A Biographical Bibliography : Explorers, Scientists & Visitors In the World's Karst 852 BC to the Present

• Author: Ballinger, Christine; Shaw, Trevor
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 electronic resource (342 p.)

This is a very dull book. Like a dictionary, it contains only facts: facts that are not readily to be found elsewhere. People who are important in the study of caves and karst are known for what they did, what they wrote and whom they influenced. But as individuals they are often no more than a name. They may perhaps be recognized for other aspects, as a King perhaps, or a novelist or a famous doctor. Some, like Darwin or Freud, have changed the world in other ways~but very many had only normal quiet lives during which they also explored, studied or wrote about caves. It is they whose wider lives are difficult to trace and it is 4634 of them who are recorded here, with information from birth certificates, obituaries, unpublished letters and mentions by other people. It is their wider lives that help to show them as real people. In some cases their interest in caves was a part of their professional lives. In many others it provides stimulation and relaxation in otherwise busy lives. But in every case it was the same person and the same brain that enjoyed both~and it was both that made them the people they were. It is only from the biographical sources recorded here, that each person can be understood.

To je zelo dolgočasna knjiga. Tako kot slovar vsebuje samo dejstva: dejstva, ki jih ni mogoče najti drugje. Ljudje, ki so pomembni za preučevanje jam in krasa, so znani po tem, kaj so počeli, kaj so napisali in na koga so vplivali. Toda večkrat o njih poznamo zgolj ime. Morda o nekaterih vemo tudi kaj več, med njimi so kralji, romanopisci ali zdravniki. Nekateri, denimo Darwin ali Freud, so svet celo spremenili, toda večinoma so imeli le neizstopajoče normalno življenje, med katerim so tudi raziskovali, preučevali ali pisali o jamah. To so tista življenja, o katerih je težko najti kaj več. V knjigi je 4634 gesel, ki vsebujejo podatke iz rojstnih listov, osmrtnic, neobjavljenih pisem in omembe drugih ljudi. Šele ta širši pogled iz njih naredi prave ljudi. V nekaterih primerih je bilo njihovo zanimanje za jame del njihovega poklicnega življenja. V mnogih drugih le spodbuda in sprostitev v sicer napornem življenju. Toda v vsakem primeru so ista oseba in isti možgani uživali oboje~in oboje ju je osebnostno izoblikovalo. Razumemo jih lahko le s pomočjo tukaj zbranih bibliografskih virov.