A few reviews from my new book

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Jim
FYI
A 6X9 book in official bibliophile terminology is identified as a "16mo"
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It was leaned that you were born in 1960 therefore only 56 years old and only certified since 2004 that is only 12 years as a bubble blower I, and many other have cautioned hard charging divers such as you ...pace your self and don't burn out. .

Lots of things in diving happened long before 1960 and 2004.

As previously mentioned LA Co UW Instructors established the world's first ADP in 1967 - 49 years ago and at that time you were only 6 years old. The credit for an ADP goes to Chuck Peterson who you can view in an article in SDM Vol 1 Nr 1 December 1951. I am proud to state I was involved with development of the program and often lectured at the Thursday combined meeting I suspect that is the program you should have investigated for your present book.

I can rightfully assume that you are unaware since you were only 4 years old that I was awarded "Outstanding Contributions to Underwater Instruction " for creating a number of training exercises some still in use in the watered down courses and the creation of the diver/instructor/ classification which was rejected by LA Co but later accepted by the majority of all the major programs. When you were 9 years old I was awarded "The out standing UW instructor of the year" NAUI was 9 years old and PADI had just been formed...the other programs such as the one you promote were way off in the future

About 25 years ago 13 or so years before you entered the diving community I organized and hosted the very first diving US bibliophile meeting in my CenCal home. it was attended by dive bibliophiles and dive authors from the western US and connected by telephone with in the US and letters from distant lands. It would had been great to have had you attend and received your input from the eastern US and quarry diving

I was an early dive bibliophile; I began collecting after I was separated from the USAF during the Korean conflict and never stopped.. I now have the largest private dive library in the US and possibly the world consisting of over 2000 plus volumes, some dating to the 1800s most very rare, some extremely valuable, many inscribed by noted authors , (6 or 7 by Lotte and Hans Hass, about the same by JYC etc etc,) I also have 13 vintage and current periodicals bound in Library binding and innumerable items of diving ephemera.

Over the years I have authored 4 dedicated columns in regional and national dive publications as well as having been honored as having the very first dedicated diving based newspaper column , much of which was gleaned on extensive historical research and/or personal experiences based on now almost 70 years of diving.

One of my most memorable honors was to be on the cover as well as authoring articles and as the first guest editor of the now defunct Skin Diver magazine. The only person obviously to receive that honor

I have used my library to read for personal pleasure and have as a ready reference for any number of authority on any given subject in the now expanding world of recreational diving.

The last 15 years of my instructional activity was spent teaching Advanced Diving at Orange coast college in Costa Mesa California. It was in ever word a true advanced course with prerequisite of the college Skin diving course followed by Basic Scuba. 18 weeks duration 3 hours lecture on Thursday followed by a dive experience on Saturday, either a dive (or two) or field trip, 300 miles north to Jade Cove for cold water, 120 miles south to San Diego to dive the canyon for deep diving, a day at Commercial Diving Center (CDC) to dive commercial heavy gear and swimmer helmets followed by a chamber run to 165 feet and a two day dive experience at Catalina with food provided and prepared by students from the college Culinary Arts department-- That is what I consider an Advanced SCUBA Course.

Since retirement I have devoted my time to lecturing; local dive clubs, Cal Poly University Scientific Diving Program (SDP) the local San Luis Obispo UW Search and Recovery annual DivCon and The Long Beach SCUBA Show.(FYI several years ago I was honored with "The SCUBA Service Award" -google my name and SCUBA Show )

Accordingly I certainly do not need nor am I in the mood to expand my current library to include your book therefore will graciously decline your offer to purchase your forthcoming book but as previously stated I wish you well in this and all future endeavors and certainly encourage others to purchase your book for reference and as a cornerstone of a dive library

Should you ever travel west to the currently dry golden state you have an open invite for a visit

Cheers from a hill over looking the bluse Pacific

SDM

FYI the entire library will be inherited by son Dr. SAM IV who is a board certified ER & Hyperbaric doctor as well as a NAUI (Life) PADI instructor and a SSI Pro 5000 diver- The only 3 father /son team to be honored as a SSI Pro 5000
sdm
 
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It's designed to be used as a supplement to any advanced/aow class.

That's a great approach. I just hope it doesn't set students up for frustration when they discover X, Y and Z aren't taught or are glossed over in their AOW class.
 
Well, the thing is that it addresses that and encourages divers to do some research before signing up for a class. It also lets them know that there are likely to be options based on their location. I use the course I teach as an example of what I put in. There are instructors though that may see other dives as being more valuable for their local conditions or their student's needs. Not a thing wrong with that. I do caution that when other options are chosen that the student needs to insure they are getting an actual education as opposed to an "experience".

