Robert Von Maier's book - Solo Diving

[Nemrod]

I like the description someone beat me to."underwhelming," that fits. It has a few points but it is outdated. I do like some of the "rules" he pts forth such as not swimming to a spot from which you cannot return--lol--duh. N

 

[dave4868]

For me, the significance of a card-offerring course had nothing to do with any skills, it was that the dive ops were now in a position to let themselves off that liability hook since they are allowing the diver to dive up to their level of "training", shifting at least some of the risk to the certification agency....

It's very refreshing to hear that view, especially from an instructor, like yourself! Your candor is appreciated.

I wonder what I'd put in a solo diving textbook if I were to write one...maybe I'll start a thread on that...

That's a thread I'd like to see! Practical useful info, not watered down!

Dave C

 

[Vassilis Vlachopoulos]

I' ve read the book halfway through my OW class, before I even studied my OW notes for the exam.
Maybe because I read it at such an early stage, I found it really helpful, especially because it stressed on the correct attitude and phsychology of the diver.

 

[Blitz]

I was hoping for more info than was in it. But I had been solo diving for a long time before hand.

 

[shoredivr]

I was amazed to see this book in a scuba store in 1998. What? Somebody actually writing about solo diving? Writing about redundant equipment, thinking out a solo dive plan, being as safe as possible? Ahead of its time when first published, and judging from the occasional attitude towards solo diving expressed on SB outside this forum, still ahead of its time for some folks.

Any book will need updates, I say this as a technical writer, but I think the book is useful as an eye-opener for those who have been trained in the buddy system only and whose vision stops there.

 

[JohnL]

Most of the useful information in the book can be picked up by reading some of the posts in this forum. Solo diving isn't exactly rocket science, it just requires a bit of common sense that you either have or don't have. Reading a book wont help.

 

[mdb]

Most of the useful information in the book can be picked up by reading some of the posts in this forum. Solo diving isn't exactly rocket science, it just requires a bit of common sense that you either have or don't have. Reading a book wont help.

True, of course, this board always has lots of good current info.

I know Robert. He took a bit of heat when he first published SOLO DIVING. We have had several good discussions about the whole thing. I love solo diving. Robert was one of the first to "come out" about a practice that is widely used by many divers worldwide. For me, there is just something calm and pure about being in the ocean with just the sea and sea life as companions. I do not want to do skills and drills, talk about the "team" etc. just be in the water and diving. Robert was out front about all that.

 

[shoredivr]

There you go, MDB, that's what I'm talking about. I'm sure Robert von Maier did take heat for publishing it. Now we've all advanced enough on SB in this forum that his book seems pedestrian, even dated.

Still, I thank him for being a front runner in 1991 and publishing about "just being in the water".

 

[wb416]

I read the book back in 1999 and it was useful/affirming for where I was as a n00b considering solo diving. Solo-diving/self-sufficiency wasn't discussed very openly then on the two main dive forums, so it was a good place to start to consider things that you might not otherwise know to consider.

 

[Hickdive]

It seemed to ignore the principle of Boyle's Law and a good proportion of the book is devoted to giving us the 'why' of solo diving instead of the 'how'. Essentially preaching to the choir for over a third of its pages - a disappointment.