Diving accidents book

[andrew123]

Found this book pretty helpful but keep it away from the beginners , it will probably scare them off diving for life
Diver Down: Real-World SCUBA Accidents and How to Avoid Them

 

[DiverDean59]

Excellent book. I read it and thought it brought out a lot of DON'T do this examples.

 

[Colin40]

Great book and a must read for anyone starting to get a little complacent.
The story of the guy who died because he left his gear in the cupboard for 3 years and then jumped in the water without having it serveced is very poignient.

If you have been diving or certified for a while then I recommend this book, but as said above, not for beginners.

 

[idocsteve]

I don't agree that beginners would be scared off from diving because of this book.

Every accident in that book was completely avoidable and it's a great way to learn what not to do.

It's fairly obvious where each and every diver screwed up and cost themselves anything from some inconvenience to injury, and in only a few cases in that book...death.

 

[cruiser]

Awesome book and I would highly recommend it, beginner or not. It's very sobering and thought provoking.

I still give it a read through every so often.

 

[syndony]

Each chapter is dedicated to a single topic: Nitrox, trimix, over-confidence, lack of experience, cave diving, wreck diving, decompression sickness, dry suits, lack of maintenance, navigation, rebreathers, following rules, and so on. Ange presents a scenario, describes what happenes, often to the bitter end, then analyzes the situation and closes the chapter with a set of rules on how the accident could have been avoided.

What makes the book extra valuable is the technical explanations inserted into each chapter. They explain, in plain English, the underlying concepts, physics, and technology. Likewise, the book's lenghty introduction serves as a Scuba 101 course (and is actually named "Scuba 101"). It is clear and concise and contains a lot of good information.

You will also quickly find that Ange heavily leans on some common sense guidelines: Follow the rules, always. Don't do anything you are not trained to do. Take diving and equipment maintenance very seriously.

Layout and graphics are basic. Do not look for colors and fancy graphics. And if you do not wish to know the outcome of each chapter right upfront, skip the intros that give them away. I have no idea why they are there.

 

[idocsteve]

Each chapter is dedicated to a single topic

More like each chapter is dedicated to a single dive incident, and any and all factors which contributed to it.

 

[Blake443]

I'm just getting ready to start my first class and I am finding the book very educational. There is a lot of information in each chapter for a newbie to digest so I read a chapter and then try to commit the lessons in it to memory for later use. The one thing that is the underlying theme to each chapter no matter the topic is follow the rules that have been created by (bad) experience and get proper training.
I don't see the book as pushing me away but as a toll for learning more about the sport.

 

[SoCalSwami]

I ran across a copy at my local library.

I liked the structure of the stories, well thought out book.

 

[mortenpoulsen]

I guess this book would be good for me, because I am quite new, and guess a few stories like that will helt me be more carefull... :blinking: