Book of the week: Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth by James M. Tabor
Tabor's tale of adventure tracks two teams, on opposite sides of the world, as each set outs to discover the depths of two enormous cave systems, one in southern Mexico and one on the edge of the Black Sea.
(Random House, 304 pages, $26)
There are many ways to die in a cave, said Alexandra Alter and Cynthia Crossen in The Wall Street Journal. Mountain climbers die in only about four ways, according to author James Tabor’s calculations, but the less-celebrated adventurers who explore the world’s deepest holes can lose their lives in more than 50. Often operating in total darkness, they risk deadly falls and avalanches. They can also succumb to lethal microbes, poisonous gas, drowning, electrocution, rabid bats, or a bout of darkness-induced madness known as “the Rapture”—which Tabor likens to “a panic attack on meth.” Such were the dangers confronted in 2004 by two teams, on opposite sides of the world, as they set out on simultaneous attempts to plumb the planet more deeply than anyone before.
The contrasting styles of the two teams’ leaders provide one of Blind Descent’s great pleasures, said Bill Marvel in The Dallas Morning News. American Bill Stone, leading assaults on two enormous cave systems in southern Mexico, at times acts “strangely indifferent to the welfare of his team members.” Hard on himself and others, he views his mission as easily worth sacrificing one’s life for. Far away on the edge of the Black Sea, meanwhile, mild-mannered Alex Kilmchouk spoils his crew with Cognac and pâté as they undertake a more methodical probe of their own, 7,000-foot anti-Everest. By pairing the stories of the two teams, and making their competition into a race, Tabor has produced “a perfect adventure read for armchair or beach.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Well, maybe not “perfect,” said Stephen Harrigan in The Washington Post. Tabor, a veteran magazine writer and television producer, “employs the breathless techniques that become second-nature to storytellers accustomed to shrinking word counts and intrusive commercial breaks.” So deduct a few style points for hyperbole and overuse of cliff-hanging chapter endings. “But just try to stop reading.” Tabor has found “a great subject and a relatively fresh one,” and part of what makes reading Blind Descent so pleasurable is “the author’s own barely contained excitement that he might be on to a big, thumping man-book” in the manner of A Perfect Storm or Into Thin Air. It may not belong quite in that class, but it’s still a “satisfying, shivery read.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why more and more adults are reaching for soft toys
Under The Radar Does the popularity of the Squishmallow show Gen Z are 'scared to grow up'?
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Magazine solutions - December 27, 2024 / January 3, 2025
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - December 27, 2024 / January 3, 2025
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine printables - December 27, 2024 / January 3, 2025
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - December 27, 2024 / January 3, 2025
By The Week US Published
-
Also of interest...in picture books for grown-ups
feature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”
By The Week Staff Last updated