Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver
Ratings9
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings9
Average rating3.9
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 readers 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 readers 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.
Reviews with the most likes.
“He didn't know whether we'd found a new cave, but was celebrating because the most successful dive we could have given him was one that brought us home safe.”
I'm such a wuss. I hate bugs, I hate spiders, I'm not particularly a fan of the outdoors, and love air conditioning. I can swim passably, can't really dive all that well, and get seasick. I'd make a poor explorer, and an even poorer cave diver. This woman is a badass.
Destined for water at a young age, Jill here is a thrill-seeker unlike any I've read about. I've seen cool underwater photos of nice, safe, reefs and things, but she dials it up to 50 and dives in caves. Dark caves, dangerous caves, caves you need special equipment and a healthy disregard for your safety to experience. But she does it multiple times, mapping out unexplored caves, exploring the underwater caves of a glacier, and bringing back stunning photos and footage. It's incredibly dangerous too, if the list of friends and colleagues she's had to bury is any indication. I could never, ever, in a hundred million years, do what she does.
There's a lot of soul searching from a woman cave diver here as well. Her relationships outside of the water are tenuous at best, and I appreciate in hindsight how her entire story out of the water is necessary to tell her story in the water. I'm not sure the people leaving bad reviews because she talks about her love life really understand how much it matters here.
I really enjoyed this book and the glimpses she gave us into her world underwater. It's a dangerous world down there, and after her brushes with death in this book, I'm glad she was here to tell it.
Fascinating account of someone's life and career that is so foreign to the average person, it may as well had been science fiction. Written with such heart, detail, and suspense, I'm a little sad she doesn't have more books for me to read (afterall, the woman only has one life).
Contains spoilers
Honestly would've been a 5 star book until we got to the 7R chapter. Nothing bothers me more than that type of thinking "no one who doesn't have this could EVER understand why I do the things I do, people like me are just so DIFFERENT" Really put me off her as a person, not to mention the section where she talks about being willing to abandon a friend struggling with addiction due to the personal risk. But unwilling to abandon a friend panicking in a cave, guess personal risk isn't a huge problem after all 🙄 just the kind that she thinks is inconvenient and messy. I think the book would have been much better if the last two chapters were dropped off entirely. I quite liked it until then, and now it leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
