*Book Review: **Aquanaut* *The Inside Story of the Thai Cave Rescue: A Life Beneath the Surface *
By Rick Stanton with Karen Dealy, 2021 Michael Joseph/Penguin, Random House, UK $22.49 hardback, $18.95 paperback, at Amazon.com and other bookstores Cavers should read this exciting book about the rescue of 13 stranded soccer kids from the flooded Tham Luong cave, Thailand. *Rick Stanton *served for years as a firefighter, but cave diving was his passion. He is one of the top cave divers in the world, known for his careful, but daring explorations of the tough, deep caves of the UK and Europe. He was an outstanding rescuer, both at work and in caves. He was retired for four years when he got a call in 2018, asking him and others to come to Thailand. The book is a review of Rick’s major dives through the years, interwoven with a detailed account of the Thai rescue. In a way his whole diving career was preparation for the most daunting cave diving rescue ever. The alternative, advocated by some officials, was to let them live in a threatening environment for months, which probably would have killed them all. Their team brought the children out one at a time by sedating them with ketamine, administered by hero-diver Dr. Richard Harris and the divers. Each diver swam a single child out, each child wearing a full-face respirator and breathing 75% oxygen. The exit was highly choreographed, with segments of dry cave utilizing stretchers and pre-arranged divers. No one had ever given ketamine to cave victims before, and it worked! Even if you don’t like cave diving, you will like this book!! *Bill Elliott, 20 July 2022*
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