Customer Reviews

Diving Science

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

"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)

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.

While still in dive class this was my first dive book. I am reasonably intelligent with a medical background yet deficient in grasping the concepts of science. This was exactly what I was looking for to explain dive physiology on a level far above the lowest common denominator yet I could grasp the relationships in this unique and alien environment. I recommend it every opportunity asked and feel Conrad H. Blickenstorfer review has captured the essence extremely well.

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.

Poorly organized content as well as scarce and bland illustrations make this book not worth its money. In addition to following a totally unintuitive and strange organization, the information presented is superficial and, if I had to guess, 20 years outdated in many places. Also, the authors completely dropped the ball on providing references in the text, an oversight that is inexcusable in such a dynamic and ever-changing field as dive medicine. The only reason I gave two instead of one stars is that the chapters do include real-world examples of the material covered, mostly in the form of diving incidents and accidents. However, when I wanted to learn the latest and greatest about nitrogen narcosis, for example, the entry on wikipedia turned out to far outperform the chapter in this book. Personally, I would not buy this book again and don't recommend it.

In summary, book is great, rich with original information not so common to find in similar literature. It's intended for far too advanced readers, it's a good repository to have it if you are a medical doctor or so, or doing some research on the subject, it's great for learning and for references. It's generaly not for sport divers. I myself like it very much for all the data I found in it, becouse it feeds my couriosity.

What this book does well is the section on the physics of diving - maybe because it hasn't changed much over the years. But the standard training manuals from BSAC, NAUI, PADI etc do a good job of this too, so (unless you don't have your course materials) it's not worth spending $[...] for redundant information.

I had high hopes for this book, based on the other Amazon reviews. And when I started to write this, my intent was to ultimately recommend it too. However when I realized how outdated the bibliography was, I changed my mind.

Specifically...

1) The large font (seems to be a feature of Human Kinetics Press - the otherwise excellent 'Scuba Diving Safety' from HKP is the same) immediately reminded me of those large print books for old people. No harm in that, but the prospective reader of this is likely to be young and fit with good eyesight. Perhaps the real reason is to pad out the text to make it big enough to publish?.

2) The silly anecdotes. For example the 'Diving Scenario' on page 16. Are we trying to rescue the victims before the explosion? In which case they're not victims (needing rescuing) yet. Or perhaps we're meant to rescue them after the explosion? But they've just had a free cremation courtesy of the negligent chamber operator...so not much point. This could have been a plausible example of the universal gas law with sensible editing.

Another silliness? From page 12: 'Archimedes described the principles of buoyancy over 2000 years ago, and they are as valid today as they were then' Why wouldn't they be? Scientific principles don't have expiration dates...

3) The typos. Normally totally forgivable, but the faults with the rest of the book make them stand-out. For example, Table 1.1 on page 6: 'inches of mercury' are not 'mmHg'

4) The irrelevant anecdotes - page 19. 'Tragically, an explosion occurred in the Apollo 1 space capsule. .. The caspule was pressurized to 1.2 ATA .. All the astronauts in the cabin were immediately incinerated'. It's true, and it's tragic - but what's it got to do with anything sub-aquatic? More padding?

5) The mistakes: Page 79 - aspirin does NOT prevent red blood cells from sticking together: it's platelets that are affected by aspirin. (To be fair, the authors get this right 50 or so pages later).

6) Out of date material. Some history is always a good thing, but I was astonished to see the citations in the scientific bibliography are mostly from the 1940's, 1950's, 1960's and 1970's. The most recent citations are: three from the 1980's, one from 1991 and one from 2000 (this is just a general physiology text).

In summary this book feels like a 1970's PhD thesis that's been rewarmed for publication. I know most of my criticisms are just pedantic - these should have been fixed by the editor. The authors are clearly passionate about diving - I've no doubt they are professional, diligent and expert physicians who I'd want treating me if I were bent. But they've been badly let down by Human Kinetics Press who failed to edit the book professionally.

The real problem is the accumulation of these irritations - on the stuff I know about - is enough to make me unsure of the stuff I don't know anything about - do I believe it or not?

If you need a good text on underwater science and medicine, there're several to choose from. The 2nd edition of 'Deeper into Diving' for example. Though it's pricy - and I had to order it from Australia - is a much better bet.

PS - to the authors: Feel free to counter-attack - I can be reached at [...]