Five years ago, I discovered diving boards, and on one of them, I read an essay by a guy named Doppler, on the shape of the decompression curve. The essay was extremely well written and very thought-provoking. I have taken care to read anything Steve Lewis has written since then, and have always learned something. So I had very high expectations, when I heard he was putting out a book on diving, and ordered it before it was even available. Three days ago, I got my copy, and here's the Cliff Notes version of the review: Buy it, and read it. It's up there with Mark Powell's Deco for Divers on the list of things I think every (not just technical) diver should own.
As I expected from Steve, the book is well written and very entertaining, pitched with a delightfully British self-deprecatory wit. But it is also a very interesting approach to organizing the requirements for a good technical diver -- not at all what you may have heard from your instructors, or from other reading materials. I love people who make me take a look at what I am doing from a 90 degree different slant, and I love even more simple conceptual scaffoldings from which to hang my understanding of things. The book is full of "I never thought about that in quite that way" moments, beginning with Steve's criteria for passing one of his technical classes, which I don't think would have been articulated in quite that way by anyone from whom I have taken diving lessons.
It IS, definitely, a book written for technical divers, and that's who Steve teaches. But I think there are a lot of thought-provoking things that would be of interest to the avid recreational diver, in terms of skill analysis. And it's a delightful read.
I have two small criticisms. One is that the book could have been better proofread. And the other is that it is clearly compiled from other articles or lectures and shows it, and that's a little sad, because I think a small amount of careful editing could have made it flow more beautifully as a cohesive whole. But these are minor issues.
And I should mention that the book is beautifully illustrated with black and white and color photographs, some of which are pictures from our own Ben M!
As I expected from Steve, the book is well written and very entertaining, pitched with a delightfully British self-deprecatory wit. But it is also a very interesting approach to organizing the requirements for a good technical diver -- not at all what you may have heard from your instructors, or from other reading materials. I love people who make me take a look at what I am doing from a 90 degree different slant, and I love even more simple conceptual scaffoldings from which to hang my understanding of things. The book is full of "I never thought about that in quite that way" moments, beginning with Steve's criteria for passing one of his technical classes, which I don't think would have been articulated in quite that way by anyone from whom I have taken diving lessons.
It IS, definitely, a book written for technical divers, and that's who Steve teaches. But I think there are a lot of thought-provoking things that would be of interest to the avid recreational diver, in terms of skill analysis. And it's a delightful read.
I have two small criticisms. One is that the book could have been better proofread. And the other is that it is clearly compiled from other articles or lectures and shows it, and that's a little sad, because I think a small amount of careful editing could have made it flow more beautifully as a cohesive whole. But these are minor issues.
And I should mention that the book is beautifully illustrated with black and white and color photographs, some of which are pictures from our own Ben M!
