As posted on another board...
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I am going to keep this brief since more detail would probably not be useful anyway. I tried hard to overcome my first impressions of the book for a more objective look at the content.
First impressions:
$US100.00+ for a paperback book.
Given the price, title and number of pages (392), I did expect a hard back book. I would have even been willing to pay a little more for a hard back book as I tend to use my reference material rather heavily.
Just for further reference on the price point:
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Bennett and Elliotts' Physiology and Medicine of Diving Fifth edition by Brubakk and Neuman (eds) - $US147.80 at
Amazon (Hardback)
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Deeper into Diving Second edition by Lippmann and Mitchell - $US65.00 at
DAN (Softback)
and of course the book from my library I thought they were replacing:
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Mixed Gas Diving: The Ultimate Challenge for Technical Diving by Mount and Gilliam - $US15.99 at
Amazon (Softback)
Table of contents
--Chapter 29 - Modeling - Reverse Gradient Bubble Model - RGBM - Gene Melton
Yes, this is what is said... could be a small copy edit error but it did play into my first impression.
--No index
I did go back to look and see, yeap, the title does say "Encyclopedia"
Pictures
There are some very cool photos in the book so I can start to see where the production cost must have gone.
So, I turned to chapter one and started reading...
My overall impression of the book was that it is a good "first draft" and that I would have preferred the second printing or better yet a second edition.
The
best thing the book has going for it is the
people invited to submit articles. There is great first hand experience and history included that really adds to the enjoyment.
If you have not purchased the book yet, a "short" list of the reasons why I would wait are:
--Five figures in the first chapter were not large enough to read. The rest of the book was fine but this did not help the book much given my first impressions above.
--The need for a good copy editor is VERY obvious throughout the book (footnotes repeated in one chapter, no consistency in chapter or section format, terminology, etc.)
--References... I KNOW I am biased but there either needs to be full references, NO references or source books. It is also worth note that the chapters on physiology or decompression that included references were well thought out and complete and most importantly correct. (Doolette, Mitchell, and Zumrick chapters specifically)
If you do buy or have bought the book, I don't think you will be too disappointed "overall" though I do suggest you cut out Chapter 7 and throw it away before reading and perhaps pick up one of the three books above to cover that information.
Sorry this was so long but it was hard to cut down my "notes" to this much.
--Joe, Loved your chapter. It was refreshing to see you address the team and personality concepts (human factors) there as I was disappointed that those were not included in the "Psychological Aspeects & Survival Strategies" Section. (and yes, this section title is a quote from the table of contents)
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