Diving books and/or movies

[fastro]

I really enjoyed the book Shadow Divers. It is a good read and an interesting bit of history about U-boats and the crews on them.

 

[David Wilson]

My favourite is Peter Small's "Your Guide to Underwater Adventure". I have a first edition (1957) and the book is an excellent example of how best to combine biographical and instructional information. I have a research interest in diving equipment of the 1950s and this tome names manufacturers and their products, along with prices and reviews. Peter Small was a journalist as well as a British scuba pioneer so his writing is well crafted. There's a poignancy too for the reader insofar as Small died attempting a new depth record.

Another book, one which is probably better known to an American audience, is the Carriers' "Dive", particularly the 1955 edition whose appendix lists US manufacturers and their products too, an invaluable source for the dive historian. The rest of the book is excellent too, both in style and content.

Most modern dive literature seems to dwell on travel and tourism, suggesting that diving isn't worth doing in one's own back yard. There's a lot to be learnt from the American diving pioneers who didn't stray far from their homes in Southern California or the Upper Midwest and devised means of surviving in such colder waters. A bit of a contrast to what seems to be the fashion nowadays of hopping onto planes, contributing in the process to global warming.

 

[DiveMaven]

Shadow Divers is definitely my favorite dive book. Favorite dive DVDs are ScubaCore and my Truk Lagoon video.

 

[matnik]

Shadow divers, very interesting read

 

[nitrox32]

Coral Reef Adventures is a great dvd

 

[trucker girl]

I can't believe no one has said Finding Nemo yet. Okay, okay... it's not about diving. But it's like the next best thing to being there. One thing I really like about that movie is that the artists all had to get scuba certified so they could make a more "realistic" cartoon movie. You'll notice the floaties in the water and the way the water moves back and forth the way the ocean does. They make the ocean PART of the scenery instead of just pretending it isn't there. Love that flick!

You can tell I take things seriously.

 

[Hoyden]

Seems like the big movies have been covered - the Abyss is my personal favorite. As for books you have lots more to choose from - here is my list:

Non-fiction (Instructional - general)

Jolie Bookspan - Diving Physiology in Plain English 1995 – A good place to start for the non-science/math majors among divers.

Bruce Wienke – Basic Diving Physics and Applications 1994 – If seeing lots of math formulas makes your head hurt, read the Bookspan physics book several times before tackling this one.

Bruce Wienke – Basic Decompression Theory and Application 2nd Ed. 2003 – This is a collection of ten sections, touching upon diving aspects of thermodynamics, pressure and density, flow mechanics, gas kinetics, free and dissolved phase transfer, gas counter transport, nucleation and cavitation, bubbles and surfactants, statistics, DCS and oxygen toxicity risk.

Bruce Wienke – Technical Diving in Depth 2001 – Stand alone sections on topics of interest to technical divers ranging from gas kinetics to global wind and water motion. This is a little easier to read for non-science geeks than his basic physics and basic deco books.
Edmonds, McKenzie and Thomas – Diving Medicine for Scuba Divers 1992 – A book on diving medicine written for divers not doctors.

John Lippmann – The Essentials of Deeper Sport Diving 1992 – This author defines “deeper” as between 80 and 130 feet, but this is a decent basic diving book – definitely not a technical diving book.

Strauss and Askenov – Diving Science: Essential Physiology and Medicine for Divers 2004 – A really good basic physiology book and worth its price for the 14 page suggested reading list alone.

Michael Ange - Diver Down: Real World Scuba Accidents and How to Avoid Them 2006 – Not nearly as good as I hoped – the advice given is good, but very basic. I guess I missed the part about the author being technical editor for Scuba Diving magazine.

Heinz Lettnin - The International Textbook of Mixed Gas Diving: Theory, Technique and Application 1999


Jarrod Jablonski – Doing It Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving 2001 – Basic DIR Primer

Jarrod Jablonski – Getting Clear on the Basics: The Fundamentals of Technical Diving 2001 – available in PDF only, GUE’s technical diving manual. Good info, but obviously strong GUE/DIR bias.

Sheck Exley – Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival 5th Ed 1986 – A must read.

Non-fiction (Instructional – equipment)

Pete Wolfinger – Scuba Regulator Savvy: How Regulators Work – Regulator Adjustment Logic 2003 - I found this to be very helpful in understanding regulators and how to service them. This book is intended to give you a grounding basic regulator design, function and tuning. It is not a guide to repairing/maintaining any specific regulator. It is now available in a less expensive spiral bound version.

