Scuba Diving Books

Diving: The World's Best SitesI gave this to my husband for a Christmas gift. He loved it. I don't dive but he loves it. He just got certified last year and this book gives him a lot of ideas on where to go for good diving. This book is only useful to someone who dives. Not for a vacation guide.

A really good book with great pictures. A source of inspiration if you're planning a diving trip. Obviously written by someone who really enjoys diving and knows what he's talking about. A lot of practical advice too. A must for divers!

i want to know what site for the best diving. because i just pass the diving license.

This is a good book for divers. It lists all the pertinent info about each site (i.e. water temp, sites to see, best time to visit, etc). I would definitely recommend buying this book. The pictures are awesome!

Read it cover to cover Christmas day-and over and over since

This is a series that I will be faithful too. I like how the author doesn't put a lot of emphasize on Luanne social life and deals more with the story. The main character is great as are all of the secondary characters. I have to say reading these books makes me appreciate my A/C all the more....I can't wait to read the others and hope Ms Alam keeps putting them out.

Just finished "Deep Water Death" and enjoyed every page of it just as much as "Diving Deep and Deadly"! The new characters in "Deep Water Death" are just as intriguing to meet for the first time as the characters in the first of Glynn Alam's novels. And I have a hunch that we haven't seen the end of Nick Summers yet!

I have read this book as well as Dive Deep and Deadly by Ms Alam. I thoroughly enjoyed both books and found them to be page turners. My only complaint is the character is supposedly a cave diver, but Ms. Alam has obviously not researched the sport as her terminology is incorrect throughout the book and is quite bothersome it it's inaccuracies. Otherwise, it's a great read!

I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Alam's first book, Dive Deep and Deadly, but Deep Water Death is even better! The plot of this second offering in the series is well developed and fresh and involves illegal midwifery. Once again, Ms. Alam has transported the reader deep into the bowels of the humid Florida swamps with beautiful writing and descriptions. As you read, you find yourself listening for the tell tale critter sounds and feel the closeness of the steamy air. Her main character, Luanne Fogarty, is smart, witty, competent and extremely likable, without the overbearing cockiness of some mystery heroines. I look forward to the next book in the series!

"Deep Water Death" by Glynn Marsh Alam, has all the elements that I love most about mysteries -- distinctive, quirky, interesting, and live characters; a setting (in the Florida swamps)that the reader can feel, see, hear, and smell; and a plot that keeps twisting and turning and finally resolves itself in an entirely satisfactory manner. Luanne Fogarty, Alam's protagonist, is bright, competent, and witty. Her sex scenes are some of the funniest I've ever read. Alam writes about cave diving in a sensitive and knowledgeable way that makes even us claustrophobics recognize the beauty of it. I was equally captivated by Alam's first book, and look forward to reading her next.

The Fragile Edge by Julia Whitty combines a science journalist's capacity for a precise and illuminating description of undersea flora and fauna encountered in remoter parts of the Polynesian archipelago and a passionate appreciation for its peculiarities and ecological complexities with a philosopher's detachment and bird's eye view of the reefs and the communities that abut them. Your reviewer is a certified divemaster, licensed boat captain and underwater photographer and I read a lot of this stuff. This one is unique in its sensitivity, attention to detail, and the writer's personality that comes through. I've given two copies of the books to other divers in my family.

I grew up in this world of tropical coral reefs and sharks and tiny bright fish but that was over fifty years ago. Tonight as I sat on the deck of my house overlooking a bay in Washington's temperate Puget Sound, I finished Julia's book and felt those long ago times flood back. And I felt joy and sadness. Joy for the memories of reef sharks suddenly appearing in the Northest pass of the Truk Lagoon; and me swimming free a hundred yards from our skiff. Joy for Moorish Idols escaping into coral forest. Joy for just being there. And sadness, for a world dying before our eyes. People, we've got too many people. When will we figure that out?

But oh my! Can this lady write. Thanks.

