Recommended Books

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The Six Skills and Other Discussion by Steve Lewis
Staying Alive: Applying Risk Management to Advanced Diving by Steve Lewis

Both are amazing books
 
Check out a few or all of the Gary Gentile books he has some good ones about the Doria and other great wreck's. And Peter Hunt's book about his adventures on the Doria during the 1980's and his journy to its return, "Setting the Hook"
 
Almost all of my favorites are already listed above, apart from marine life ID books (Humann, Deloach, Allen & Steene are my favorites of those, but I also enjoy the series started by Helmut Debelius, and a few others too).

Wreck-wise, mostly misc history books and misc nautical books.

Just for diving, one I enjoyed but rarely see included among the Shadow Divers, Last Dive, Setting the Hook etc. list is: "Submerged" by Lenihan. He recounts diving caves with Sheck Exley et al. back in the 70s or 80s, then discusses his experiences as an underwater explorer and archaeologist for some big gov't agency (Dep't of Interior or Ntl Parks Svc, or something). A good read, and interesting to consider the perspective of an u/w archaeologist. As a wreck diver and a history buff, as well as a reef diver, I have my own opinions about certain controversial issues, but it was interesting to read about a different perspective.
 
I have recently read these two books, both related to saturation diving :
- Sealab by Ben Hellwarth
- Into the Lion's Mouth by Michael Smart
I highly recommend both. You can find a very good review of the last one here.
 
Lippmann and Mitchell's Deeper into Diving. Neutral Buoyancy (can't remember the author). Clay Coleman's Certified Diver's Handbook. Setting the Hook by Peter Hunt.


+1 on Setting The Hook
 
I have recently read these two books, both related to saturation diving :
- Sealab by Ben Hellwarth
- Into the Lion's Mouth by Michael Smart
I highly recommend both. You can find a very good review of the last one here.

Where to find a copy of the second one? US$250 is pretty steep for a paperback! Yikes!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...?ie=UTF8&condition=used&sr=8-1&qid=1397666250

At least "Sealab" is affordable and available for Kindle...
 
One book that has not been mentioned yet is The Complete Diver: The History, Science and Practice of Scuba Diving by Alex Brylske. Not as encyclopedic as the title might suggest, but it does touch on a lot of different topics. Brylske brings the skills of a magazine writer and the knowledge and experience of a marine scientist who's been diving for many years.

Another book by Brylske, which I liked a lot, is Beating the Bends. My guess is that it is not as detailed as some of the more recent, more technical books (which I haven't read so I have to guess), but I thought it gave an excellent treatment of the topic.

I have been working my way through the most recent edition of the NOAA manual, and I admit to being a bit disappointed with it. It's unduly expensive, particularly for a work produced by a government agency at taxpayer expense, and I'm not that interested in a lot of the information (such as surface-supplied diving, public safety diving, and the like). For the chapters that I am interested in, much of what is presented is available in other books with better writing, though there is information that I haven't seen elsewhere.

As a side note, I bought the whole package, which includes the NOAA dive table cards. THE DIVE TABLE CARDS ARE WORTHLESS. To being with, they are smaller than the PADI RDP card, and on top of that, all chart 1, 2, and 3 are all on the same side. As a result, the times for surface intervals are in microscopic font. It's hard to read them sitting at a desk with a bright light, glasses on, and using a ruler (to avoid going over the wrong row or down the wrong column). I can't imagine anyone being able to use them on a boat.

I recently finished Diving Science (post #5), and while there was a ton of new information in it, I can't give it a "rave review." There was a little too much detail on why other mammals can dive longer than humans, and there could have been more detail about human physiology (some of which, for example, is presented in the NOAA manual but not in Diving Science). The writing tends to be academic in style. Overall, it's well worth your while to read, but, sorry, I'm not raving about it. I'd give it four stars out of five.

+1 on The Certified Divers Handbook. Well written and covers a lot of ground. Five stars for anyone who is not a diver with a lot of experience.

As for Shadow Divers and The Last Dive, they are must-reads in my book.
 
+1 for Submerged by Lenihan


"Raising the dead" by Phillip Finch.
You might find this book under different name!!!!! So be careful!

aka Diving Into Darkness. Great read.


There is another book you may want to include, written by Verna van Schaik, who holds the record of deepest dive done by a woman. It is called "Fataly Flawed - The Quest to Be Deepest". This one I have not read and can't comment on, though

It's interesting for anyone into deep diving, more about the (her) psychology though. It's not flattering to her IMO.


Where to find a copy of the second one? US$250 is pretty steep for a paperback! Yikes!

Anything out of print if always listed at stupid prices on Amazon by wishful thinkers
 
Just for diving, one I enjoyed but rarely see included among the Shadow Divers, Last Dive, Setting the Hook etc. list is: "Submerged" by Lenihan. He recounts diving caves with Sheck Exley et al. back in the 70s or 80s, then discusses his experiences as an underwater explorer and archaeologist for some big gov't agency (Dep't of Interior or Ntl Parks Svc, or something). A good read, and interesting to consider the perspective of an u/w archaeologist. As a wreck diver and a history buff, as well as a reef diver, I have my own opinions about certain controversial issues, but it was interesting to read about a different perspective.


+1 for submerged -and even better you can get it on the kindle so I can take it with me when I travel.- P
 
Just finished Sealab, by Hellwarth and it is very detailed, well written and I recommend to anyone interested on the history of saturation diving.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

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