The Certified Diver's Handbook

[namabiru]

So I just finished perusing Clay Coleman's "The Certified Diver's Handbook", and thought to be quite an amusing read. While one can argue that it's quite opinionated at times (sometimes a little too much, I thought), it seemed like a good book for beginning divers who aren't quite sure what's going on. In other ways it was a review of the Padi Open Water manual, with its discussion of ocean theory, currents, etc.

The equipment section contained some solid information about what to look for when purchasing equipment, but the information could have been presented in a little more "easy reading" format. For instance, a summary at the end in the form of charts--or at least a bulleted list- would have been useful. Therefore, a user looking to use the source as a reference could easily find the essential information instead of having to pick back through the anecdotes (which were amusing, don't get me wrong) and opinions.

Has anyone else read this work? What other works do you recommend?

 

[markfm]

I got it, like it.

 

[namabiru]

Are there any other good diving reads you can recommend to me? I'm in the market to bone up on my diving genre. Remember, this is the future librarian you're talking to. So you tell me what's good, I preview it, then I know what to put in my library.

 

[DivesWithTurtles]

Are there any other good diving reads you can recommend to me? I'm in the market to bone up on my diving genre. Remember, this is the future librarian you're talking to. So you tell me what's good, I preview it, then I know what to put in my library.

Stuff listed at http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=141710

and

Diving Physiology in Plain English

 

[ClayJar]

Wouldn't you know, I had the opportunity to pick up a copy from Clay Coleman himself at one of our Louisiana Photographic Society meetings, but I thought, "I should let someone else take it, since I don't know when I'll get into diving." Wouldn't you know, it wasn't long after that when my other told me that she and her entire family were starting a class (in two days, even).

Of course, I don't feel bad at all at having had to buy Clay Coleman's book. It was entertaining, although it did put me in the rather sticky situation of having to tell my buddy's dad that there was no way in Toledo that he could take his huge whole-family gear box on the dive boat... but it certainly saved him from looking like an idiot on the checkout, which was good.

Amazingly, he was a diver in his youth, and he had taken a refresher course the year before, and yet, he had no idea how dive boats work. Go figure. I ought to pick up another copy of the book (and if CC is at the next meeting, I could even get it autographed, which might induce him to read it).

 

[neophyte]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/00...104-8480672-1771966?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

I read Diver Down and the Certified Diver's Handbook a few weeks after I got certified, right around the time I (thank goodness) found this place...

 

[namabiru]

Thanks guys! Will give them a run.

 

[TSandM]

I liked Coleman's book a lot. I had just finished reading the PADI Encyclopedia, and thought Coleman's book had more information in it, and presented it in a much more readable fashion. That said, it's precisely what it represents itself to be . . . a reference for the newly certified diver.

I just finished Deeper into Diving by Lippmann and Mitchell (the brand new edition) and found it to be a fascinating and very useful addition to my growing dive book collection. Reading thought the chapters on decompression models and algorithms gave me a much more acute sense of where these things came from and how the various models differ in their underlying assumptions. It's light on the math (only what is necessary) but long on the gestalt. Well worth the price in my book (so to speak).

 

[markfm]

When was the 2nd edition of Deeper Into Diving released? Is it fairly current? Thanks.

 

[DandyDon]

I got it, like it.

Me, too. Bought a few as gifts.