What a treat to enter the underwater worlds of the South Pacific with documentary filmaker Julia Whitty as your guide! The writing is absolutely gorgeous: "The humphead wrasse who the Tahitians call mara and the French call Napoleon is an imposing fish up to seven feet long and four hundred and twenty pounds, with an overhanging forehead, thick lips, and a blue body overlaid with squiggly patterns of green and yellow that look like the inside of a crcuit board." It is easy enough to get lost in the descriptions of life in the reef, up close and personal, but Whitty doesn't stop there. She brings in philosophy, Darwin, yoga, the history of the people on the islands she decribes, and Buddhism, as she observes life in the reefs, so that the reader feels she is not merely observing what's before her but contemplating it, trying to understand its mysteries. She makes the more humorous sides of this underwater world come alive, all the while getting her message across of the dire straights the worlds coral reefs are currently in. She has a vast knowledge of fish and reef life but makes it accessable, even providing a glossary at the back for the layperson so you come away with new knowledge about worlds you might otherwise never know. I loved this book!!!

Ten years ago I had the opportunity to snorkel with a marine biologist in East Africa. He was studying the bleaching of coral reefs and his worries about the future of marine life as he knew it was palpable. As a writer I had to ask myself, now that I know, what do I do? Thank you Julia Whitty for giving voice the growing awareness among scientists that the fragile balances life depends on are being pushed so sadly out of whack. The elegance of Whitty's prose and the beauty of her images do justice to the majesty of our lovely but put upon planet. She combines the dispassion of science with the passion of art in a way many writers aspire to but few accomplish to such good effect. Whitty gives us the facts with which to reason and the poetry to make us care deeply. This is a breakthrough book everyone should read.

"All day we have been observing the surgeonfish..." Julia Whitty begins, and from that first sentence onward, the reader of "The Fragile Edge" is one of the party. Whitty is there with you, chuckling good-naturedly at the antics of an undersea creature or (more likely) of those crazy humans topside. In one of my favorite moments, an account of how the funky old hotel with its peculiar charms has been taken over by new owners whose pampered guests pay $500/night to lounge by the infinity pool is interrupted just at the moment when you think she might succumb to sentimentality or some other curmudgeonly temptation by her confession that, "I like the pool, too." Similarly, Whitty clearly and firmly presents her environmental concerns without, so to speak, wallowing in them. Instead of putting the book aside because you're tired of hearing about how the end of the world is at hand, you're motivated to keep swimming along with a guide whose curiosity and expertise extend to the natural history of molecular plants and animals, as well as the more glamorous sharks and dolphins, from Western science to Eastern metaphysics, and from dissolving atolls and bleached corals to the raw fish marinated in coconut milk served at a Tuvaluan wedding reception. Finally it's her love of the coral reefs she has come to know over many years of diving and study, rather than her fear that global warming will destroy them, that Whitty is most eager to share.

We run charter yachts and take our guests snorkeling on reefs daily. I borrowed this book over 10 years ago, and still remember how incredibly interesting it was, not only for our own understanding of the ecosystem we enjoy so much, but also for the great information it gives us to share with our guests who are eager to learn about the beautiful reefs and the colorful fish they see. As another reviewer said, we can now go beyond just naming the fish we see and provide a broader explanation of their characteristics and behaviour. I'm thrilled to see the book back in print.

After I'd dived and snorkeled in the same spot more than a few times, I found myself wondering: what are those fish doing? Why are there such huge differences in what I see at 7AM from what I see at 5PM? Are those fish mating or fighting? While this book only begins to answer those questions--I'd love to see a newer edition with research since the early 90's--it does tell the careful observer what to look for, which adds greatly to the experience of diving and snorkeling. A caveat, however: if you don't already know the major fish families (such as parrotfish, surgeonfish, wrasses, butterflyfish, and so on), you'll find the book somewhat incomprehensible. I'd label this book as Step 2 in becoming a knowledgeable observer, with Step 1 as learning the fish families. (And for that, I'd get a regional guide for wherever you dive--the fish families are the same world-wide, although the species are not.) Note: while I criticize this book for being (slightly) out of date, that doesn't make the information useless--far from it.

New snorkelers are very movement sensitive. They are looking for things moving on the reef. The more colorful, the better.

After you get past this stage, you start asking questions. Why do some fish have a false "eyespot" and others do not? Why do some fish, well, swim like a fish, while others swim like a box of matches with wings? Why do parrrotfish spend so much time biting a nutrient-poor reef. Why not go after real prey?

