Abstract
THIS is a book which the general reader will enjoy and find exciting as well as informative. M. Casteret, well known already for his earlier study, "Ten Years under the Earth", has written it "not . . . as a technician, but as a dilettante", and in taking the reader "on a pleasure outing in the cave-country" he writes vividly of his experiences in pot-holing, in "reptation" and in the patient observation of the habits of bats. He devotes a chapter to each of these activities, and deals also with the purpose of spelaeology and the equipment needed for its pursuit. He displays, as well as considerable courage, a sense of humour and an aesthetic, indeed almost mystical, appreciation of the, wonders of the underworld. He writes with respect of the pioneers of cave exploration and marvels at the Palaeolithic troglodytes. Enough is said of the value of spelaeology to the geophysicist, the botanist and the hydroelectric engineer to show that it is more than a sport, though the appetite for scientific knowledge is no more than whetted.
My Caves
By Liorbert Casteret. Translated by R. L. G. Irving. Pp. xi + 172 + 16 plates. (London: J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., 1947.) 15s. net.
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My Caves. Nature 161, 830 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/161830c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/161830c0