need a book recommendation

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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby shibumi » Dec 31, 2007 12:50 am

Oh, and how could I forget:
"Where the Sun Don't Shine" by Fred Wefer, past NSS president!
It's a really fun short novel set mainly in a cave...
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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby NZcaver » Dec 31, 2007 12:56 pm

Dwight Livingston wrote:
wendy wrote: Over the Edge: Death at the Grand Canyon


I believe the first of that series is Death at Yellowstone. If you liked Over the Edge, you'll really like this. I have to admit I enjoyed them both very much.

Good topic.

I bought Over the Edge - Death in Grand Canyon when I was hiking there a few years ago. There is a wealth of interesting material in there, but unfortunately it just wasn't an enthralling read for me. I found it akin to studying a textbook. I actually just sold my copy on eBay - I was going to donate it or throw it away, but surprisingly people bid over $13 on it!

I have a copy of Beyond the Deep :kewl: and have enjoyed reading it several times. I also have a couple of the other standard US "non-fiction novels" related to caving. The Everest books mentioned earlier seem interesting, and shibumi's recommendation of Art Palmer's geology book is certainly food for thought too. It's tough though, I'm trying to cut down on heavy suff like books so I can travel light when moving from state to state! I'm one of those who still uses the local library occasionally.
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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby Lost » Dec 31, 2007 1:27 pm

The Last Dive it has some neat cave diving stories.:scuba:
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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby wyandottecaver » Dec 31, 2007 3:39 pm

Tracker by tom brown is excellent (Wendy, I really think you'll like the forensics side). 10 years under the earth by casteret is a fantastic caving book. Art's book is good but I wouldn't quite call it light reading unless you just skip all the equations. The Physician is good historical fiction. If you want suggestions for older but good caving books like Halliday and Jackson let me know.
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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby Teresa » Dec 31, 2007 3:46 pm

Novels with a streak of strangeness:
Fiddler's Ghost by Mitch Jayne. This is very excellent!
The Last Illusion by Don Dunham (a caving stage magician as protagonist.)

I'm not a mysteryphile, but love Nevada Barr's stuff, too. I don't know of any other protagonist who ends up in the hospital as much as she does, but doesn't quit.
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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby ian mckenzie » Dec 31, 2007 7:41 pm

I reckon two of the best cave books are Subterranean climbers by Pierre Chevalier and Yochib: the River Cave by Bill Steele.
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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby tncaver64 » Jan 1, 2008 12:08 pm

shibumi wrote:Art Palmer's new book on Cave Geology is an awesome read!


I'll second that one!
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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby Bill Putnam » Jan 1, 2008 7:42 pm

What a wonderful topic! It gave me a nice reason to sit down with a Guiness and peruse my speleo-library on a blustery New Year's Day.

After careful study and the consideration of many fond memories, here are some books that (IMHO) every caver should read at some point. I have listed them by title and author, in no particular order.

Some are out of print but can still be obtained through used book stores and caving book vendors.

I have given a (very) brief description of each book. The ones with stars (*) are my personal favorites - the more stars, the more highly I recommend the book. All of the listed titles are worth reading, however, and no speleo-library would be complete without them.

Subterranean Climbers, Chevalier, deep cave exploration, ***** (my all-time favorite!)
Trapped, Brucker, drama/adventure, ***
The Caves Beyond, Lawrence & Brucker, long cave exploration, ***
The Longest Cave, Brucker & Watson, long cave exploration, ****
Beyond Mammoth Cave, Borden & Brucker, long cave exploration, **
Under Plowman's Floor, Watson, caving fiction, ***
The Jewel Cave Adventure, Herb and Jan Conn, long cave exploration, **
The Cave Explorers, Eyre, international exploration and humor, ****
Ten Years Under the Earth, Casteret, exploration and history, **
One Thousand Meters Down, Cadoux, deep cave exploration, **
Memoirs of a Speleologist, de Joly, exploration and history, **
Ghar Parau, Judson, international exploration and expeditions, ****
Lechuguilla: Jewel of the Underground, Widmer, cave art photography, ****
Speleology, Moore & Sullivan, introductory cave science, ***
The Life of the Cave, Mohr & Poulson, cave biology, ***
Cave Passages, Taylor, exploration and philosophy, ***
Atlas of the Great Caves of the World, Courbon et al., history and statistics, **
The Cave Art of Tom Culverwell, Hughes, caving art, ***
Depths of the Earth, Halliday, exploration and history, ***
Deep Secrets, Reames et al., long and deep cave exploration, **
Beyond the Deep, Stone & am Ende, deep cave exploration and cave diving, **
Yochib - The River Cave, Steele, international cave exploration, ***
The Darkness Beckons, Farr, cave diving history and exploration, **

Some good sources of information and books:
A Guide to Speleological Literature of the English Language 1794-1996, Northup et al., bibliography.
The NSS Bookstore at http://www.nssbookstore.org
The NSS Library at http://www.caves.org/committee/library
Cave Books at http://www.cavebooks.com
Speleobooks at http://www.speleobooks.com
Last edited by Bill Putnam on Jan 2, 2008 1:10 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby mgmills » Jan 1, 2008 8:37 pm

If you are looking for caving adventure books, Where the Sun Don't Shine by Wefer, Beyond the Deep by Stone & am Ende, and Cave Passages by Taylor are all ones I've read and enjoyed.