These types of questions are answered in this book. Written from the perspectives of ecology and behavior (with the emphasis on behavioral ecology), the Wilsons put together a readable and accurate (to the standards of the literature in the mid 1980s) work on fish behavior. Fish are so much more deserving than simply lumping them into taxonomic groupings. This book helps you get to that next level, the "why" stage.

I agree with the previous reviewers--an invaluable, scholarly, and readable work that discusses such interesting but poorly understood subjects such as why tropical fish tend to be brightly colored, how schooling fish swim in close coordination, and whether anemones benefit from their relationship with anemone fish. It's a shame that tropical dive operations haven't made this required reading for their dive students.

This book is outstanding on so many levels... It has a basic intro to coral reef biology and to the fishes. It then goes on to discus the various aspect of fish life. Eating, breeding, various interactions are all covered. Look for the parts on schooling and social life of coral reef fishes. etc... The authors manage to bring a large body of scientific reference material together and make it accessible to anyone interested in coral reef fishes.

If you are a diver or snorkeler then you will enjoy this wealth of information that will go along way to describe the intricate behaviors in this most complicated of habitats. If you are a reef aquarium hobbyist the you will learn why fish act the way they do. If you are a professional then you will appreciate the way that this book brings in the journal literature. There are 19 pages of bibliography, and although it might be a bit dated many of the articles are classics.

Clearly and concisely written, covering physics as well as the basics in dive physiology. Excellent follow up the the basics taught in the open water classes. This book is a must read for all open water divers, after getting a few dives under your belt.

This book explains in detail what is only given a cursory review in most open water SCUBA classes. It thoroughly explains the physics, physiology and medical aspects of SCUBA in a detailed, but easy to understand way that any open water diver can understand.

While sitting on a dive boat in Turkey on the last day of my PADI Open Water Course, I was disturbed by several stories of experienced divers being "bent", "narked" and "dying" well within the recreational diving limits, many within 30 metres and often breathing air as opposed to "mixes". When I returned to Ireland I decided I needed to find out more about why such incidents occured (because I don't want to be a statistic!). I came across the online version of Lawrence Martin's book, and read it from cover to cover. And boy where my eyes opened! To put is simply, anyone who dives without really understanding the effects of breathing gases under pressure, may as well put on a blindfold and swim with the sharks. Lawrence's book is well written and easy to understand, and quite frankly, could save your life someday (probably, I joke not). Ignorance can kill, and I really do not want to place my life in the hands of an instructor or buddy ever again. This book is a MUST for every diver, particularily recreational divers. Ignore it at your peril!!

At 49, I finally began my dive certification classes and had many questions regarding the physiology and the effects of pressure on the body of moving in a liquid world. This book was an invaluable source of information and easy to read for the layperson without a medical background. From the early orgins of diving to modern scuba equipment, the medical aspects of pressure on your body, effects and prevention of squeezes, and information on decompression sickness is explained clearly and understandably for the reader. It also contains quizzes and interesting facts on diving. If you are a new diver or a seasoned one and if you can find this book, add it to your library. It is a wealth of information for the scuba diver.

My experience is that dive instructors, dive guides, dive shop owners, and all of the other dive professionals you trust your health to to some degree or another are generally clueless about the actual medical aspects of diving and dive medicine. Generally they have formed opinions which often are based on erronous data and frequently contradict one another. The only way to really understand the effects of diving on your body is from the writings of an expert with sufficient quantities of research behind him. There may be other books that do this, but this is the only one I've found so far. If you don't already own a good dive medicine guide, I would like to recommend this one to you. It is not for doctors or paramedics, it is for divers who want to know what is really going on inside their bodies and the proper response for when something goes wrong. Ever diver should have some good medical reference and should have all of the significant parts memorized, because if you cannot depend on yourself in a medical dive emergency, those jokers running the boat will kill you for sure.

This guide is indispensable for locating the best snorkeling sites in Kauai. The information on public parking as well as entering and exiting the water at the sites is very helpful. I just returned from a trip to Kauai, and this book was absolutely priceless in helping me choose the best snorkeling sites on the island. If you're a serious snorkeler, this is the book for you! Even if you're interested only in swimming beaches on Kauai, this book is great for getting directions to the beaches and info on public parking.

