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I just read "The Cave Divers" by Robert F Burgess, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had it unread in a box for 10 years and it just found me again last week. The only problem I had with it is that it needs to be extended with some new stories now that my appetite is whetted.
Does anyone have other literary recommendations of a similar ilk? Dry caving tales would be fine too.
Beyond the Deep is a mixture of "Dry" caving, and cavediving.
I especially liked the preface in The Cave Divers: "The NACD knew why the cavedivers were dying, but they wouldn't tell anyone."
Good thing they changed their mind about teaching...
You'd probably also enjoy Sheck's autobiography, Caverns Measureless to Man.
I need to get the latest edition of The Cave Divers. I have a copy of Burgess' original book, copyrighted 1976.
The Last Dive is one of my favorites. There is another one that I cant think of the name of, I will check my bookshelves and see if I can find it.
"The Longest Cave" and "Beyond Mammoth Cave" by Roger Brucker and James Borden were pretty interesting dry caving books.
My favorite has always been Shibumi. That'd make a great cave film if they ever decided to turn it into a movie.
It's fiction, but includes some suspenseful caving and cave diving to boot!
-Jon
> "The Longest Cave" and "Beyond Mammoth Cave" by Roger Brucker and James Borden were pretty interesting dry caving books.
I read The Longest Cave some years ago and as I recall it was pretty good. It recounts the story of the exploration and eventual connection of the Mammoth and Flint Ridge caves.
I also enjoyed reading Trapped!, another book by Brucker. It's one of the accounts of the Floyd Collins incident.
The Great Caving Adventure Martyn Farr
Down to a sunless sea by Mike Boon
Deep Into Blue Holes: The Story of the Andros Project Rob Plamer
The Game Goes on by Jim Eyre
It's Only a Game by Jim Eyre
Beneath the Mountains: Exploring the Deep Caves of the Asturias David Rose (Author), Richard Gregson
Memoirs of a Speleologist Robert de Joly
Guy de Lavaur Caves And Cave Diving
Norbert Casteret Ten Years Under the Earth.
Not all are just on cave diving and some may be only available second hand. I have them all in my own collection as well as many others :diver The Jim Eyre books is are very good.
A few other books that are very old I have been able to borrow from the caving club library.
Andrew
I always forget that you British guys have some great books. There are several Farr books that I need to pick up at some point.
Anybody have a copy of Boon's book that they want to sell to me? I've heard legendary stories told of this guy around the campfire on expedition. I came across this thread: Down-to-a-sunless-sea-by-Mike-Boon-published-1977-Stalctite-press. Did a reprint ever gain enough support to happen?
-Jon
The story about when Robert (the author of The Cave Divers) met Sheck sounds humorously similar to when Sheck pulled a Journalist name Bob out of the water (from Caverns Measureless to Man)... Anyone know if these are two accounts of the same incident? Robert describes getting vertigo and Sheck being the hand to stabilize him, and Sheck describes dragging Bob out of the shallows while in a panic. I will have to pull both books out to check the details.
Sheck was known to change names to protect the innocent (or guilty) so it is possibly the same incident.Quote:
Originally Posted by Greenwood_60
A fair few from the British isles (England and Wales mostly). France has also produced some great books.Quote:
British guys have some great books.
Try:http://moorebooks.co.uk/shelves/cart...ategory_id=355
Postage may be an issue.
Should keep the book list full.
Andrew
The latest installment is 'Blind Descent' by James M. Tabor, which is quite interesting.
I don't remember Sheck Exley providing any kind of identification on that diver (profession, name, etc), with the reason being that he was a known diver and he didn't want to tarnish his reputation. Sheck Exley was a class act - I wish I could have met him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Greenwood_60
Mark
He was indeed!Quote:
Originally Posted by mfascuba
You may be right. I pulled out The Cave Divers and marked the 2 passages that refer to the incident. I will pull out Caverns tonight and see if I can find it.
Pulled out Caverns last night. While I am now 100% sure they are accounts of the same incident, Sheck did not use the Journalists name, just profession. Had I not already been suspecting that the Journalist was Robert while reading the account, I may not have been confused by:
[Sheck and Journalist surface after journalist is hit with vertigo]
"What happened?" Bob demanded.
The one asking the question was not Bob the journalist, but Bob Friedman, who was also there.
This was at Little Salt Springs.
Diving Into Darkness by Phillip Finch , first published in Great Britain as Raising the Dead: a true story of death and survival is a must-read for cave divers. It is the true story of a record setting body recovery attempt by the late David Shaw in Boesmansgat (Bushman's hole) at Komati Springs in South Africa, a cave that was previously thought to have been bottomed out by Sheck Exley. It is also an incredible story of survival by his safety diver and instructor Don Shirley, who took a hit of inner ear DCS on the same dive that Shaw did not return from. Since I read this, I have never been able to look at cave diving through the same eyes.