James Tabor talking about "Blind Descent" on the Daily Show

[LukeM]

Just a heads up that tonight (June 15th) on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, James Tabor will be talking about his new book "Blind Descent". The book relates the stories of Bill Stone and Alexander Klimchouk in their races to find the deepest cave in both Cheve and Krubera caves respectively.

[Dwight Livingston]

Why did Mr. Tambor title it "Blind Descent", same as Nevada Barr's book? It so wonderful a title? Any special reference I am missing? I am unimpressed that he couldn't come up with a more original title.

[JR-Orion]

Will set the DVR.

[wendy]

just saw it, it was pretty good

[hewhocaves]

I found the interview underwhelming. Actually, that's not entierly true - I was impressed by Stewart's prep for the interview. It seemed much better than Tabor.

Here's the synopsis of the book off bn.com

The deepest cave on earth was a prize that had remained unclaimed for centuries, long after every other ultimate discovery had been made: both poles by 1912, Everest in 1958, the Challenger Deep in 1961. In 1969 we even walked on the moon. And yet as late as 2000, the earth’s deepest cave—the supercave—remained undiscovered. This is the story of the men and women who risked everything to find it, earning their place in history beside the likes of Peary, Amundsen, Hillary, and Armstrong.

In 2004, two great scientist-explorers are attempting to find the bottom of the world. Bold, heroic American Bill Stone is committed to the vast Cheve Cave, located in southern Mexico and deadly even by supercave standards. On the other side of the globe, legendary Ukrainian explorer Alexander Klimchouk—Stone’s polar opposite in temperament and style, but every bit his equal in scientific expertise, physical bravery, and sheer determination—has targeted Krubera, a freezing nightmare of a supercave in the Republic of Georgia, where underground dangers are compounded by the horrors of separatist war in this former Soviet republic.

Blind Descent explores both the brightest and darkest aspects of the timeless human urge to discover—to be first. It is also a thrilling epic about a pursuit that makes even extreme mountaineering and ocean exploration pale by comparison. These supercavers spent months in multiple camps almost two vertical miles deep and many more miles from their caves’ exits. They had to contend with thousand-foot drops, deadly flooded tunnels, raging whitewater rivers, monstrous waterfalls, mile-long belly crawls, and much more. Perhaps even worse were the psychological horrors produced by weeks plunged into absolute, perpetual darkness, beyond all hope of rescue, including a particularly insidious derangement called The Rapture.

James M. Tabor was granted unprecedented access to logs, journals, photographs, and video footage of these expeditions, as well as many hours of personal interviews with surviving participants. Blind Descent is an unforgettable addition to the classic literature of discovery and adventure. It is also a testament to human survival and endurance—and to two extraordinary men whose relentless pursuit of greatness led them to heights of triumph and depths of tragedy neither could have imagined.


I'm not sure I'd put Stone on the same level as Klimchouk when it comes to science... and Stone probably has the edge in the "daring exploration" category. To me, this is an apples-oranges comparison with unnecessary hyperbole. And yeah, I'm not thrilled that he couldn't come up with an original book title - or at least one more descriptive of the material. He also swiped the cover idea, if not the actual cover, from Mike Taylor's "Cave Passages", which I'm also not thrilled about.

John

[ian mckenzie]

Here's the synopsis of the book off bn.com
"The deepest cave on earth was a prize that had remained unclaimed for centuries..."

Of course, the 'deepest known cave on earth' has continuously been claimed for as long as there have been record-keepers. There is no proof that the current record holder is in fact the deepest cave on earth.

[Steven Johnson]

I found the interview underwhelming. Actually, that's not entierly true - I was impressed by Stewart's prep for the interview. It seemed much better than Tabor.

As a regular viewer, I can attest that Stewart is usually quite well-prepped -- you get the impression that he's often read the guest's book. (or at least parts of it. or was well-briefed by his staff.) In any event, he's good at making intelligent discussion about it.

That said, I actually thought that Tabor came off okay; keep in mind he had an aggregate of maybe 2 minutes to make his case (in between Jon Stewart being witty). I think he did make a good case that people exploring caves at that level are taking risks that are under-appreciated by popular culture (as compared with, say, mountain climbing).

I have the book on order from Amazon; I'll be curious to see how it is once I can read it.

[Squirrel Girl]

Here's the link to the interview:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-j ... ames-tabor

[LukeM]

I thought it wasn't too bad considering the short time frame and the humor-oriented nature of the show. I was going to mention that he should have added a disclaimer about the dangerous nature of caving without the right equipment and knowledge but seeing as how caves were only talked about as incredible death traps that probably wasn't necessary. I enjoyed Beyond the Deep so I'm hoping this is similar...maybe better considering this guy spends a lot of time writing.

[junkman]

Thanks for posting the link.
I thought it was a pretty good interview and it is good to see a book about cave exploration getting some national exposure.

[NZcaver]

Here's the link to the interview:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-j ... ames-tabor

Thanks for posting the link.

I thought the interview was good. Cavers need positive publicity, especially in a post-WNS world. I'd read the book.

[jharman2]

James M. Tabor was granted unprecedented access to logs, journals, photographs, and video footage of these expeditions, as well as many hours of personal interviews with surviving participants.

1. Obviously he didn't interview any non-surviving participants.

2. This makes it sound like many of the people on these expeditions simply don't return.

Sure sounds like a lot of hype to sell books to me. However, I'll probably buy it, read it and enjoy it.

[jaa45993]

This is the story of the men and women who risked everything to find it, earning their place in history beside the likes of Peary, Amundsen, Hillary, and Armstrong.

So true. If Bill and Alexander keep at it, and continue to risk everything, they will one day earn their place beside the likes of me and those other three guys.

[hewhocaves]

Of COURSE they didn't survive... Don't you remember hearing about the hundreds of people who die annually in Cheve and Voronya? Oh wait....

Besides, how can you possibly get people to read books if you don't have a body count in at least the dozens? I mean, you'd have to develop characters, write meaningful dialogue, explore themes, expand plots... and that winds up being a lot of work. Much easier to have them all die in a fiery car crash at -2000m.

[Scott McCrea]

This is the story of the men and women who risked everything to find it, earning their place in history beside the likes of Peary, Amundsen, Hillary, and Armstrong.

So true. If Bill and Alexander keep at it, and continue to risk everything, they will one day earn their place besides the likes of me and those other three guys.

I'm pretty sure he meant Lance Armstrong—who discovered France.