Snorkel Kaua'i has all of the great things we found in the Malinowskis' Snorkel Hawai'i, especially the snorkeling tips, site maps, and the very useful "Sites at a Glance" table. The table saved us a lot of time we put to better use by being in the water. The site descriptions and "how to" hints are written in a such a way that you feel sure the authors have experienced what they're describing. This book has something that the one on the Big Island doesn't -- the delightful color landscape and creature photos by Mel Malinowski and underwater shots by Jay Torborg. Besides being a valuable resource, it's a beautiful book.

Excellent guide. Gets you there, shows you where to go in, when not to go in, and what to look for. I've been to Kauai snorkeling at least 5 times, and this was the best ever, thanks to this guide. Highly recommended.

Very fast transaction! What great pictures! The directions and locales seem clear, can't wait to use this guide!

For those who enjoyed the original Snorkel Kauai, you'll love this new enlarged full color 2nd edition. There are now dramatic beach pictures, as well as colorful detailed maps and lots of underwater photography by an award-winning photographer.

Amazon will soon have Search inside the Book for this title.

The book is designed to offer a good list of places to scuba relying on the use of dive operators - it lists many. Its use for a couple who just wish to go alone (in a buddy system, of course) is limited, since the locations are not exactly defined. The book also offers a lot of advice as to many facets of diving in these areas. In general, it is an excellent book with the caveat of not giving exact coordinates nor reference points by which to find the specific spots.

This book is very thorough on the coverage that I was looking for. I recommend this book. Actually, I couldn't find any other books that covered Puerto Rico.

This is one of the most thorough and up to date dive travel books I've ever read. We used a lot of the information on diving and related material on our recent trip to P.R. and found it very helpfull and accurate.

Once again we have an excellent and very useful publication aimed at amateur and professional diver alike. This is a true guide which concentrates on providing all the relevant and peripheral information that any Scuba Diver will want to know in respect of any of the Caribbean destinations covered. The maps and diagrams are particularly useful - and very easy to follow.

We live in an age where diving instructors and dive guides "have" to know what they are doing and it is interesting to see those professionals are using this book and not any of the glossy alternatives. Sadly, we also live in an age where many diving publications fall short. Too much false information - and even total lack of information is hidden behind excellent underwater photographs as publisher after publisher seeks to beguile, confuse and even mislead the potential buyer. Not so with this book!

My direct experience has been to find this series of books contain exactly the information divers require before during and even after their trip. Very well written, it includes all the general information on diving, facilities, climate, sea, regulations, boats, cruise liners, resorts, hotels, flora, fauna, shipwrecks, photography and safety. It then moves on to cover each of the target Caribbean countries which are the main subject of the book before concluding with a Glossary, Bibliography and Accident and Emergency Information.

We can all find pretty pictures on the internet - without even having to pay to see them. Information, however, especially reliable information, is much harder to find. If you are contemplating a trip to any of the countries featured in this book, you will find all - and I do mean "ALL" the information you require right here. That might be at the expense of some pretty pictures - but hey, once you get there, you can take those yourself.

In summary, once again we have "A Complete Guide" - which is exactly what it says on the cover.

NM

I have been meaning to review this book for some time as it is one of the most thumbed books on our book shelf. My wife and I run a charter yacht in the Virgin Islands and many of our guests are keen divers. We bought The Complete Diving Guide for our own use initially but it has since become part of the yacht's library as our guests find it so useful and enjoyable to read. (as our copy is getting rather worn I'm pleased to say that many of them buy their own copy after having seen ours). It is rare to find a book that is so comprehensive and which presents a vast amount of information in such a readable manner. In particular we find the island and dive site maps useful along with the descriptions of the dives and the underwater route maps. I can direct our guests at the tyupe of dive that I think they would enjoy and they can read about it beforehand. They can also choose the dive store they would like to use. I'd thoroughly recommend it to anyone planning to do some diving in the Virgin Islands (it even covers the Spanish Virgin Islands).

I purchased this book to give me more information on the science of scuba diving for my Dive Con and Dive Instructor courses.

The book give detailed information on the various theories, gas laws and how they interact with the human body. Examples of real life stories are also given.

