TRAPPED: How the World Rescued 33 Miners From 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert

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Nov 4, 2011 ARCHIVES  |  Entertainment  |  COLUMNS

Marc Aronson
Atheneum
ISBN 978-1416913979
NA pages
$16.99

Reviewed by Abby McGanney Nolan

In a book about Chile's famously trapped miners, you expect a certain depth of research. But it's Marc Aronson's wide, expansive view that is so refreshing. From geology and engineering to economics, mythology and religion, Aronson provides young readers with insights and analogies that can be applied far beyond what happened last year in an undersupervised Chilean mine. Of course, he has a dramatic story to tell, pivoting between the miners' situation (profound darkness, scarce food, impressive teamwork) and the rescuers' complicated efforts to recover the 33 men. Rounding out all the facts, maps and diagrams, Aronson displays a certain storytelling bravado. Besides welcome references to NFL draft picks and future NASA voyages, he also brings up larger points, such as his notion that the Americas should be named not for Amerigo Vespucci but for the silver-rich town of Potosi (in modern-day Bolivia). Even the captions — "Open pit mines such as this show our capacity to gouge out the earth" — have attitude. Aronson doesn't call for a halt to mining but for a renewed appreciation for Earth and for the people who "enter the kingdom of the dark." A year after their rescue, many of the 33 miners are still struggling, and the risks and rewards of mining are still worth studying.- Abby McGanney Nolan

Copyright 2011 Washington Post Writers Group
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