04/22/2019
Underwater explorer and documentary filmmaker Heinerth vividly depicts the extraordinary aquatic vistas she’s discovered in this immersive memoir. Blending sport, science, education, and adventure, Heinerth balances technical information on the challenges of cave diving with her personal story of grit and determination. Hoping to “face challenges with fierce will and optimism,” Heinerth left a high-paying job in Toronto for the Cayman Islands to work as a diving instructor. She earned her certification as a cave diver and, in 1995, joined an expedition to Huautla, Mexico, to explore one of the world’s deepest caves. From there, she participated in a 1998 project in Wakulla Springs, Fla., where she was part of a team that mapped 42,000 feet of passages. As part of a National Geographic trip, she led a 2001 expedition to Antarctica, becoming a member of the first dive team to swim and film the caves of an iceberg. Throughout, Heinerth powerfully recreates the exhilaration of staking out “the longest underwater cave system in the world,” in the Yucatan, and living with the fear of equipment malfunctions and the constant threat of death. Heinert’s well-paced, informative memoir provides a thrill ride into unfamiliar worlds. (Aug.)
Wrestles with the human compulsion to . . . explore a world that is every bit as hostile as it is beautiful. . . . A very vivid book. . . . Ms. Heinerth is very good at making you understand both the otherworldly euphoria and claustrophobic horror of cave diving.” — Wall Street Journal
“Superb, honest, incredibly engaging . . . a captivating biography and a love letter to a sport where any small mistake can result in death—and any perfect dive can mean an amazing discovery.” — NPR
“Exhilarating . . . Heinerth offers a fish’s-eye view of the terrifying beauty of the deep blue sea.” — O Magazine
“Breathtaking . . . Written in cinematic detail, Into the Planet is a thrilling portrait of bravery, innovation, and the extreme limits of human capability. . . . one of the most hair-raising accounts of extreme exploration I’ve read in recent memory.” — Gizmodo
“A hugely enjoyable, inspiring, and thrilling self-exploration of the life of Jill Heinerth, one of the world’s greatest living explorers.” — Diver
“An eye-opening, edge-of-the-seat, thrill of a read that’s destined to become a trail blazing classic of diving literature.” — Nektonix
“A meditation on the paradoxical power of fear.” — Sierra Magazine
“Gripping.” — AARP Magazine
“A breathtaking thrill-ride. Few people have witnessed the sublime beauty of labyrinthine underwater caves or the inside of an iceberg but Jill Heinerth knows these realms intimately. Her courage and heart are as evident in her writing as they are in her groundbreaking explorations.” — Susan Casey, author of The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean
“Heinerth will not look back on her life with any regrets about a lack of bravery or passion. In this gripping story, we plunge into Heinerth’s eccentric world of death-defying caves, and into her inner sanctum forged by the thrill of discovery. I read wide-eyed, page after page.” — Diana Nyad, long-distance swimmer and author of Find a Way
“By turns terrifying, exhilarating, and inspirational . . . Talk about extreme adventure. If you don’t know the name Jill Heinerth, prepare to be dazzled and astonished. Move over, Jon Krakauer. This well-written memoir is destined to become a world classic of exploration literature.” — Ken McGoogan, author of Fatal Passage
“Cave divers are another breed, which I never truly understood; that is until I met Jill Heinerth on a cave diving trip off Santa Cruz Island and had a chance to read her new book Into the Planet, which helped to explain it all. A Must Read!” — Dr. Robert D. Ballard, Discoverer of the RMS TITANIC
“A thrill ride into unfamiliar worlds.” — Publishers Weekly
“Jill Heinerth’s lifelong passion to explore the most hidden recesses of our planet has driven her to boldly go where—quite literally—no one had gone before. She takes us along on her awe-inspiring journey, revealing the oceans of opportunity that exist right beneath our very feet.” — Richie Kohler, shipwreck explorer and subject of the New York Times Best Seller Shadow Divers
“Into the Planet chronicles, in chiseled prose, a lifetime pursuing science and discovery in exploration’s most lethal and least forgiving discipline. Time and again, Heinerth has ventured into realms where mishap can, quite literally, take your breath away. Just reading about her exploits can do the same.” — James M. Tabor, author of Blind Descent and Forever on the Mountain
“A compelling story of an adventurous, bold life yielding rewards of love, discovery, and personal growth.” — Bernie Chowdhury, author of The Last Dive
A meditation on the paradoxical power of fear.
Breathtaking . . . Written in cinematic detail, Into the Planet is a thrilling portrait of bravery, innovation, and the extreme limits of human capability. . . . one of the most hair-raising accounts of extreme exploration I’ve read in recent memory.
Exhilarating . . . Heinerth offers a fish’s-eye view of the terrifying beauty of the deep blue sea.
Gripping.
A hugely enjoyable, inspiring, and thrilling self-exploration of the life of Jill Heinerth, one of the world’s greatest living explorers.
An eye-opening, edge-of-the-seat, thrill of a read that’s destined to become a trail blazing classic of diving literature.
Wrestles with the human compulsion to . . . explore a world that is every bit as hostile as it is beautiful. . . . A very vivid book. . . . Ms. Heinerth is very good at making you understand both the otherworldly euphoria and claustrophobic horror of cave diving.
A breathtaking thrill-ride. Few people have witnessed the sublime beauty of labyrinthine underwater caves or the inside of an iceberg but Jill Heinerth knows these realms intimately. Her courage and heart are as evident in her writing as they are in her groundbreaking explorations.”
Superb, honest, incredibly engaging . . . a captivating biography and a love letter to a sport where any small mistake can result in death—and any perfect dive can mean an amazing discovery.
