Diving Text Books...All the same? Or Does PDIC Suck?

[jimbob]

OK...Let me begin by saying that I'm a geek and work as a mechanical engineer. I am in the process of getting certified and am going through a PDIC dive shop. I have been read through the text and have found it to be the worst written piece of instructional material I have ever put my hands on. The text attempts to address technical issues without getting too technical, understandable (not everyone is a technical person). But there should be some level of explanition of certain technical issues to determine whats going on. For instance, defining the difference between psi and psig. In addition, the text seems to wax-poetic over issues that don't really, in my oppinion, require all the verbage.

In addition, a page long paragraph discussing the benefits of a snorkel is a little overboard in my opinion. I don't need a two to three page discussion on why my snorkel is good. In fact, over two to three pages that is all the information I came away with...having a snorkel is good. Then began the explaination of the benefits and uses of the snorkel. Amazingly this section was less than a page long. Most of the PDIC book is like this.

It is my opinion that with a good technical writer, hell just someone who can write, could cut this book in half and actually have some information with some substance.

Is this something that prevalent over all the diving agencies, PADI, NAUI, YMCA, etc, or is PDIC written poorly? I'm not upset about the level of information, I would have thought that a little more effort would have been put forth to present the information. To be completely honest, I have read mechanical engineering text books that would keep my interest and keep me awake longer than this book.

 

[neil]

I'm most familiar with the NAUI and PADI texts that I use. IMO the NAUI text is excellent and more than thorough. The PADI text is professional and well organized, but lacks in-depth info that I like to teach.
Bear in mind that these texts are designed to be read and understood by children as young as 10 (PADI), and by people who are not necessarily adept at academic learning. (How polite was THAT?)
Personally, I like to fall asleep at night after a stimulating chapter of Machinery's Handbook

Neil

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I'm going to disagree with Neil on the merits of the NAUI open water text. It used to be a good text until they re-wrote it recently. I can understand why they removed a lot of the information and I realize I'm teaching the course as a college class so my outlook is going to be different. I have to explain to my students why the book doesn't contain a lot of the information I give them--it's made to teach scuba to 12-year-olds. The old version was a much better text for the classes I teach, we have even discussed just using the Master Diver text for ALL of our scuba classes since it seems to be the most comprehensive book of the bunch.

There are a lot of texts out there, Jeppessen (spelling?) used to have a really nice one but I'm not sure if they still print scuba texts since I haven't been in the market for one for a while.

Ever been to www.scubadivingbooks.com? They seem to have a lot of interesting books and I've ordered a few to get more in-depth information on particular subjects.

Just my .02, no hard feelings neil
Ber

 

[neil]

Ber,
Actually, I agree with you. I'm still using my last few Mosby editions which are better than the newest NAUI texts, IMO.
My college course is a PADI program for the time being. I have to supplement that with SO much extra material. The PADI text doesn't even mention or explain air embolisms! (I can hear you PADI instructors thinking: "have them use the Encyclopedia", but I can't justify having them spend another 45 bucks on a book for a one unit course that already has a good size lab fee.)
I don't think I've seen a text on any scuba topic that I would consider 100% complete. There always more stuff we want to teach, but there's plenty of materials to pick from. Good for you on trying to use the Master text.

Neil

 

[jimbob]

It's understandable that these text should be written for everyone to understand, but it should be done in a way in which the infomation is put into a written form efficiently as well as simply. From what I have seen after reading the PDIC book, it is full of a great deal of exhausting information that is unnecessary and misplaced.

It is nice to hear that this isn't the only text that has it's share of problems. Unfortunatly though, in order to get a good overview you would need to read all the organizations books or just go straight to the Navy standards (they are referenced enough).

Thanks for the input.