Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science edited by John Gunn, Fitzroy Dearborn/Taylor and Francis, £95, ISBN 1579583997
FEAR and fascination are strange, but not rare, bedfellows. Although as a palaeontologist I know caves are spectacular, I am not attracted by the idea of crawling as far underground as possible between rocks in the dark. So I have been searching for a really good book on the whole phenomenon. The Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science exceeded my expectations in both range and depth of information: this book is pretty well as good as it could be.
Caves and karst go hand in hand. Where you find a landscape of limestone, or karst, where water percolating through the stone has etched out sink holes and underground rivers, you will find caves.
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Editor John Gunn also manages that difficult balancing act of holding the attention of both the general reader and the cave specialist. The book’s authority stems from the huge range of topics covered by about 200 experts from around the world. Specialists will find plenty of intellectual fodder in the encyclopedia, of interest not only to speleologists, but to everyone from archaeologists (impressive coverage) to zoologists via geologists, glaciologists (ice caves), hydrologists, conservationists, volcanologists (lava tubes) and so on, with topics such as safety, religion (use of caves for), history of exploration, habitation and military use (see the entry on the infamous Tora Bora caves of Afghanistan). Tourism is there, too, because there are now 43 World Heritage Sites that feature caves.
I was particularly impressed with the coverage devoted to cave biology, which has boomed in the past few decades. Cavers may be comforted to know that they are almost never alone in even the deepest caves. There will generally be a small beastie, probably a crustacean, waiting to pick up the pieces if they fail to make it out.
Gunn and his advisory panel have produced a remarkably well-written, structured and designed book. It will be invaluable as an essential reference for anyone interested in caves and karst. He clearly faced a difficult choice, juggling the number of topics covered with the length devoted to them. He chose wisely. The coverage is comprehensive, and he compensated for entries that are frustratingly short by adding references for further reading. Bonuses are the enormous range of supporting materials, from colour photographs to maps and tables and a good index – the essential ingredient for negotiating this encyclopedia. At the best part of 100 pages running from A2 (a cave in Switzerland) to zygomycetes (bread moulds), plus a separate alphabetical list of entries and thematic list, nobody should get lost even in the deeper sink holes and phreatic tubes of the Encyclopedia of Caves and Karst Science.
The only drawback? Cavers won’t be able to travel very far underground with this book. Its 900 pages weigh in at 2.78 kilograms. Although I imagine if you did get stuck underground, it would not only while away the time, but help you to discover where you went wrong.