James M. Tabor writes Blind Descent, a new book to our school library, and a true story. Tabor’s last book, published in 2007, was the internationally award-winning Forever on the Mountain. He has also been involved with History Channel and PBS. In the past he has written for Time, Smithsonian, U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Barron’s. He is a former editor to Outside magazine and Ski Magazine.

In his latest book Mr. Tabor chronicles the life for two men, from two opposite sides of the world, as they race to be the first to discover the deepest cave and ultimately the deepest place on Earth. One man, American Bill Stone, has been searching in the caves in central Mexico. The other man is Ukrainian Alexander Klimchouk who searches the caves in southeastern Republic of George.

Like the race to the moon between the United States and Russia, the race to find the deepest place on Earth is between two men that will probably never meet each other. There are setbacks and a mutiny, but there are also fantastic discoveries and amazing sights to be seen.

Supercaving is in a class all of its own.

Blind Descent is only 250 pages long with 53 short chapters. And there are 14 pages of nice visual pictures, halfway into the book. The fact that you never really knew what you were going to find in the caves was something I felt Mr. Tabor used to his advantage when outlining the chapters. Any caving terms Mr. Tabor used he explains to readers beforehand.

Anyone who likes adventure or nonfiction would like this book (boys and girls alike). So if you like adventure or want something short to read Blind Descent by James M. Tabor is the book for you.

In the words of the author: “[It is] a thrilling epic about a pursuit that makes even extreme mountaineering and ocean exploration pale by comparison.”