essential scuba related nonfiction?

[SEALAB Author Ben H.]

I do think you'd enjoy my nonfiction book, SEALAB: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor, which will take you back to some key diving developments and the pioneering people responsible for them. Divers (including some here on ScubaBoard) and non-divers alike have had good things to say about SEALAB, which I've of course appreciated, but you can read a sample chapter for yourself on my website; there are also excerpts on Amazon. As the subtitle suggests, SEALAB is largely a forgotten story, but one that deserves to be better known - so I thought I should write a book about it . . .

 

[herman]

Basic Scuba by Fred Roberts, it is an old book but the skills taught then are still valid today but rarely taught.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Basic Scuba by Fred Roberts, it is an old book but the skills taught then are still valid today but rarely taught.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is an excellent book for identifying diving regulators and the history of SCUBA diving regulators, very little on the teaching of skills of the 1960s. Fred was never an instructor and to my knowledge never taught a diving course.

The book's correct title is "BASIC SCUBA; Self contained breathing apparatus, It's operation, maintenance and use"

There were two editions, 1960 & 1963. The 1963 edition was available in hard cover with dust jacket and Soft cover.
A synopsis of the book is as follows

1960, D.Van Norstrand & co, Hard cover with dust jacket, 386 pages...LCCC# 60-15136, No ISBN

1963, Enlarged second edition , D.Van Norstrand & co, Hard cover with dust jacket, 488 pages...NO LCCC or ISBN #
1963, Enlarged second edition , D.Van Norstrand, Reinhold & co, soft cover, 488 pages...LCCC# 64-1105, ISBN 0-442-26824-6

At the time of writing the book and publishing the book Fred was a neighbor in OC and frequent diving companion. My editions have been inscribed to me..



SDM

 

[Rick Murchison]

What a great thread
I'd add what I consider to be the most essential book in any serious diver's library, The NOAA Diving Manual.
And the US Navy Diving Manual is a nice "back shelf" reference...
--
Here's a summary with links of what we have so far...

BASIC SCUBA Roberts
Certified Diver's Handbook Coleman
Dangerous Marine Creatures Edmonds
Deco for Divers Powell
Diver Down Ange
Diving Science Strauss and Aksenov
Doing it Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving Jablonski
Exploring the Deep Frontier Nat Geo
Humann/Deloach series of fish/creature/coral i.d. books
In Harm's Way Stanton
PADI Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving
SCUBA: A Practical Guide for the New Diver Lapenta
Scuba Regulator Maintenance and Repair Harlow
SDI Solo Diving student manual
SEALAB: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor
Shadow Divers Kurson
Six Skills Lewis
The Last Dive Chowdhury
The NOAA Diving Manual
The Physics of Scuba Diving Anderson
The Scuba Snobs Guide to Diving Etiquette
The scuba Snobs Guide to Diving Etiquette, BOOK 2
US Navy Diving Manual
Twelve Days of Terror Fernicola

 

[TSandM]

Rick, you missed Doing it Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving Jablonski

(And it wasn't even me that recommended it!)

 

[Rick Murchison]

Rick, you missed Doing it Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving Jablonski

(And it wasn't even me that recommended it!)

Hmmm.... shame on me! Wonder if there was something subliminal at work there...

Here's the updated list:

Here's a summary with links of what we have so far...

BASIC SCUBA Roberts
Certified Diver's Handbook Coleman
Dangerous Marine Creatures Edmonds
Deco for Divers Powell
Diver Down Ange
Diving Science Strauss and Aksenov
Doing it Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving Jablonski
Exploring the Deep Frontier Nat Geo
Humann/Deloach series of fish/creature/coral i.d. books
In Harm's Way Stanton
PADI Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving
SCUBA: A Practical Guide for the New Diver Lapenta
Scuba Diving 4th edition Graver
Scuba Regulator Maintenance and Repair Harlow
SDI Solo Diving student manual
SEALAB: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor
Shadow Divers Kurson
Six Skills Lewis
The Last Dive Chowdhury
The NOAA Diving Manual
The Physics of Scuba Diving Anderson
The Scuba Snobs Guide to Diving Etiquette
The scuba Snobs Guide to Diving Etiquette, BOOK 2
US Navy Diving Manual
Twelve Days of Terror Fernicola

 

[koozemani]

I have purchased many of my scuba related books from thriftbooks.com. They carry a wide and ever changing range of books including many mentioned here. I have been able to score several that are out of print in excellent condition.

---------- Post added January 25th, 2013 at 11:09 AM ----------

Hmmm.... shame on me! Wonder if there was something subliminal at work there...

Here's the updated list:

Here's a summary with links of what we have so far...

BASIC SCUBA Roberts
Certified Diver's Handbook Coleman
Dangerous Marine Creatures Edmonds
Deco for Divers Powell
Diver Down Ange
Diving Science Strauss and Aksenov
Doing it Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving Jablonski
Exploring the Deep Frontier Nat Geo
Humann/Deloach series of fish/creature/coral i.d. books
In Harm's Way Stanton
PADI Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving
SCUBA: A Practical Guide for the New Diver Lapenta
Scuba Regulator Maintenance and Repair Harlow
SDI Solo Diving student manual
SEALAB: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor
Shadow Divers Kurson
Six Skills Lewis
The Last Dive Chowdhury
The NOAA Diving Manual
The Physics of Scuba Diving Anderson
The Scuba Snobs Guide to Diving Etiquette
The scuba Snobs Guide to Diving Etiquette, BOOK 2
US Navy Diving Manual
Twelve Days of Terror Fernicola

Down time. Great writers on diving
challenging the deep. HHaas
Fatally Flawed. Schaik
The silent world. Jyc
face of the deep. Thomas
water and light. Harrigan
the living sea. JYC
neutral buoyancy. Ecott
diving into darkness. Finch
deep descent. Mcmurray
no safe harbor. Burnworth
Fatal depth. Haberstrog
touch the sea. Scarr
to unplumbed depths. Haas

Some off my shelves.

---------- Post added January 25th, 2013 at 11:11

 

[tridacna]

If you want a good FICTION book being paraded as non-fiction, try: Shadow Divers Exposed: the Real Saga of the U-869 by Gary Gentile.

 

[Sam Miller III]

I have purchased many of my scuba related books from thriftbooks.com. They carry a wide and ever changing range of books including many mentioned here. I have been able to score several that are out of print in excellent condition.

---------- Post added January 25th, 2013 at 11:09 AM ----------
Down time. Great writers on diving
challenging the deep. HHaas
Fatally Flawed. Schaik
The silent world. Jyc
face of the deep. Thomas
water and light. Harrigan
the living sea. JYC
neutral buoyancy. Ecott
diving into darkness. Finch
deep descent. Mcmurray
no safe harbor. Burnworth
Fatal depth. Haberstrog
touch the sea. Scarr
to unplumbed depths. Haas

Some off my shelves.

BRAVO!

For a resident of Arizonia and less than 100 dives you certainly have a good start on developing a presentable dive library..Keep searching...Finding old classical dive books is like an adult Easter Egg hunt...And there are many many more to find and read.

Good luck!

SDM

 

[onwardsupwards]

Deeper into Diving, John Lippmann &Dr Simon Mitchell.

Very detailed on dive physiology & decompression.