Customer Reviews

The Rapture of the Deep: And Other Dive Stories You Probably Shouldn't Know

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was reading through the reviews here and noticed that although most people are really enjoying my book, a few were taken aback. I'd like to mention a couple things so that someone who may not appreciate the book won't end up buying it. (Please read the summary in the editorial review section posted on this web page). A few people mentioned that the book is not about diving and/or involves drinking. I would like to make it clear that the book is a travelogue about the lifestyle of dive instructors in resort locations, not a text on scuba. If books with "Fear and Loathing" in the title don't appeal to you, you may not be making the best choice with this purchase. To all others who praised the book, (and sent encouraging e-mail), thank you very much. Getting positive comments helps make the whole project worthwhile.

Forget the tourism brochures of exotic isles! Ingore the foreign resort owner's claims of adventure in paradise. This tale tells it as it really is from a professional SCUBA diver's perspective. Although this is basically a journal of his travels to these exotic locales, Michael Zinsley tells the story of his behind-the-scenes experiences in a truly humorous and honestly unabashed style. It's like getting a tour of Disney World's back lot, behind the facade of it's glitzy street-front attractions, and witnessing how the employees really talk and act when they're not with the tourists. In places it's almost like you can see him composing sections of his book while experiencing the very thing he's writing about. A bedtime reader, I would often keep my wife awake laughing so hard it made the bed shake. This book is a dive-travel guide to the Pacific Islands, Bermuda and the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia written by someone who actually lived there (not just visited), someone who experienced life among the natives (not only with the beach front resort vacationers). It was an honestly good read.

I got this book to read some diving adventures, and stories. The book is more about the stories of a Diving Instructor in many places in the world, rather than Underwater. It is written in a way that is very easy to read and has a lot of fun in it.
Despite what I have expected, it is very good book to read, if you want to travel around the world. You can learn about places that you'll never be there in a way that not any tourist guide can do it. Everything in this book is personal opinions.

If you are one of those people tired of the 9-5 and beyond office grind, and dream of doing something more exotic with your life, this book will make you green with envy. Zinsley's book captures the spirit of diving, travel, and in particular Asian island life, though he delves into the Caribbean and Australia as well. He covers what it is like to live the bohemian life of a dive instructor in some of Asia's most famous diving and sun locales. Like listening to a buddy with really good stories, Zinsley's book is a funny and enjoyable read. I would especially recommend it to people keen on travel, diving, or anyone who merely wishes to do so.

I read this book and passed it on to a friend and she passed it on again and now it has been passed out of my circle. I was hoping to get it back! It is a good quick read, and hard to put down. The prose is contemporary, muscular and salty. It sings of the both the beauty, rapture and humor in these many far flung settings, and the gritty realities and occasional real dangers this man experienced. Zinsley's portraits do concentrate more on the culture(and his partaking of those offerings)and a bit of the history of these places, than a pure guide book to the undersea marvels that he sketches out. It can be read either way, which is the reason I think I won't be seeing my copy again. After hundreds of dives, I think he properly put emphasis topside, where strange situations make for good stories. Still, I have been into serious adventure sports for 25 years, but never felt inspired to investigate scuba diving until I read this book.

I've been given several copies of this book as presents so far; my friends know me well.

I'm personally undecided as to the effect this book had on me. I hesitate to say "inspiring" simply because the idea of travelling to unspoilt islands, getting paid to dive, living a beach-bum lifestyle, all of these already have a strong appeal for me. I think it was more simply addiction-satisfying; for a boy who grew up in the south pacific and lives-to-dive, sitting in land-locked Munich, this book certainly put a smile on my face. It didn't get me in the water, but it's truely the next best thing.

I saw a reviewer comparing Zinsley to Kerouac; my personal opinion might stretch to a young Michener (Tales of the South Pacific most especially) or even to Hemingway - content-wise at least, if not so much the literary style / quality.

This book is, unlike many other "books-by-divers", not just for SCUBA freaks. This will appeal to anyone who dreams of far away beaches and leaving the 9 to 5 rush.

It'S a wonderful book - at least, the stories are. It won't win literary awards, but you'll read this again, you'll give it to your friends, but be warned it might send you to your travel agent sooner than you had planned. I am looking forward to hearing more adventures from Mr Zinsley.

Mike carefully crafts a "day in the life" of living on a tropical island on the dive instructor budget in a very easy to read format. This is not an instruction manual; it is about the daily life and (mis)adventures in and out of the water. The book is really a perfect read for those that like a light "travel adventure"/"personal account" read down the lines of PJ O'Rourke, with not a lot of hidden political messages. Suggestion - if you like diving, this is the great travel companion.

A great book to take with you while traveling or just lying around and relaxing - what a refreshing read. I can almost here Mike's voice telling the story himself.
All divers, divemasters, instructors, and "tourists" that want to be divers, should read this well written book - and `learn' to watch how you might be handling yourself (awareness). For that matter `everyone' should just take the time and enjoy this work. It is a fun read - don't wait for a friend or buddy to finish the book to pass on to you - just buy the thing and enjoy your on copy. Who knows, you may be traveling and run into Zinsley - then you can have him autograph your very own copy!

A few of the many good quotes- "The first sign of a nervous breakdown is when you start thinking your work is terribly important." -Milo

"Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it." - Anonymous

"Never argue with a fool. People might not know the difference." - Anonymous

Every diver knows funny diver stories - Zinsley's are hard to top! And having visited some of those wonderful exotic, but also extremely laid back and charmingly chaotic paradise islands myself, the book is a hilariously funny deya vu of dive sites & local dive shops and of course the customs of the locals. Promise you will want to book a trip to one of those wonderful Paradise Islands before you finish reading the chapter on the South Pacific. But don`t worry, the book makes wonderful reading on those long plane rides to get there (I tried it)....
If you are looking for a technical dive book: Buy the TDI or PSA manual, if you are looking for a travel guide Planet Out is the better bargain. But if you are looking for a humerous insight into the little things that will make you laugh and annoy you at the same time while traveling exotic destinations not the 5-Star-way, read the book!!

Even armchair adventurers like me will find this book hard to put down. We are transported to a far away world, live vicariously on a shoestring, and experience the perils and pleasures of exploring underwater caves, reefs, shipwrecks, and sealife. The author writes in a clear, lively, and descriptive style and this book is full of interesting facts, colorful characters, and humorous anecdotes of the remote islanders, scuba students, and divers he has met on his journey through life.

It is better than a plane ticket!