Customer Reviews

Scuba Diving Explained: Questions and Answers on Physiology and Medical Aspects of Scuba Diving

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This is an excellant and informative book for those who have completed their open water certification, or otherwise understand the basics of SCUBA diving, and quest for additional information on health and SCUBA diving. In here you find the answers to many issues chatted about on boats and in front of dive shops, and for which most beginning divers usually get the incorrect information. It is not for the uncertified masses as it assumes a basic understanding of open water SCUBA and it is not for those experienced divers who have kept current via magazines and speciality courses, as most of the information within has been available in magazines such as DAN's Alert Diver and UnderCurrent. Well, maybe even experinced divers who want single source for all that information rather than a file folder of old articles.

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.

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.

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.

The author made the book available online, i read the book and found it so valuable that i decided to purchase it

Book was in tip top shape; expensive at $75 but probably fair as it is out of print; arrived in a timely manner.

This book explains scuba diving in much more detail than required by your average recreational diver. Too bad it is out of print.

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.