14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Learning the medical and scientific aspects of diving, October 1, 2006
This review is from: Diving Science (Paperback)
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.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Diving Science: A practical Diving Source Book, March 9, 2005
This review is from: Diving Science (Paperback)
Strauss and Aksenov, both experts in the field of diving, have gathered an amazing number of hard to find facts to incorporate in this book. There are statistics and facts in this volume of which most people in the diving business are unaware. It is well organized and a vignette or case history at the end of each section entitled "Putting it all together" illustrates in a practical manner how the material presented relates to the real world. Most Scuba students do not learn the science of diving, or the details of the pathology of embolism or bends. Scuba instructors have enough to teach proper diving technique and do not wish to dwell on material that might frighten potential customers. This book supplies all the information the average diver might want to know. The reader is led through the psychological problems of diving and divers, problems on the surface and the descent, factors influencing the diver while on the bottom and potential problems encountered on the ascent. There is also an excellent section on hypothermia, what the limits are and what the diver can do about it. This important subject is not even mentioned in the typical Scuba diving course sylabus. The book also has a chapter dealing with marine animals and mangagement of injuries including envenomations. For the Scuba instructor this book is a superb reference source for answers to the surprising questions Scuba students often ask. The book is well indexed. The authors are to be commended. I give it five stars!
Eric P. Kindwall, M.D.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Emergency Medicine, March 17, 2005
This review is from: Diving Science (Paperback)
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.
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