Great Caves of the World [Hardcover]

Tony Waltham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2008

A stunning visual tour of the world's most spectacular caves and cave systems.

Caves are found on every continent. The United States is home to the world's longest cave system, the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, and to the world's most popular tourist cave, New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns. Great Caves of the World takes readers to these and 25 other astonishing and challenging caves across the globe.

Each entry includes lavish photographs and authoritative text describing the cave, its inhabitants, its environment, how and when it was discovered, access sites, and travel tips on how to get there.

In addition to Carlsbad and Mammoth, featured caves include:

• Sterkfontein Cave in South Africa, the site of four-million-year-old hominid remains
• New Zealand's Waitomo Cave, dazzlingly illuminated by glow-worms
• The underground waterfalls of Gruta do Janelão, Brazil
• Looming glaciers of ice in Austria's limestone caves
• The cool Nullarbar Caves under the Australian desert
• Ethiopia's underground maze, the Sof Omar Cave
• The Caves of Mulu in Sarawak (Borneo), the world's largest
• Castleguard Cave in the Canadian Rockies.

Geologists, expert cavers, spelunkers, climbers, adventure travelers, natural history enthusiasts and general readers will find this book fascinating.

(20090228)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A visual tour of the globe's most magnificent caves. (The Reader's Digest (Montreal) 20081031)

The photographs are incredible. (The Guelph Mercury 20090103)

Our world is pockmarked with remarkable caves, and the author explores these secretive landscapes.... The photographs are stunning. (Jodi DeLong Chronicle Herald 200811)

Cavers are sure to feel restless when studying the book, but anyone will be impressed by it. (Johanna Bailey and Gloria Hildebrandt Escarpment Views 20081130)

Geologist Tony Waltham delivers an excellent introduction...a way to explore a world that is incredibly diverse with Waltham's down-to-earth explanations. (Sharon Wootton The Olympian 20081217)

Serious underground adventurers will find this book to be an indispensable addition to their caving library. (Danny A. Brass National Spelunking Society 200811)

Great Caves of the World gives us a look at that underworld that we're unlikely to visit. (Mary Ellen Botter Dallas Morning News )

Caves always strike me as a little creepy....but Tony Waltham's Great Caves of the World bring them into the light. (Catharine Hamm Los Angeles Times )

Experienced wilderness travelers all have favorite spots to visit and Tony Waltham is clearly no exception. (Danny A. Brass PRS )

About the Author

Tony Waltham is an engineering geologist, karst (limestone cave) specialist and author. He has led caving tours of the United States, Italy, Iceland, Jordan, Syria, Alaska and Russia.

(20081207)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Firefly Books (October 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1554074134
• ISBN-13: 978-1554074136
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 10.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #542,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Tony Waltham lives in Nottingham, UK, having now retired from many years as a university lecturer in engineering geology.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautifully done, but too short!, October 2, 2008

By 

David W. Straight (knoxville, tennessee United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Great Caves of the World (Hardcover)

There are 28 caves in this 112-page book: each has some striking color photographs plus narrative text. Some of the photos are of formations that can be found in many caves, but most will help convey an idea of why a particular cave is included in the book. Every caver will have his/her opinions on why cave X should have been included in preference to cave Y, but the selection of caves from around the world is good. Of particular interest are photos of some immense cave passages, dramatic freefall pits, and the like.

What I and other cavers might miss here are maps--maps showing rough locations, and cave maps (plan or profile). We like to look at such maps to tweak our imagination. Fortunately, however, there are other sources--the Internet, the NSS News, and the superb Atlas of the Great Caves of the World (loaded with maps, but printed 20 years ago). So this is a book that will delight non-cavers and cavers especially--who will appreciate some of the fine caves that not many of them will be able to visit.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Selection of Interesting Caves, June 13, 2009

By 

William Mixon (Austin, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Great Caves of the World (Hardcover)

The author has selected twenty-eight caves from around the world and, following three pages of introduction to caves in general, devotes one or more pages to each, with at least one large color photograph. Many of the caves are big: Mammoth Cave as the longest cave, Carlsbad Cavern as the largest tourist cave, San Actun as the longest underwater cave, Kazumura Cave as the longest lava tube, caves of Mulu as the largest cave passages, Krubera as the deepest. But some are small caves notable for other reasons: Sterkfontein Cave for paleontology, Grotte Chauvet for paleolithic art, Villa Luz and and the Waitomo Caves for biology. Caves notable for scenery include Lechuguilla, ice caves of Austria, and Skocjanske Jame.

A few of the photos aren't sharp enough to warrant the size they are printed, and some could have used more skillful preparation for printing. The text appears to have been written for children, because the reader is annoyed by constant repetition of dimensions in both metric and English systems, as well as references back to the introduction whenever terms are used that are even slightly technical. Nevertheless it is informative and explains clearly why each cave qualified as one of the author's choices. If you are interested in caves but don't know where all the caves I mentioned are, you should read this color picture book.--Bill Mixon

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great photos. And Brazil is in the front cover!, October 19, 2010

By 

Douglas Cardoso (Brazil) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Great Caves of the World (Hardcover)

The author takes us for a journey around the world, presenting several wonderful caves.
Although some more technical caves are missing (some of them really amazing), the books provide a great glimpse about Speleology, allowing the neophyte start thinking about a career (maybe a hobby) on this kind of adventure.