I know Wendy does some Kayaking so I'd also recommend The Last River by Todd Bale. It is about a "first descent" of a serious white water river in Tibet.
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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby hunter » Jan 2, 2008 1:05 pm

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson is a great read which has become more popular since the movie came out. If you haven't read it, the super classic, Endurance by Alfred Lansing is a must read for any outdoor inclined person. It used to be hard to find but has been reprinted and you can get it on Amazon.
I also enjoyed In the Hall of the Mountain King by Howard Snyder and Eiger Dreams by Krakauer.

It's real easy to have outsiders (both with a little o and a big O) criticize the actions of people and attribute blame.

Just for the record, I felt the inclusion of this line in a criticism of "Into Thin Air" was totally unfair. John Krakauer was a member of the expedition in question and participated fully in the events before, during, and after the 1996 disaster. He was in no way an outsider. The Climb and Into Thin Air present very different view points by two people who were both present and both books are worth reading.

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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby Teresa » Jan 2, 2008 2:22 pm

hunter wrote:
It's real easy to have outsiders (both with a little o and a big O) criticize the actions of people and attribute blame.

Just for the record, I felt the inclusion of this line in a criticism of "Into Thin Air" was totally unfair. John Krakauer was a member of the expedition in question and participated fully in the events before, during, and after the 1996 disaster. He was in no way an outsider. The Climb and Into Thin Air present very different view points by two people who were both present and both books are worth reading.
James


I think you misread something, James. Book critics criticize. That's what they do for a living. It's likely the reviewer knew Krakauer was on the team, and was commenting on other comments, though it's hard to tell from your mere snippet.

I thought Wendy was looking for entertaining books in general, not just cave books. If so, I would recommend anything by Terry Pratchett -- he's warped in a good sense. There seems to be a current brouhaha about Philip Pullman and The Golden Compass movie -- the trilogy which that is based on is a good read, with a strong female protagonist. The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. Enough fantasy adventure to keep you gasping. As usual, better than the movie.

No one has mentioned "Caverns Measureless to Man" about Sheck Exley. For a cave dive read, I liked that one.
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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby hunter » Jan 2, 2008 3:24 pm


I think you misread something, James. Book critics criticize. That's what they do for a living. It's likely the reviewer knew Krakauer was on the team, and was commenting on other comments, though it's hard to tell from your mere snippet.


Oops, guess I wasn't to clear, I just got back and read the entire thread so it was fresh in my mind. My quote was direct from squirrelgirl's post in which she criticized Into Thin Air and instead suggested The Climb, this is the entire quote:

Squirrel Girl wrote:
I boycotted Into Thin Air because I didn't like the concept of Krakauer profiting off other people's deaths and his judgement of other actions. Instead I read Anatoli Boukreev's The Climb ( http://www.amazon.com/Climb-Anatoli-Bou ... 883&sr=1-1 ) where he recounts what he did and why. It's real easy to have outsiders (both with a little o and a big O) criticize the actions of people and attribute blame. Having been on expeditions where people have died, I've seen/heard enough mud slung, and I don't like it one bit. It's one thing to have accident analyses by neutral parties (and even THOSE are potentially subjective). But too many people think they can tell someone else who wasn't there, what they should have done.


Perhaps I misread but I felt that this description was deceptive because it implies (to me) that Krakauer was not present. I just wanted to point out that he was in fact present so the book is a personal account as well as a review of the events and actions that took place.

James
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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby Bill Putnam » Jan 2, 2008 3:35 pm

I'm surprised that "shibumi" hasn't recommended his (her?) namesake book "Shibumi" by Trevanian. It's a 60's spy thriller by the author of The Eiger Sanction - quite dated, but still a fun read. The protagonist is an assassin and caver who lives in the Pyrynees. Key plot elements involve caves and caving, though the descriptions are euro-centric and somewhat distorted by the author's lack of familiarity with actual caving techniques and practices. In spite of its flaws, it is a fun book, and I recommend it as a good beach vacation read. You will recognize plot elements that have been lifted and used in a number of Hollywood caving movies.

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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby caverjules » Jan 2, 2008 3:47 pm

If you've never read anything by Bill Bryson, he is a great humorist and travel writer. I would recommend all of his books.
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Re: need a book recommendation

Postby Phil Winkler » Jan 2, 2008 4:23 pm

Shibumi is excellent. The cave described in the book is primarily the Pierre St. Martin in the Pyrnees of France.

Two books worth reading if you like historical fiction are Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth (1989) and his sequel just released: World Without End.

The first takes place in the 12th century in England Europe, the second in the 14th century. Very, very accurate, too.
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