I just finished Scuba Confidential by Simon Pridmore (2013).
In my opinion this book is an excellent resource for beginners like myself. It is written for the certified diver, and as such it assumes that the reader has a level of basic familiarity with most of its central concepts, which allows it to explain at length many areas of scuba theory that are either glossed over during certification, or skipped entirely (though it does review many basics as well). I found the sections on mental preparation and configuration to be especially interesting.
Much of the book resonates positively with ideas commonly espoused here on SB, especially the notion that tech and cave divers lead the way for most advancements in the sport, and that recreational divers would be wise to adopt many of their hard-tested best practices and innovations.
I found the ordering of the sections to be a bit haphazard, but this is not much of an issue since, although they make reference to each other, each section is a pretty complete stand-alone essay on its own subject. At worst this tendency makes the book a bit repetitious if read from beginning to end (as I read it), but in retrospect it makes it easier to refer back to without having to jump from section to section to get a reasonably complete explanation of a specific subject.
My only complaint is that, unlike most writers of non-fiction, Pridmore is quite fond of using exclamation points! And since my buddy and I are reading the book aloud to each other as we drive to and from dive sites, if we don't ignore the punctuation it makes for some very dramatic reading!
I would recommend this book to divers of any skill level, but particularly to those who are freshly certified and wish to get a deeper general understanding of the sport than their textbooks or instructors were likely to have had the time to give them. I have already purchased an additional copy that I intend to give as a gift to a co-worker of mine once he and his sons have done their OW this summer.
In my opinion this book is an excellent resource for beginners like myself. It is written for the certified diver, and as such it assumes that the reader has a level of basic familiarity with most of its central concepts, which allows it to explain at length many areas of scuba theory that are either glossed over during certification, or skipped entirely (though it does review many basics as well). I found the sections on mental preparation and configuration to be especially interesting.
Much of the book resonates positively with ideas commonly espoused here on SB, especially the notion that tech and cave divers lead the way for most advancements in the sport, and that recreational divers would be wise to adopt many of their hard-tested best practices and innovations.
I found the ordering of the sections to be a bit haphazard, but this is not much of an issue since, although they make reference to each other, each section is a pretty complete stand-alone essay on its own subject. At worst this tendency makes the book a bit repetitious if read from beginning to end (as I read it), but in retrospect it makes it easier to refer back to without having to jump from section to section to get a reasonably complete explanation of a specific subject.
My only complaint is that, unlike most writers of non-fiction, Pridmore is quite fond of using exclamation points! And since my buddy and I are reading the book aloud to each other as we drive to and from dive sites, if we don't ignore the punctuation it makes for some very dramatic reading!
I would recommend this book to divers of any skill level, but particularly to those who are freshly certified and wish to get a deeper general understanding of the sport than their textbooks or instructors were likely to have had the time to give them. I have already purchased an additional copy that I intend to give as a gift to a co-worker of mine once he and his sons have done their OW this summer.
Last edited:
