Trapped!: The Story of Floyd Collins – Robert Murray and Roger W. Brucker --------------- 4.5 Stars

Earlier this year I visited Mammoth Cave National Park in western Kentucky. Not really something I had planned much but really enjoyed it once there. I spent a few hours walking about 4 miles of the currently discovered 426 miles (and growing!) cave system. While there I learned about the fascinating story about Floyd Collins. I was so intrigued by it, I looked to see if there was a book about him. As luck would have it there are a few but one is amazing, at least in my opinion!

Trapped!: The Story of Floyd Collins was originally written in 1979 to tell the story of the rescue attempt of Floyd Collins in 1925. If you were like me, you know nothing about this story. A bit of background: there are hundreds of miles of continuous cave in western Kentucky. In the 1920s, explorers were trying to map and find parts of it. Collins, thinking he could get rich by finding undiscovered areas, spend much of this time searching underground. Unfortunately, while out on an expedition, he was moving through a very tight passage and got stuck. It led to a 3 week adventure that was both unexpected and captivating.  Ultimately, this story became the biggest in the world. Yes, you read that correctly, the rescue attempt for Floyd Collins became sensational and updated daily on every newspaper in the world.

When I learned how famous this event was, I really didn't understand why. But, as I spent more time learning about it, it made more and more sense. To help explain it further, here's a paragraph from the book that summarizes far better than I would:

As you can probably infer from what I've shared so far, there are a couple of reasons I enjoyed this book so much. First, I think my visit to the cave really helped me picture and better understand what it's like exploring a cave (something I had never considered previous to this visit). This helped me connect far more deeply with the story. Second, it's truly an incredible story and there's a reason it became the biggest one in the world.  Themes like - man vs. nature, greed and exploitation, heroism, isolation, and the power of media - were all major parts of the story. Third, I also love how the story was told. It was a fascinating mix of historical reporting, journalism, an amazing storytelling.

4.5 stars is a very high rating (I've only had five - 4.5 star books and seven - 5 star books in the 16 years I've had this blog). I'm also not foolish to believe that many others would not have a 4 1/2 star rating for this book (however, 4.5 stars is the net average on Amazon for the 88 people who reviewed it). I would imagine others might still find the story incredible, but will find the book slow in some parts and probably far too detailed. Either way, I urge you to take it or at least read the articles about it as the story truly is incredible and worth learning about.