The Huautla in Mexico is the deepest cave in the Western Hemisphere, possibly the world. Shafts reach skyscraper-depths, caverns are stadium-sized, and sudden floods can drown divers in an instant. With a two-decade obsession, William Stone and his 44-member team entered the sinkhole at Sotano de San Augustin. The first camp settled 2,328 feet below ground in a cavern where headlamps couldn't even illuminate the walls and ceiling. The second camp teetered precariously above an underground canyon where two subterranean rivers collided. But beyond that lay the unknown territory -- a flooded corridor that had blocked all previous comers, claimed a diver's life, and drove the rest of the team back. Except for William Stone and Barbara am Ende, who forged on for 18 more days, with no hope of rescue, to set the record for the deepest cave dive in the Western Hemisphere.

In Beyond Mammoth Cave: A Tale of Obsession in the World’s Longest Cave, James D. Borden and Roger W. Brucker provide gripping first-person accounts of the discoveries, including Roppel Cave, that made Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave three times longer than any other cave in the world. Borden, a relative newcomer, and Brucker, a veteran explorer, bring a personal and sometimes conflicting view of their roles as adversaries in a race that lasted from 1972 through 1983 to find “big cave.” They describe hazardous adventures, precarious climbs, and close calls from falling rocks. The perils are many and the trek arduous as they squirm through muddy tubes, wade in neck-deep cold water, and crawl over sharp rocks and gritty sand. Theirs is a tale of agonizing endurance spiced by spectacular discoveries. But the cave was not the sole obstacle. The explorations were complicated by political intrigue and the rivalry between the Kentucky-based Cave Research Foundation and the Central Kentucky Karst Coalition, each seeking to make discoveries and hide secrets. Extreme stress, of course, evoked extreme behavior, ranging from selfishness to sacrifice, from outrageous humor to the deadly serious response. Beyond Mammoth Cave includes maps by Patricia Kambesis that show the progression of cave discoveries in relation to the topography. Original line drawings by well-known illustrator Linda Heslop capture the dark mystery of the exploration. The book features five black and white photographs as a color gallery of photographs. A sequel to The Longest Cave by Brucker and Richard A. Watson, this book is a comprehensive update of the speleological investigations in the Mammoth Cave region. Brucker’s involvement provides continuity to the investigation.

From a philosopher and a neuropsychologist, a radical rethinking of certain traditional views about human cognition and behavior. Plato's Allegory of the Cave trapped us in the illusion that mind is separate from body and from the natural and physical world. Knowledge had to be eternal and absolute. Recent scientific advances, however, show that our bodies shape mind, thought, and language in a deep and pervasive way. In Out of the Cave, Mark Johnson and Don Tucker--a philosopher and a neuropsychologist--propose a radical rethinking of certain traditional views about human cognition and behavior. They argue for a theory of knowing as embodied, embedded, enactive, and emotionally based. Knowing is an ongoing process--shaped by our deepest biological and cultural values. Johnson and Tucker describe a natural philosophy of mind that is emerging through the convergence of biology, psychology, computer science, and philosophy, and they explain recent research showing that all of our higher-level cognitive activities are rooted in our bodies through processes of perception, motive control of action, and feeling. This developing natural philosophy of mind offers a psychological, philosophical, and neuroscientific account that is at once scientifically valid and subjectively meaningful--allowing us to know both ourselves and the world.

Bataan, the last bastion stemming the Japanese tidal wave across the Pacific, was about to fall. Only one unit, ROld Two Hon'erd," a small band of New Mexico National Guardsmen, remained intact. In her award-winning history, Dorothy Cave follows the members of this small unit who played a key role in this pivotal moment in history.

Beyond the Cave, by Dennis and Marilyn Zinner, relates a visionary and inspiring story of self-discovery, personal growth, and transcendence. The book follows Dennis Zinners first endeavor into fiction, The Teacher and Me, published in 2012. The Earths inhabitants are threatened with extinction. Global warming, over population, pollution of oceans and waterways, the loss of wildlife and their habitats, and the bee collapse disaster all are factors. The Earth Council, a group pledged to help the world evolve into a healthier place, is working to bring love, peace, and harmony to the planet. Dr. Wong, a member of the Earth Council, is charged with recruiting Marley and her boyfriend Josh. Marley takes us on an extraordinary journey, beginning with her awakening and through several past lifetimes as she derives a plan. Along the way we meet Marleys mother who, during her lifetime, was a spiritual healer; and, Marleys father, a renowned quantum physicist. Marleys boyfriend Josh, a computer whiz whos working on a program to safeguard the success of Marleys plan, accompanies her on her journey. To help Marley recall her gifts and incorporate them into her current life, Dr. Wong takes Marley to a lifetime when she was a Native American shaman, another lifetime when she was a novice priest devoted to human sacrifice in ancient Egypt, and a research scientist in Atlantis. Marley experiences a heroines journey, and awakens fully prepared on seeking the essential tools to inspire a revolution that will save the planet. Written with pathos and humor, Beyond the Cave is sure to please fiction buffs of every stripeespecially, those searching for the deeper meanings of life.

Do you feel guilt and shame about negative thoughts and emotions and your inability to overcome them? Bestselling author and pastor Chris Hodges helps those struggling with depression find liberating solutions by drawing from the life of the prophet Elijah. You might be asking, Should a Christian even be having these struggles? Depression is the number one health issue in the world today, yet those who suffer are still sometimes stigmatized--especially followers of Jesus. Many assume God's peace, power, and protection should prevent us from ever feeling anxious, depressed, and afraid. But the Bible teaches otherwise, particularly in its depiction of the life of the Old Testament prophet Elijah. In Out of the Cave, Chris Hodges uses Elijah's life to show us that everyone is susceptible to depression. Even when we're walking closely with God, we can still stumble and get lost in the wilderness of tangled emotions. But we don't have to stay there, because we serve a God who meets us in the darkness. Out of the Cave helps us remove the stigma of depression and realize we're not alone; understand the ways our temperament and view of God affect the way we handle depression; and learn a comprehensive approach to wellness—mind, body, and soul—from Elijah's journey. With his trademark blend of Bible-based wisdom, practical application, and vulnerability in sharing his personal struggles, Hodges explores the causes of depression we can't change, the contributors we can conquer, and offers transformative hope and spiritual power to help us win the battle.

Demonstrates the profound impact of The Poems of Ossian on composers of the Romantic Era and later: Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Massenet, and many others. Beyond Fingal's Cave: Ossian in the Musical Imagination is the first study in English of musical compositions inspired by the poems published in the 1760s and attributed to a purported ancient Scottish bard named Ossian. From around 1780 onwards, the poems stimulated poets, artists, and composers in Europe as well as North America to break away from the formality of the Enlightenment. The admiration for Ossian's poems -shared by Napoleon, Goethe, and Thomas Jefferson - was an important stimulus in the development of Romanticism and the music that was a central part of it. More important still was the view of the German cultural philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, who saw past the controversy over the poems' authenticity to the traditional elements in these heroic poems and their mood of lament. James Porter's long-awaited book traces the traditional sources used by James Macpherson for his epoch-making prose poems and examines crucial works by composers such as Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Massenet. Many other relatively unknown composers were also moved to write operas, cantatas, songs, and instrumental pieces, some of which have proven to be powerfully evocative and well worth performing and recording.