Into the Planet

My Life as a Cave Diver

By: Jill Heinerth

Narrated by: Jill Heinerth

From one of the world’s most renowned cave divers, a firsthand account of exploring the Earth’s final frontier: the hidden depths of our oceans and the sunken caves inside our planet.

More people have died exploring underwater caves than climbing Mount Everest, and we know more about deep space than we do about the depths of our oceans. From one of the top cave divers working today - and one of the very few women in her field - Into the Planet blends science, adventure, and memoir to bring listeners face-to-face with the terror and beauty of Earth’s remaining unknowns and the extremes of human capability.

Jill Heinerth - the first person in history to dive deep into an Antarctic iceberg and leader of a team that discovered the ancient watery remains of Mayan civilizations - has descended farther into the inner depths of our planet than any other woman. She takes us into the harrowing split-second decisions that determine whether a diver makes it back to safety, the prejudices that prevent women from pursuing careers underwater, and her endeavor to recover a fallen friend’s body from the confines of a cave. But there’s beauty beyond the danger of diving, and while Heinerth swims beneath our feet in the lifeblood of our planet, she works with biologists discovering new species, physicists tracking climate change, and hydrogeologists examining our finite freshwater reserves.

Written with hair-raising intensity, Into the Planet is the first book to deliver an intimate account of cave diving, transporting listeners deep into inner space, where fear must be reconciled and a mission’s success balances between knowing one’s limits and pushing the envelope of human endurance.

©2019 Jill Heinerth (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers

Well written and Truly inspiring!

Jill writes about her life and her adventures as an explorer in a way that inspires you to forget about your mundane day job and dream about finding your own destiny as an explorer.

Incredible stories and Inspirational!

As a fellow female adventure lover, books like this are a treasure. Unfortunately they are few and hard to find. please write more, Jill!

Thrilling

Loved Jill’s voice as she narrated her own story - at times thrilling, other times heartbreaking. What a wonderful life, full of adventure and passion - a fantastic journey which most of us will never take, but one which we can regardless enjoy vicariously through her book!!

A Wild and Lovely Submersion

Jill Heinerth delivers what she has promised at the beginning of her story—a journey into the gorgeous depths of underwater caves which filled me with absolute wonder and respect for this brave and unconventional woman. This is an honest and beautiful narrative about Heinerth’s life so far. It’s an amazing dive and I felt myself gasping for air and hoping for her safety, survival and happiness. Well done!

True adventure

Love when the author has the “right stuff” to read their book to me! Jill is good at it, never monotonous, bringing her own zest to my ears.

A rescue diver myself, I resonated to her vivid portraits. I remember the fears but she communicated them far better than I thought possible.

I also appreciated her exposing the personal side. We are all humans, too often books skip the failures and relationship problems that are always there. Brave heart, friend of the planet, I hope to hear you speak in person someday.

Inspiring and exciting

As a female diver this was a fantastic journey to hear about. Told very well!

Teacher understood the assignment

I was fortunate enough to receive PTA funds to buy new books for my “Environmental Stewardship” unit in high school. I bought 18 copies of this after only reading a sample on Google. I knew it was a gamble since I typically read an entire book before kids see it.
Well, I downloaded the audiobook and took a walk for 2 hours every day after school to get ahead of the kids.
Wow! I found myself walking longer and longer because I didn’t want to stop “reading”.
The book covers a myriad of themes relevant to me (an older/divorced woman), but the teens are also finding her story interesting. Yep, teens are happy to read and not scroll on phones :) These 17-year-olds are only on their 3rd day of reading and they are enthralled. I, too, loved it! So far we have two generations giving this a thumbs up!

So good

So glad it was read by the author, it was an excellent and inspiring story

@chieffoodgenius

Great story of a remarkable woman! We need more female adventurers. A wonderful journey into the planet with an excellent guide.

Great book for women! Must read for men!

Women don’t have to be cave divers to appreciate the author’s experience of being a female in a male-dominated sport. If you’ve ever been the only woman at the table, this book will make you feel validated and seen. Not to mention it’s packed with the author’s adventures as a cave explorer! This is read by the author whose wonder and emotion comes through her retelling. Wonderful!!!