gripping Adventure
Review: You don't have to be a caver to enjoy this book. With the help of indespensable illustrations the authors paint a picture of a cave system with a life (and legends) of its own, and the story of a crew with a resolve to discover its depths. Anecdotes and suppositioned dialogue aid in endearing the crew to the reader as we follow the challenges, determination & yearn for discovery that accompany Bill & Barbara to the "mother of all sumps".... or the beginning of the next exploration.
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