Heinerth will not look back on her life with any regrets about a lack of bravery or passion. In this gripping story, we plunge into Heinerth’s eccentric world of death-defying caves, and into her inner sanctum forged by the thrill of discovery. I read wide-eyed, page after page.
Cave divers are another breed, which I never truly understood; that is until I met Jill Heinerth on a cave diving trip off Santa Cruz Island and had a chance to read her new book Into the Planet, which helped to explain it all. A Must Read!
“Into the Planet chronicles, in chiseled prose, a lifetime pursuing science and discovery in exploration’s most lethal and least forgiving discipline. Time and again, Heinerth has ventured into realms where mishap can, quite literally, take your breath away. Just reading about her exploits can do the same.
By turns terrifying, exhilarating, and inspirational . . . Talk about extreme adventure. If you don’t know the name Jill Heinerth, prepare to be dazzled and astonished. Move over, Jon Krakauer. This well-written memoir is destined to become a world classic of exploration literature.
Jill Heinerth’s lifelong passion to explore the most hidden recesses of our planet has driven her to boldly go where—quite literally—no one had gone before. She takes us along on her awe-inspiring journey, revealing the oceans of opportunity that exist right beneath our very feet.
A compelling story of an adventurous, bold life yielding rewards of love, discovery, and personal growth.
Wrestles with the human compulsion to . . . explore a world that is every bit as hostile as it is beautiful. . . . A very vivid book. . . . Ms. Heinerth is very good at making you understand both the otherworldly euphoria and claustrophobic horror of cave diving.
Gripping.
A hugely enjoyable, inspiring, and thrilling self-exploration of the life of Jill Heinerth, one of the world’s greatest living explorers.
A meditation on the paradoxical power of fear.
Exhilarating . . . Heinerth offers a fish’s-eye view of the terrifying beauty of the deep blue sea.
Superb, honest, incredibly engaging . . . a captivating biography and a love letter to a sport where any small mistake can result in death—and any perfect dive can mean an amazing discovery.
An eye-opening, edge-of-the-seat, thrill of a read that’s destined to become a trail blazing classic of diving literature.
Breathtaking . . . Written in cinematic detail, Into the Planet is a thrilling portrait of bravery, innovation, and the extreme limits of human capability. . . . one of the most hair-raising accounts of extreme exploration I’ve read in recent memory.
Jill Heinerth loves cave diving. That’s clear in her prose, and it’s also crystal clear in her voice as she describes diving in dangerous underwater caves among unknown species and stalactites and frightening cold. Heinerth is incredibly brave and skilled as she breaks barriers diving in the deepest cave in the world, in Mexico, and inside the biggest iceberg in recorded history. Her diving is part of what she calls the “age of technical exploration”—above, below, and inside the earth. Heinerth is genuine and appealing; her warm, enthusiastic voice is touched with intensity in the face of perilous situations, sorrowful when a friend dies, and, through it all, tinged with charming Canadian vowels. She has lost dozens of friends to the caves, suffered from the bends, and had a leaky glove in icy water. Stay safe, Jill. A.B. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Jill Heinerth loves cave diving. That’s clear in her prose, and it’s also crystal clear in her voice as she describes diving in dangerous underwater caves among unknown species and stalactites and frightening cold. Heinerth is incredibly brave and skilled as she breaks barriers diving in the deepest cave in the world, in Mexico, and inside the biggest iceberg in recorded history. Her diving is part of what she calls the “age of technical exploration”—above, below, and inside the earth. Heinerth is genuine and appealing; her warm, enthusiastic voice is touched with intensity in the face of perilous situations, sorrowful when a friend dies, and, through it all, tinged with charming Canadian vowels. She has lost dozens of friends to the caves, suffered from the bends, and had a leaky glove in icy water. Stay safe, Jill. A.B. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
2019-05-12
Enchanting tales of "swimming through the veins of Mother Earth."
Heinerth (The Scuba Diver's Guide to Underwater Video, 2016, etc.), an award-winning Canadian filmmaker and professional cave diver, delivers an exhilarating, deeply personal memoir about her career as a woman in a male-dominated profession. In spare, crisp prose, she chronicles a "life immersed in a relationship with this element that nourishes and destroys, buoys and drowns—that has both freed me and taken the lives of my friends." She has learned to "accept and welcome fear" because, as she notes, "more people have died exploring underwater caves than climbing Mount Everest." Heinerth recounts fighting sudden, torrential underwater cave streams, developing new diving equipment, and suffering decompression illness. She began with diving lessons and got hooked. At 27, she left a lucrative job in Toronto to work at a dive resort in Grand Cayman, guiding visitors through long, sinuous tunnels. On a solo dive, she discovered her first cave, filled with ornate stalactites. The author got certified as a cavern diving expert, later making a name for herself with underwater photography and articles in diving magazines. She chronicles her adventures exploring Florida's vast network of caves and, in Mexico, a six-hour round-trip swim into the world's deepest cave. Next up, in 1995, she helped survey the world's longest underwater cave. A few years later, she was one of the divers to make the first 3-D imaging of an underwater cave. In 2001, with support from National Geographic, she embarked on one of her most incredible adventures. A massive iceberg in the Antarctic Circle had broken off the Ross Ice Shelf, and Heinerth and her crew battled 60-foot wave peaks and ice floes on a Shackleton-esque journey to explore a part of it. Deep within, they found an "ecosystem living in total isolation, an undiscovered world thriving in darkness."
Told with sensitivity and joyful enthusiasm, this is an inspiring story that will appeal to many, especially adventurous young women.