They also need to be fully aware that they are the ones in charge of their training. The instructor is providing the training. If however the student never plans or is not interested in say "altitude" diving, they should not allow the instructor to use that as a dive to get out of giving them skills and knowledge they will use. In my area there is a site that is at altitude. 3250 or so feet. All the dives are conducted at altitude so you just cover those concerns in the classroom (IMO) and then add in another dive that actually challenges, educates, and/or gives them time to practice the skills they already have gotten in conjunction with new ones.

As an example, rather than have them do an "altitude dive" where they pretty much just swim around I may add a second navigation dive, search and recovery exercise, rescue skills dive, or advanced skills dive. Next season, if I get to a point where I think I can give them a dive with real knowledge and skills, I may add an underwater photography dive as an option. Right now I am not yet good enough with my own skills and knowledge in this area that I feel comfortable trying to introduce students to it.

I've been working on it since fall of 2015 and have taken a few workshops. I have another photography workshop coming up with one of my instructors who happens to have done a fair amount of work for National Geographic. I've done one in water class and am scheduling an outdoor surface class. Even did a workshop with a professional portrait photographer. He taught me a lot about lighting and composition.

I still feel I need to learn more myself before trying to teach others about it. Hopefully I can get at least an entry level class proficiency I'm satisfied with.
here is a snip of the entire cover- front and back.
full cover.JPG
 
Well, the thing is that it addresses that and encourages divers to do some research before signing up for a class. It also lets them know that there are likely to be options based on their location. I use the course I teach as an example of what I put in. There are instructors though that may see other dives as being more valuable for their local conditions or their student's needs. Not a thing wrong with that. I do caution that when other options are chosen that the student needs to insure they are getting an actual education as opposed to an "experience".

They also need to be fully aware that they are the ones in charge of their training. The instructor is providing the training. If however the student never plans or is not interested in say "altitude" diving, they should not allow the instructor to use that as a dive to get out of giving them skills and knowledge they will use. In my area there is a site that is at altitude. 3250 or so feet. All the dives are conducted at altitude so you just cover those concerns in the classroom (IMO) and then add in another dive that actually challenges, educates, and/or gives them time to practice the skills they already have gotten in conjunction with new ones.

As an example, rather than have them do an "altitude dive" where they pretty much just swim around I may add a second navigation dive, search and recovery exercise, rescue skills dive, or advanced skills dive. Next season, if I get to a point where I think I can give them a dive with real knowledge and skills, I may add an underwater photography dive as an option. Right now I am not yet good enough with my own skills and knowledge in this area that I feel comfortable trying to introduce students to it.

I've been working on it since fall of 2015 and have taken a few workshops. I have another photography workshop coming up with one of my instructors who happens to have done a fair amount of work for National Geographic. I've done one in water class and am scheduling an outdoor surface class. Even did a workshop with a professional portrait photographer. He taught me a lot about lighting and composition.

I still feel I need to learn more myself before trying to teach others about it. Hopefully I can get at least an entry level class proficiency I'm satisfied with.
here is a snip of the entire cover- front and back.View attachment 383580
It is also great for instructors to raise the bar on their teaching.
 
Outstanding Jim! First book was very useful, this one i'm sure elevates things. Looking forward to having it in my library (signed copy a must!). Daughter is an OW student now, and reading is stuff has been good for her.
 
Update on release. In order to give my readers the best possible product I did some re-formatting and additional editing with the help of my GF/editor. This delayed the release.
I submitted the new files on Sunday and ordered the proofs on Monday after they were accepted.
Somehow three pages got messed up on their end. I was on the phone with them last night and they are correcting the issue. Said it would be done within 48 hours.
I'll need to review the corrections and approve them. Then approve the release. Barring any further snafu's the new book should be available on Amazon on the 15th of November.
Anyone who has ever done this knows that stuff happens.
I could have skipped some of the editing and gotten it out sooner but made the decision to give you the best possible product. I think you'll be pleased.
Thanks for your patience.
 
Book is now available on Amazon in print and for Kindle. Got the file issue taken care of. CREATESPACE ROCKS!
I have a limited of supply coming in next Thursday or so for anyone wishing to get a signed copy at $4.00 off the regular price. Orders must be paid and received by November 15th. After that regular price of 23.99 plus postage applies. Amazon link is here and in my signature line.
https://www.amazon.com/SCUBA-Practi...id=1478904522&sr=8-2&keywords=James+A+Lapenta
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/SCUBA-Practi...id=1478904522&sr=8-3&keywords=James+A+Lapenta
 
Will it come in a large print version for us older divers looking for a fresh look at diving practices?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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