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)

Is there an abridged version...

Would you try another book from James Tabor and/or Don Leslie?

Probably wouldn't read another book by this author. It felt like a play by play with way too many tangents. The story would have kept my interest if it was the crib notes version.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Game of Thrones

Did Don Leslie do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The reader was clear and had a nice voice but the book didn't call for much differentiation

Was Blind Descent worth the listening time?

No. I finally started to fast forward.

Dull Narrator

Didn't make it through the first chapter: Bad reading.

the voice sounded like a mix between a computer & a blockbuster preview voiceover. Sleep-inducing.

Interesting story marred by overblown description

Any additional comments?

The constant puffed up description really ruin this story. In particular, the authors fawning over the "christ-like" Bill Stone is ridiculous (he seriously used the words christ-like to describe Bill). If this wasn't non-fiction I'd assume Bill Stone would be the author's self-insert wish-fulfillment fantasy character. Instead, I have to assume it's just Tabor stroking Stones ego.

The story itself is amazing but this writer has clear bias

A lot of ‘Alpha Male’ crap. Literally described Stone as an Alpha male. You can tell there’s a curtain amount of hero worship there. Really took me out of it. The writing itself is mediocre, please just go watch a documentary about it or something.

Overly melodramatic

Receptively verbose. The unashamed hero worship of Bill Stone was laughable. Listen to it if you're bored. But never attempt it if you find yourself alone and trapped in a cave 🙂

terrible voice, no likable characters, terrible.

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

someone who doesn't care to follow the story line closely (e.g. while doing dishes, working) and is hard of hearing.

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

spend less time trying to impress me with the dangers of caves, more time on the actual story.

What didn’t you like about Don Leslie’s performance?

throaty, gasping breathe and very low tone hurt my ears with both low and high end acoustics.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

frustration.

Boring descriptive style

This author employs the most boring style for telling a story: the descriptive style. All great writers will tell you: “Don’t tell me what happened, show me what happened.” This book is all telling and no showing.