Blind Descent

The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth

By: James Tabor

Narrated by: Don Leslie

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2010 James Tabor (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

"Holds the reader to his seat, containing dangers aplenty with deadly falls, killer microbes, sudden burial, asphyxiation, claustrophobia, anxiety, and hallucinations far underneath the ground in a lightless world. Using a pulse-pounding narrative, this is tense real-life adventure pitting two master cavers mirroring the cold war with very uncommonly high stakes." (Publishers Weekly)

BOGGLING

This book is immensely interesting & informative. The achievements of these super cavers verges on the unbelievable. A real life page turner

Good book

Really never new anything about deep caves but much more informed now. Great story these men and women are as tough as they come.

Good book in general

A bit slow in parts but transmits an inside look on cave exploration and the race to discover the deepest cave

I liked it...good because its real!

I really did like the book it expressed many of the thoughts that Cavers have. There are different types of Cave diving...this expressed many of the views.

But Why?

About halfway through the book, I realized I couldn't, for the love of me, understand why people would want to crawl through caves. Unlike climbing a mountain, with your spirit soaring, and heaven just out of reach, caves are wet, smelly, dark, and claustrophobic in the extreme. When you get to the bottom of a cave -- well, there you are. At the bottom. In the dark. And the stink. Caving is a creepy activity. And intentionally or not, James Tabor communicates that. After reading Blind Descent, I decided I didn't even want to go into basements. I'd rather seek the sky above -- than the mud below.

Fascinating entrance into a little known world

So few books are written about cave diving and exploration, this is a fascinating account and description of underground waterfalls and cave exploration that goes beyond imagination. I loved this book so much I've listened to it about four or five times.

Race to the Bottom of the Earth

Any additional comments?

This story will introduce the reader to the little known world of extreme deep-cave exploration. And you thought mountaineering was tough? At least they could see what they had to climb and rappel! The author and narrator do a good job of transporting the listener/reader into the grueling, dangerous, and often terrifying pitch black darkness of the cave, as well as character studies of some of the modern-day Hillarys and Shackletons who voluntarily, and eagerly, descend. Well written, fascinating, this book made me both search online for videos and websites of extreme caving to learn more, as well as thinkig that this is something I'd never want to do!!! Highly recommend to fans, like myself, of adventure stories like "The Worst Journey In The World" and "Into Thin Air".

For the Most Part Quite Entertaining

I listened to this book straight through on a long road trip. I found it educational and it painted a good image of what was happening in the caves and life of the main characters in the book. It tried to put you in their shoes. Finding the deepest cave.

Incredible story, great narration

This is a gripping read and almost unbelievable in its divergence from everyday life. You are left envying the experience while knowing you would never ever want to do it.

Interesting subject, boring thesis and themes

What could James Tabor have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

1) Tabor sets up his story with the assertion that people historically have mourned the loss of exploration with each great discovery. After every accomplishment (crossing the Atlantic, stepping on the moon, etc.), people have thought that it is the end of exploration. Then Tabor says, “No! There is another! Finding the deepest cave is just as big a deal!” That’s fine with me—that seems worthy of being important. However, Tabor calls the discovery of the deepest cave “the LAST great discovery” many, many times. By saying this, he is guilty of doing exactly the thing that he so boldly ridiculed! Talk about undermining his own thesis!

2) One of Tabor’s major themes is that caving is an equal among other kinds of exploration that have more recognition. Tabor tirelessly references other adventures: climbing Everest, reaching the South Pole, trying to reach the South Pole (Shackleton), walking on the moon, and deep sea diving. Basically, the book goes something like this:

“Caves are uninhabitable environments, just like Everest…You can die in a cave, just like you can die on a mountain…Caving is exploration, just like Columbus did….Caving is difficult, just like Everest, no wait, it’s more difficult than Everest…Caves are just as remote as the moon…Diving in caves is more dangerous that diving in open water…Caving is like climbing an 8000m mountain in reverse…Cave rescues are more difficult than mountain rescues…blah, blah, blah.”

Tabor’s support for his theme of the danger and greatness of caving is simply analogy after analogy. After the first few mentions of mountaineering, I started to yawn. Can't he let caving stand on it's own? He needs to quit using analogies and just to a better job of describing the subject on hand. Tabor was probably inspired by tales like “Into Thin Air” and “Endurance”, but his own story pales in comparison. Krakouer and Lansing had me on the edge of my seat and nearly crying when they told stories that were suspenseful, scary, and beautiful. The heroes in these stories were people that I marveled at. Tabor’s CONSTANT references to these other types of exploration were simply a crutch that he hoped would make his story equally impressive. The descriptions of caves were dull and the human elements were uninteresting. For example, one of Stone’s girlfriends made pancakes once, and I was like “Oh…so? Who cares if she made pancakes?”; that’s what the entire book was like.

3) Why did Tabor keep calling this thing a race? The competition between was between two different caves. It didn’t matter at all which explorers finished first, one cave was deeper. It never was a race.

4) Okay, I’ve criticized Tabor’s writing skills enough. This was my first book about caving. I looked at some pictures of Krubera online and it looks terrifying and awesome! The people who explore supercaves must be very brave and thoughtful. I would love to learn more from an author who is a stronger writer.

Any additional comments?

Sorry for all the complaining, but I didn't enjoy it much.