I know it is a caving book, but the same comments applies to a mining book. Thank goodness Bill Mixon has not reviewed any of of my books.
Best Wishes - Tony Oldham 34 Park Road Cwm Parc Treorchy CF42 6LE United Kingdom > From: [email protected] > Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:10:50 -0500 > Subject: Re: [Texascavers] book review: Huautla > To: [email protected] > CC: [email protected]; [email protected]; > [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; > [email protected] > > Bill, just my opinion on it, but I disagree on your critique. I don't > see anything amateurish about the typesetting, let alone the layout. > Most books of this type of similar problems with the pictures, but > this just gives it a more personal touch instead of a true commercial > style book with boorish pictures. These pictures are relative to the > overall story and since it wasn't a commercial book, they were > probably pulled from whatever sources they could find, no paid > photography at all. It was probably edited too much, so no, it > shouldn't have been edited more. > > Again, this isn't a commercial book, and I think you are being way too > hard on it. It was a great read, I couldn't put it down and wanted > more of it. > > My only complaint about it was the lack of material later on, but due > to real life issues, Bill Steele wasn't involved as much in the cave > system, but since he was only writing from his vewpoint, that couldn't > be helped. > > I hope Bill Steele writes another, I have both of his books and they > are great to read. > > Charles > > On Tue, Sep 15, 2009 at 5:34 PM, Mixon Bill <[email protected]> wrote: > > "Huautla: Thirty Years in One of the World's Deepest Caves." C. William > > Steele. Cave Books, Dayton, Ohio; 2009. ISBN 978-0-939748070-9. 6 by 9 > > inches, 269 pages, hardbound. $24.95. > > > > The typesetting is amateurish, the color and black-and-white photos were > > indifferently prepared for printing, and the cover might charitably be > > called cluttered. I can tell the text got a lot of editing, but it could > > have used a little more. Still, it reads well enough. > > > > That said, this is an important and valuable book. Way too few > > first-person accounts of exploration by American cavers have been > > commercially published. Sistema Huautla was the first of the deep caves in > > southern Mexico found and explored, and it is essentially tied for deepest > > cave in the Western Hemisphere. Steele was one of the principal explorers in > > the caves in the Huautla area during the late seventies and early eighties > > and as much time as he could spare from work and family since. He was on the > > trips in the spring of 1980 that made Li Nita the first thousand-meter-deep > > cave outside of Europe and then, barely a month later, connected it into > > Sótano de San Agustín to create the Huautla system. Being short-roped and > > trapped deep in San Agustín for several days in 1977 and the famous 1994 > > diving expedition from the point of view of those on the surface are among > > the other tales in the book. > > > > This is a personal narrative of Steele's trips to Huautla, based on the > > logs he has kept of all his caving over the years. It is not meant to be a > > complete history of the project, and I probably made a mistake by leafing > > back to try to understand what was going on. (The worthless maps scattered > > throughout the book don't help.) Take it for what it is, and just sit back > > and enjoy the stories of hard caving in deep caves.--Bill Mixon > > ---------------------------------------- > > Yield to temptation. It may not pass your way again. > > ---------------------------------------- > > You may "reply" to the address this message > > came from, but for long-term use, save: > > Personal: [email protected] > > AMCS: [email protected] or [email protected] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Visit our website: http://texascavers.com > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > > > > _________________________________________________________________ Use Hotmail to send and receive mail from your different email accounts. http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/167688463/direct/01/
