The Underground Atlas: A Gazetteer of the World's Cave Regions (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Tony Waltham (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Spelunkers are those folks who crawl about in caves, dropping their dear flashlights into 200-foot holes, and get on TV when they are finally rescued. They will enjoy this nice description of the underworld. There is a general description of cave areas by continent, but most of the book is devoted to a country-by-country inventory, even when there is "no speleological interest." The data consist of maps, some photos, and notes on areas and caves of interest. All this is fairly general, of course, but the serious cave-dweller will be off to a good start. Appendixes list the longest, deepest, and largest caves and there is a list of national caving organizations. A good choice for any caving collection. R.G. Schipf, Univ. of Montana Lib., Missoula
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 239 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1 edition (September 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312011016
• ISBN-13: 978-0312011017
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,640,139 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Want to know more about the globe's caves and karst regions?, April 11, 2005

By	gemflint "gemflint" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Underground Atlas a Gazetteer of the Worlds cave regions (Hardcover)

As an armchair explorer/enthusiast, finding this book at the local used bookstore was like stumbling upon a goldmine!

Background info first:

The book's full title is "The Underground Atlas: A Gazetteer of the Worlds Cave Regions", by John Middleton & Tony Waltham. It's 239 pages long, including glossary, and has 24 pages of B&W photos. The book has numerous (approximately 104) maps of global, regional, national and local caves & karst regions, as well as detailed info and history on important caves and expeditions' maps of their explorations.


Review:

The only down side to this book is its age - it was published in 1986 and again in 1992, so there's a lot of new information that's not included in this book, specifically Mexico's fascinating 'Cueva de Villa Luz', translated to be: "Cave of the Lighted House." ( http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1997/12/971228232315.htm) Also not included is info on Mexico's crystal cave (http://www.geotimes.org/mar01/crystalcave.html)

With that in mind, it's still a VERY good book, particularly if you're planning a caving/archaeological or anthropological expedition and think you'll be needing info on the caves in the area.

If you "just" an 'armchair explorer', like me, it's still a wonderful buy and will help fill in any blank areas left on your exploration map.

Five stars awarded for a book that gives desperately needed (and would LOVE to see revised and updated) info on a very interesting scientific field.