If you are interested in get truly advanced knowledge of the effects of scuba diving on the body, I would highly recommend this book.

Drs Strauss and Aksenov have achieved a remarkable coup. They have written a rigorously scientific book, but still made it understandable to the diving lay person. If you flunked Science 101, don't be put off by the "Science" in the title. You will love this book. It is meticulously set out with illustrations and tables that make the text even more clear. The language is friendly, with explanations -in plain English-of terms that might be new to the reader. The medical subject matter is carefully handled, so that conditions can be understood in the context of physiology. It clearly explains the rationale for treatment .I referred a recreational diver with a problem to this book. She got a clear understanding of her alternobaric vertigo, the physiology behind the problem, and thus the reason for the way to prevent it.

The subject matter covered is comprehensive, well referenced and indexed. It would be of interest not only to diving or medical professionals but makes great reading for the recreational diver who wants to know more than basic training. A nice touch is the "Further Review" in the form of questions to test comprehension of the chapter content.

This is an outstanding volume and most readable for the interested lay person. It would also make a great introductory text for students of hyperbaric medicine who need a good overview of the subject of Diving Science.

For a good many students in a scuba class, "diving science" means memorizing just enough facts about the gas laws to answer the multiple choice questions in the tests, and perhaps a few other physiological facts affecting the human body underwater. They'll remember to never hold your breath while scuba diving and not to exceed ascend rates or bottom times. However, a few individuals want to know more about the underlying science of diving, and they should read Diving Science by Doctors Michael Strauss and Igor S. Aksenov who are both hyperbaric medicine experts as well as experienced divers.

Diving Science is sort of a mix between medical textbook and general purpose reading for an interested non-medical audience. The writing style is clear and concise so that it can easily be understood, but it never talks down to the reader. Expect a good share of medical terms and terminology, but everything is well explained and illustrated. The overall purpose of the book is to help divers anticipate, recognize, understand, and react to the physical, physiological and psychological stresses encountered in recreational diving.

Diving Science is organized into three major sections:

The first -- The Underwater Environment -- explains the basics of diving, not unlike what one learns in a diving certification course but with considerably more detail.

The second -- Physiological Responses to the Underwater Environment -- describes in detail how the various parts of the human body react to diving: heart and vascular system, the respiratory system, blood and muscles, and how the body reacts in cold water, how it best moves and orients itself. This section also contains fascinating comparisons betwen human divers and diving mammals. For example, did you know they breathe out before they dive, not in?

The third, and longest, section deals with the Medical Aspects of Sports Diving. That includes medical preparation, fitness and nutrition, and then the numerous potential problems a diver may encounter on the surface, while descending, while at the bottom, and while ascending. This third part reads a bit more like a medical textbook but frequent Bringing it all Together summaries that describe real world scenarios help readers understand.

The book closes with an excellent Diving Medicine from A to Z appendix that concisely describes numerous diving facts, and reference sections on diving organizations, medical texts and manuals, recommended equipment and supplies, a very detailed glossary, suggested reading, and even a list of luminaries in diving medicine.

Overall, Diving Science should be required reading for anyone who wants to know more about the medical and scientific aspects of diving than what is included in the certification class manuals. While there is a lot of medical detail, readers also learn numerous interesting facts and statistics as well as how all this science affects divers in specific real world scenarios.

"DIVING SCIENCE" is an outstanding resource book for both professional and recreational diver's. It serves as my personal "Diver's Bible." I considered the book important enough, with reespect to diving safety, that I presented a copy to the Diving Medical Doctor for the Island of Maui, Hawaii - one of world's top diving destinations. I am particularly impressed with the book layout and ease of reference; the presentation of material is exceptionally clear and concise. The chapter previews, images and diagrams are also convenient. "DIVING SCIENCE" should be recognized as a model for all other practical science manuals!
John Dunbar, Adventure Enthusiast and U.S. Navy SEAL (retired)

The book "Diving Science" is the best source I have found for understanding divers and scuba related injury and illness. It is detailed enough to provide an excellent understanding of why certain events occur and organized so that it can be used as a quick reference when an emergency physician is evaluating a patient for the potential of diving related pathology. One might think this resource should only be included in the basic reference library of emergency departments near the ocean, but scuba is a rapidly expanding sport in fresh water as well as salt water. In addition, because a plane flight can precipitate a diving related problem, every emergency physician, regardless of where he or she works, will need to confront the possibility of diving related pathology. "Diving Science" is enjoyable and useful reading for any physician with a sense of curiosity and the drive to continue to learn. I strongly recommend this book as a primary emergency department resource.

