Race against Time is particularly good and one of the first I bought.
Christmas 1992 my dad bought me (after much pestering) Northern Caves 1 which for some reason the gift shop in Reeth sold and which id looked at every morning on the way to school.
I read it absolutely cover to cover. That?s likely what inspired me.
A mix of guidebooks and inspiration for the beginner caver:
The Complete Caving Manual by Andy Sparrow
The Great Caving Adventure by Martyn Farr
The Darkness Beckons by Martyn Farr
Alpine Caving Techniques by Georges Marbach/Bernard Tourte
Caves Of South Wales by Tim Stratford
Agree that these General Caving books are great:
>The Geology of Western Europe, M.G.Rutten, 1969
>The Underground Atlas, J Middleton and T Waltham, 1986
>Karst: Important Karst Regions of the Northern Hemisphere, M.Herak and V.T. Stringfield, 1972
I believe there are many others! Always glad to discover new books on topic!
No list of essential cave books would be complete without mention of Beneath the Mountains: Exploring the Deep Caves of Asturias, by, er, me and Richard Gregson.
It has long been out of print, but if you can't source a hard copy, you can read it for free via the OUCC website.
Bill Steele has listed some of his favourites on FB:
? The Longest Cave by Brucker and Watson,
? The Darkness under the Earth by Norbert Casteret,
? Hidden Nature by Michael Taylor.
? Deep Secrets
? Beyond the Deep
? Beneath the Mountains
? Journeys Beneath the Earth
? The Descent of the Pierre Saint Martin by Norbert Casteret
* My Caves by Norbert Casteret
? One Thousand Meters Down by Jean Caddox
? Caves of Adventure by Haroun Tazieff
? Beyond Time by Michel Siffre
? Ghar Parau by David Judson
? Gaping Gill by Howard Beck
? The Cave Explorers by Jim Eyre
? Memoirs of a Speleologist by Robert de Joly
? Depths of the Earth by William Halliday (the first caving book I read)
? Caverns Measureless to Man by Sheck Exley
? The Great Caving Adventure by Martyn Farr
? Fern Cave by Jennifer Pinkley
? and I may as well include the two I wrote:
Yochib: The River Cave
& Huautla: Thirty Years in One of the Worlds Deepest Caves
& Aquanaut by Rick Stanton (he has only just started John's book)