"Raising the Dead: A True Story of Death and Survival." Phillip Finch.
Harper Sport, London; 2008. ISBN 978-0-00-726524-4. 5 by 8 inches, 310
pages plus color plates, hardbound. £16.99.
In January 2005, David Shaw attempted to recover from the floor of
Bushmansgat, or Bushman's Hole, the body of a diver who had died there
in December 1994. The depth was 270 meters, 886 feet. Sheck Exley had
reached a higher point on the bottom of this cave in South Africa in
1993 at –263 meters, the first person to do so. He suffered greatly
from HPNS during the deeper part of that dive. Shaw died in the
recovery attempt, and his deepest support diver, Don Shirley, suffered
a rebreather control-system failure and a serious inner-ear-bends
event. All this was heavily publicized at the time, and most cave-
divers are probably vaguely aware of it.
This thoroughly researched book covers the dive in detail, as well as
topics like previous diving in Bushmansgat and Shaw's and Shirley's
prior diving careers. It is non-technical, written for a popular
audience, and there are brief but clear explanations about things like
the need for trimix and the hazards of decompression sickness during
such dives. The text is well crafted, if not particularly wonderful,
and reads smoothly.
There are eight pages of color photos. The book is not nearly as long
as the number of pages implies, because the type is large and widely
spaced within generous margins. There are a good index and a few
appendixes, including a eulogy by Shaw's daughter Lisa. I know of no
convenient US source for the London edition. What is obviously the
same book is scheduled to be published in the United States at the end
of September under the title "Diving into Darkness." It will be a good
bit cheaper, and it can be preordered from Amazon now for about half
the British list price.—Bill Mixon
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