Gary Moreau, M.D.

Great book, but I just couldn't give it 5 stars like many others did. I reserve 5 stars for truly monumental works. In this rating system, if you rate The Lord of the Rings, Les Misrables, Great Expectations, and The Grapes of Wrath 5 stars, can you honestly count this work with them?

Stephen Harrigan has captured the most enjoyable account of his Diving adventures. I felt myself re-living the events and relating them to my own modest enoyable times spent in the Caribbean recently. Superbly written and hard to put down. Makes airplane flights disappear. Happily discovered we are in the same City too.

When people want to know what it's like to dive, I give them this book. Harrigan has captured the essence of scuba diving. He has nearly expressed the inexpressible.

I was in tears by the end of the first chapter-- I thought I was one of a FEW who feels more at home underwater than on the surface. I don't get to dive very often (family, etc.) but whenever I need to "dive", I pull out this book & I'm in Heaven. Harrigan's descriptions of not only what he sees but what feelings these visions invoke move me beyond words, as I think they would anyone who feels the ocean in their blood.

This is the best book about scuba diving I've ever read and should be read by anyone and everyone that is interested in scuba diving. It does a fabulous job of describing the great things about scuba diving without telling you what you already know. That said, it is also a great story and would probably be enjoyed by non-scuba divers. This is a great gift idea for a diving inclined loved one.

One warning... one of the reviewers recommended reading this to get your diving fix when you aren't going to be able to get underwater for a while; NOT TRUE. I found the exact opposite, this book only heightened my desire to go diving to near pathological levels!

If you've read this, I'd also recommend reading Neutral Buoyancy by Tim Ecott which is another good book about diving. It has more history and straight information than this book.

A very comprehensive theoretical manual that discusses the ocean environment, how the human body reacts and adapts to that environment, and everything a diver needs for a successful diving experience. The author spends a lot of time on equipment and discusses every part in detail: what it is, how it is used, how it is maintained and cared for, what to consider when buying it, how different products compare, etc. He also explains different diving techniques, pressure problems and solutions, entering and exiting water with full diving gear, hand signals, and emergency skills. It is the perfect companion to a scuba diving class.

I used this book when I first learned scuba diving. I didn't have a book to use and this book helped a lot. It goes into a lot of technical information and environmental factors which aresomething every diver needs to start learning. It is easy for beginners to understand. This book is something that has interested me in continuing with diving and has helped me on dives.

For anyone wanting to prepare for their first Open Water certification, this book contains all the useful information. It is also great for those already certified and looking to refresh their skills. If it has been 6-12 months since your last dive, this book is a great investment. I have always used PADI books (although others such as DAN exist). Mr. Graver covers all aspects of diving, emphasizing basic and absolutley necessary safety techniques and reminders. Dive safely and enjoy!

I took a 7 week open water certification class, and this was the required text. I read the entire book front to back in one sitting because it was very interesting and contained all of the information needed to pass the written examination.

Graver especially makes a great effort at explaining difficult information so that anyone can understand. Learning dive tables, how to plan dives, gas laws, physiology, physics, rescue techniques, and how to treat injuries was painless using this book. The text is also loaded with clear, colorful pictures to help explain some of the things he talks about such as how to don equipment, how the moon and sun effect tide, swimming techniques, what equipment looks like, and how waves and other concepts such as thermocline affect your dive.

This is a wonderful book for anyone beginning to dive, and it's a great resource for anyone who is ready to refresh after a long absence from diving.

This book was extremely helpful when I started to learn scuba diving. I was not required to have a text for my basic scuba diving course and this is a book I purchased to give myself more information. Now that I'm working on getting certified to be a teaching assistant (NAUI) for basic scuba diving, this book helps me maintain the knowledge that I learned in the basic course. I do recommend this book for any one and everyone interested in diving as a career, sport, or hobby.