I was going to write a longer review but life has gotten busy in the past couple days and if I wait I will probably never write anything. Anyway, if you have read Mr. Lapenta's comments on this board, you know he is somewhat opinionated about what should be taught in a diving class, and how it should be taught, etc. This book is an expanded edition of these views. It is a worthwhile read for those already certified; however parts of it are even more useful for those who are thinking about becoming certified. I think it might also be worthwhile for interested instructors with other teaching methodologies as well, in part because they should be able to explain why they do things differently. As a product of a warm water 3 day resort course which I believe taught me adequately how to do warm water relaxed diving, I am not sure I would be as definitive as Mr. Lapenta is, then again, he has a lot more experience and is teaching in tougher/less pleasant conditions than the Caribbean. For those who do buy this book before taking their first class, my opinion is that you should realize that just because a course is not as lengthy/detailed as one of Mr. Lapenta's does not mean it is not worthwhile, but with a good instructor in a longer class, you will become a more self sufficient diver quicker (even if you won't be ready to do your warm water dives on next week's vacation). I think an important thing to take away from the book for people interested in diving (and I hope Mr. Lapenta doesn't mind me repeating it here) is that it is beneficial to spend some time researching a class/instructor/store and not just randomly signing up for something. I think the most positive thing I can say about the book is that if I can ever find the time, I would love to take Mr. Lapenta's open water class (or at least an abridged version of it), even though I have my PADI OW and AOW certs and even if he might be horrified by my lack of skills.
PS: I successfully used Calibre (
calibre - E-book management ) to convert the pdf format to Kindle mobi (took under 1 minute). Using the automatic conversion features worked well, but I am sure you could make a nicer conversions spending a little more time. I would assume conversion to other e-reader formats wold also be successful.
FYI: Although certified in the mid 1990s, I only have 70 or so logged dives, with 45 of those in 3 one week vacations in the last 3 years. i have no relationship with Mr. Lapenta other than lurking on this board and reading his comments over the past couple of years and purchasing the pdf from him.