Vance Harlow – Scuba Regulator Maintenance and Repair 2002 – This is a “how to” regulator book.

SDI-TDI Visual Inspection Procedure Manual 2001 – Manual for SDI’s VIP tech class

Bill High – Inspecting Cylinders: SCUBA and SCBA – Manual for PSI’s VIP tech class – if you are getting a book on VIPs for general reference this is the one to own.


Non-fiction (not instructional)

Kevin McMurray – Dark Descent 2004 - diving the Empress of Ireland, Deep Descent: Adventure and Death Diving the Andrea Doria 2001

Robert Kurson - Shadow Divers 2004 - story of the discovery of the U869 and its identification

Joe Halberstrom – Fatal Depth: Deep Sea Diving, China Fever, and the Wreak of the Andrea Doria 2003

Daniel Lenihan – Submerged: Adventures of America’s Most Elite Underwater Archeology Team 2002 – story of the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit of the National Parks Service

Pipin Ferreras - The Dive : A Story of Love and Obsession 2004 – Life story of Pipin Ferreras and the story of his wife Audrey Mestre’s life and death – free diving

Kittrell –(editor)- Down Time: Great Writers on Diving 2002 – a collection of essays and poems about diving

Stephen Harrigan - Water and Light: A Diver’s Journey to a Coral Reef 1992account of diving reefs off of Grand Turk

Michael Zinsley – The Rapture of the Deep and Other Stories You Probably Shouldn’t Know 1999 – short stories about the author’s experiences as a dive instructor/DM around the world – not quite as good as it sounds.

Gary Gentile - Andrea Doria: Dive to an Era 1989 and Deep Dark and Dangerous: Adventures and Reflections on the Andrea Doria 2005 – these are must reads if you are interested in the history of east coast wreck diving and provide good companion reads to the more commercial Doria books.

Frank Pope – Dragon Sea 2007 – this is the true story of an operation to recover artifacts from a wreck off the coast of Vietnam by using saturation divers.

John C. Fine – Lost on the Ocean Floor: Diving the World’s Ghost Ships – 2005 – this is a good read if you are interested in “treasure” that can be recovered from wrecks around the world.

Diving/Underwater Fiction

David Poyer - Tiller Galloway series – mystery adventure– Hatteras Blue 1989 - NC wreck diving, Louisiana Blue 1994 - commercial diving in the gulf, Bahamas Blue 1995 - salvage diving in the Bahamas, Down to a Sunless Sea 1996 - cave diving in FL.

Arthur C Clarke – science fiction - The Deep Range 1957 – about a sub driver who is a “whale shepherd.” The Ghost from the Grand Banks 1990 about the race to raise the Titanic

Michael Reaves and Steve Perry – science fiction – Dome 1987 – life in undersea dome

Lee Hoffman – science fiction - The Caves of Karst 1969 – underwater/cave miners who have been adapted to breathe underwater

Kathy Brandt – mystery – Swimming with the Dead 2003 - dive and recovery diver from Denver investigates a murder in the BVI and Dark Water Dive 2004 - murder investigation in the BVI - Under Pressure 2005 - She has added another couple of books to this series in the last few years.

Peter Watts – science fiction – rifter series 1999-2005, cool website – www.rifters.com – people genetically modified to live at the bottom of the sea – Starfish, Maelstrom, Behemoth

Glynn Marsh Alam has a mystery series set in FL's cave and swamp country about a diver (female protagonist) who occasionally works for the sheriff http://www.glynnmarshalam.com/GMA.Publications.html

Dive Deep and Deadly
Deep Water Death
Cold Water Corpse
Bilge Water Bones
A Dance in Deep Water

And if you read Shadow Divers, you might want to read Gary Gentile's Shadow Divers Exposed for a different perspective.

 

[Alex37]

Thanks for the suggestions. That should keep me busy for a while.

 

[Paco]

Actually, I rather liked this one:

Michael Zinsley – The Rapture of the Deep and Other Stories You Probably Shouldn’t Know 1999 – short stories about the author’s experiences as a dive instructor/DM around the world – not quite as good as it sounds.

 

[sarita75]

What about Last Dive by Bernie Chowurdi (sp)? I enjoyed that. Am about to start Last Dive.