What are the top Diving related books?

[NFLFan92]

Two books I highly recommend:

Treasure Hunter: Diving for Gold on America's Death Coast
by Robert MacKinnon

+1 Amazing read ... highly recommend the book. Last Dive is also a great read, well done for both divers and non divers

 

[DennisC]

Well I just added like 10 books to my amazon wishlist because of this thread! I cant wait to read some of them I have already read Shadow Divers and Deep descent. I found both of them to be amazing. I have two Clive Cussler books, The Sea Hunters and The Sea Hunters 2, I think they are similar both are supposed to be about true events. I am currently looking at more non fiction which this thread provided me with a lot.

I have one question though. No one mention any Gary Gentile books. I have never read any of them but I do plan to read Shadow Divers Exposed just to see what it has to say. It has terrible amazon reviews. I was wondering if anyone has read any of his other books and if they are any good? Sorry in advance if this is a sore subject or if it is about to cause a huge war.

 

[Wingy]

+1 for Scuba Confidential. I bought it purely because im doing a LOB with Simon next month and thought, hmm, might be a way to get a feel for this guy before we meet up - excellent book with a lot of well explained knowledge and tips written in a very personable manner. Looking forward to meeting and learning from Simon after dipping my toes into his book.

 

[SEALAB Author Ben H.]

Seeing as this week marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Navy's first SEALAB, and the dawn of new era in diving, I might suggest my book, "SEALAB: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor," published a couple of years ago by Simon & Schuster. Rob Kurson, the author of Shadow Divers, is among those who have had kind words for my telling of the SEALAB story. You can find other reviews and info, and also read the first chapter at no charge, on my website: SEALAB ? A book by Ben Hellwarth | About a time when most eyes were on the moon. . .but not all.

In the meantime - a happy 50th to SEALAB. It was an honor to meet a lot of the divers involved and chronicle their historic achievements . . .

Cheers,

Ben

 

[Compressor]

Scuba Confidential
Scuba Professional
Both Simon Pridmore

Then Shadow Divers, Deep Descent and the Cave Divers.

 

[icechip]

I have Gary Gentile's two books on the German submarines of WWI and WWII in American waters and thought they were pretty good reads.

The Kaiser's U-Boats in American Waters (https://www.amazon.com/Kaisers-U-Boats-American-Waters/dp/1883056403)
The Fuhrer's U-Boats in American Waters (https://www.amazon.com/Fuhrers-U-Boats-American-Waters/dp/1883056268)

 

[Marie13]

I saw this thread earlier today and got a sample of Scuba Confidential on Kindle. Ended up getting the complete book. At $6 for the Kindle version, it's a bargain. Reading it now.

 

[Rhone Man]

Well I just added like 10 books to my amazon wishlist because of this thread! I cant wait to read some of them I have already read Shadow Divers and Deep descent. I found both of them to be amazing. I have two Clive Cussler books, The Sea Hunters and The Sea Hunters 2, I think they are similar both are supposed to be about true events. I am currently looking at more non fiction which this thread provided me with a lot.

I have one question though. No one mention any Gary Gentile books. I have never read any of them but I do plan to read Shadow Divers Exposed just to see what it has to say. It has terrible amazon reviews. I was wondering if anyone has read any of his other books and if they are any good? Sorry in advance if this is a sore subject or if it is about to cause a huge war.

I have read most of Gary Gentile's books (and probably all of his books relating to diving). They are a bit of a spread. Some of his earlier stuff on the Andrea Doria explorations I think are both well written and a really good read. As are many of his books about random recollections and stories about deep wreck diving up in the colder waters of the US Eastern seaboard. Some of this other stuff is less good.

But Shadow Divers Exposed is not one of his better efforts. I don't doubt that some of the criticisms that he makes are potentially justifiable. But (a) it is just not a well written book, it just jumps around all over the place making all sorts of random criticisms of random people, and (b) it just drips with venom. He lambasts the author as having had only one prior successful book: “The Official Three Stooges Cookbook”. Well, yes, he hadn't written many books. But he is a Harvard educated and Pulitzer prize winning journalist - he is not exactly some cowboy pen jockey, but SDE just gives him both barrels and moves on to its next target. At one point he starts attacking John Chatterton's war record in Vietnam - nothing to do with diving or the U-869 - and I was just looking at the book wondering why I was still ploughing through this diatribe.

I think Gary Gentile was just livid about both the popularity of the book and the exaggerated amount of credit given to Chatterton and Kohler, so he wrote SDE as a "f*** you" book. Maybe some people love that sort of stuff, but for me a book should at least contain some material that is not pure axe-grinding and ranting.

PS. Just for the record, I have never met Gary, but I have swapped a few e-mails with him over the years on areas of common interest. He always struck me as a straight up guy. So for whatever it is worth I think I should add that.

 

[Jared0425]

While fighting the NOAA sanctuary expansion here in Lake Huron, I got into contact with Gary Gentile for advice on how to be a thorn in their side. He sent me tons of material and advice and picked the fight as his own, now they want to add another sanctuary here in the region and expand another one in international waters off the East Coast. He is a very opinionated man and his newer books don't have the quality that his older ones have.