Must read -- the Six Skills by Steve Lewis

[scubadiver888]

Just finished reading my autographed copy of The Six Skills and Other Discussions. I am not a technical diver but I'm curious and have been looking for the past year.

Steve's book has some great information that is applicable to all scuba divers. Some things I learned the hard way and some I'm glad I learned reading Steve's book. I would recommend this book to anyone serious about diving. Chapter 11, on exercise and diet, has some great references to ways to measure your fitness level.

The best thing about the book was the fact that I've been learning a bit of technical diving here and there. The book really helped to pull it all together and made me learn a few things I didn't even think about.

Great book Steve. Thank you very much for sharing your wisdom.

Darrell

P.S. I work for Kobo Inc.. Would you like me to look into getting your book on our site?

 

[Doppler]

Just a quick update.

Canada Post is totally shut down due to industrial action... and each side blaming the other for the lack of service.

HOWEVER, if you are a US or overseas customer, shipping will be done from a US post office during the strike... hope any disruption is minor and this is over soon.

Thanks again for the support of the ScubaBoard community.

 

[Rhone Man]

BTW Steve, there was a conversation going in another thread about how it would be nice if someone wrote a comprehensive Encyclopedia of Technical Diving, and your name was mentioned. If you are ever up for the challenge, I would be happy to volunteer as a proof reader...

 

[scubadiver888]

BTW Steve, there was a conversation going in another thread about how it would be nice if someone wrote a comprehensive Encyclopedia of Technical Diving, and your name was mentioned. If you are ever up for the challenge, I would be happy to volunteer as a proof reader...

Me too, me too. I'd happily volunteer as a proof reader. I should also mention I worked at a typesetting company doing proof reading (okay it was 30 years ago but I did it).

 

[ade_eccles]

+1 to the reviews - a great book !

 

[Doppler]

BTW Steve, there was a conversation going in another thread about how it would be nice if someone wrote a comprehensive Encyclopedia of Technical Diving, and your name was mentioned. If you are ever up for the challenge, I would be happy to volunteer as a proof reader...

Funny you should mention that!

Next book is about support and expedition diving but when that's wrapped up, who knows. PM me a link to the other thread when you get an opportunity

 

[AbyssalPlains]

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!

So, by diving board, you don't mean the ones we jump off of on a hot day, I take it? Took me a while...

;-))

 

[AbyssalPlains]

It is great to read so many endorsements for this new book here. As a diver who is always looking to grow and learn, I am very interested in any new book that might help me be a better diver.

That said, it would be great to see an actual review here. All that has been said basically boils down to, "It's a useful book that is fun to read. Go and buy it."

For me to spend 42 bucks plus shipping on a book, that book has to be not just useful and witty, but truly amazing.

Could someone please post just a few bullets on what the book actually covers?

Put another way, how would it benefit someone who has gone through the following courses and/or manuals: TDI Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures, SDI Solo Diving, Jablonski's Dress for Success and Technical Diving.

 

[boulderjohn]

OK, I just ordered it. I, too, will be happy to proofread future work. I used to edit a newsletter, and I spent nearly 20 years grading essays.

 

[Doc Harry]

What's the book about?