Rating: 
Summary: No holds Barred
Review: This book that describes the events in the exploration of Mammoth Cave from 1972 to 1983 is a worthy sequel to The Longest Cave. Whereas in the Longest Cave the cave was the central character, in Beyond Mammoth Cave the central characters are the explorers pursing their passions in the world's longest cave. This makes for quite a different book; Beyond Mammoth Cave is a brutally honest account of how individuals that are involved in activities of great passion interact with each other. Indeed the cave has existed for millenia, but it was the passions of its explorers who dictated how the discoveries would unfurl and the two caves would ultimately proven to be one. Passionate people may do unkind things to each other, yet the bond that they forge is strong; both are described well in this book.Most of the story is developed by Borden, describing the activities that led to the discovery of Roppel Cave and its meteoric rise into the ranks of the world's great caves. The reader experiences every foot after brutal foot of cave hard won. Brucker, co-author of the Longest Cave, provides an effective bridge back to the earlier days of exploration in Mammoth Cave describing the efforts there. Brucker's compelling story telling completes the process begun by Borden of drawing the reader deep into the passions that all these explorers experienced. The contrasting styles of the two authors makes for an exciting read. Sometimes the honesty is shocking, but the reader will certainly come away with a true sense of what these people were really like. You may not like all of them as individuals, but will definitely come away with a better understanding of what it is really like to cave and how it feels to be exploring the world's longest cave. With The Caves Beyond and The Longest Cave, Beyond Mammoth Cave completes a strong trilogy documenting the exploration of this exciting cave system. I recommend this book highly.
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