Scuba books worth reading?

[noobascooba]

I got OW certified recently and think I'm adicted to diving.. I recieved good instruction through PADI, but I felt like their manuals just scratch the surface and are padded with annoying **** like how to look good in colour coordinated gear... so I'd like some advice on good scuba books to read, on a few different topics

1) general scuba skills/ saftey at a more advanced level than PADI OW
2) Scuba equiptment and how it works/ is serviced (I'm into gadgets and like to know how stuff works)
3) The physics of diving? Maybe this would be a little hard core. I am a scientist, but I aint too good with math!
4) Physiology/ diving medicine/ decompression theory
5) General good diving stories, inspirational reading

Sorry this is a long list and covers a lot of stuff, but I am keen to be a better diver (I know diving is the best way to get better, but being more knowledgable can't hurt!)

Thanks people

ns

 

[Midnight Star]

I pick quite a few from my local library here, and was surprised to find some techniques I hadnt seen before.

-----

Mike.

 

[mdb]

If you can find it: EASY DIVER by Lou Fead

 

[Bill51]

Almost everything you would ever need to know.

http://www.bestpub.com/bookdetail.asp?BookID=1006&Category=

 

[noobascooba]

Thanks
That noaa manual looks awesome, like you say bill, it seems to cover everything (it's almost like I copied my 'wish list' from the table of contents!)

I found Easy Diver on amazon, but there is no info about it or reviews.. is it a manual or a novel/bio?

Mike I will check out the local library, it's about time I did that

ns

 

[DiverDebbie]

The diving magazines are always a good source of info. on what's new for dive gear, as well as stories and dive travel articles. PADI pros are required to have the "encyclopedia of diving". It covers much of points 1 through 4. It was getting a bit dated as far as equipment goes, but then a new version came out which should be better (haven't got one yet). You can get it through your LDS.

 

[Matt S.]

Can anyone recommend a good book on saturation diving? Not study material, just general interest or even an autobiography.

 

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

Cousteau's "Silent World", the story of the invention of scuba, some info about the earlier technology of hard hat diving. The story of the first true "scuba dive" with a tank and reg as we now know it is fascinating. It was wartime France and Cousteau was simply astounded at how easy it was compared to helmet diving or skin diving. He tells of finding a lobster on the ocean floor and coming up and handing it to lobstermen setting traps; needless to say, the men were astounded by this man bubbling up from the depths with a lobster, then vanishing again. Good tales of the first wreck dives (mostly for looting valuables), cave dives (a near disaster when the tanks were contaminated with carbon monoxide), the origin of the buddy rule, the first attempts to dive with oxygen (another disaster). It was a different era, but Cousteau noted that diving could one day be so easy that "women could do it" ahhhh, the political incorrectness of the French male.

 

[TheFoggyMask]

https://secure.gue.com/catalog/order

Doing It Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving

 

[noobascooba]

some excellent suggestions.. my amazon 'wish list' is now pretty big

Foggy were you serious about the DIR book? (Hard to tell from your signature!) I don't know much about DIR, is it useful for a noob? Can you take some principles and apply them to improve your saftey, or is it a 'do everything as we say' method? I heard some stuff about having to buy all gear from one manufacturer and having to wear your gear exactly right that seemed unescessarily prescriptive.. I might get into tec diving in the future but I have only logged 5 dives right now!

I'm not being rude about DIR, just curious.

ns