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Diving Science |  | Authors: Michael Strauss, Igor V. Aksenov
Publisher: Human Kinetics
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy Used: $12.95
as of 9/8/2010 18:17 CDT details
You Save: $15.00 (54%)
New (15) Used (18) from $12.95
Seller: limelightbookshop
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 559637
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 408
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 7 x 0.6
ISBN: 0736048308
Dewey Decimal Number: 616.98022
EAN: 9780736048309
Publication Date: April 28, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Prepare for each underwater adventure and its challenges. Diving Science will help you anticipate, recognize, and respond to the physical, physiological, and psychological stresses encountered in sport diving. Written by two experts in diving physiology and medicine, this comprehensive resource will help you manage each stage of a dive more safely and successfully. Whether youre on the surface or bottom, in the descent or ascent, youll know exactly what to do and when to do it. With information on everything from on-gassing and off-gassing to first response interventions for medical problems, Diving Science is as essential as a wetsuit for your next dive. Use the books diving-specific fitness specifications to learn how to make diving safe and enjoyable at any age. And apply the detailed equipment recommendations to prepare properly for each dive. Diving Science provides a wealth of information useful to all divers. Tap into this treasure chest before each dive to ensure it is your best and safest yet.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
 Simplistic, irritating. September 29, 2009
DB Cooper (Miami, FL, USA)
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
What this book does well is the section on the physics of diving - maybe because it hasn't changed much over the years. But the standard training manuals from BSAC, NAUI, PADI etc do a good job of this too, so (unless you don't have your course materials) it's not worth spending $[...] for redundant information.
I had high hopes for this book, based on the other Amazon reviews. And when I started to write this, my intent was to ultimately recommend it too. However when I realized how outdated the bibliography was, I changed my mind.
Specifically...
1) The large font (seems to be a feature of Human Kinetics Press - the otherwise excellent 'Scuba Diving Safety' from HKP is the same) immediately reminded me of those large print books for old people. No harm in that, but the prospective reader of this is likely to be young and fit with good eyesight. Perhaps the real reason is to pad out the text to make it big enough to publish?.
2) The silly anecdotes. For example the 'Diving Scenario' on page 16. Are we trying to rescue the victims before the explosion? In which case they're not victims (needing rescuing) yet. Or perhaps we're meant to rescue them after the explosion? But they've just had a free cremation courtesy of the negligent chamber operator...so not much point. This could have been a plausible example of the universal gas law with sensible editing.
Another silliness? From page 12: 'Archimedes described the principles of buoyancy over 2000 years ago, and they are as valid today as they were then' Why wouldn't they be? Scientific principles don't have expiration dates...
3) The typos. Normally totally forgivable, but the faults with the rest of the book make them stand-out. For example, Table 1.1 on page 6: 'inches of mercury' are not 'mmHg'
4) The irrelevant anecdotes - page 19. 'Tragically, an explosion occurred in the Apollo 1 space capsule. .. The caspule was pressurized to 1.2 ATA .. All the astronauts in the cabin were immediately incinerated'. It's true, and it's tragic - but what's it got to do with anything sub-aquatic? More padding?
5) The mistakes: Page 79 - aspirin does NOT prevent red blood cells from sticking together: it's platelets that are affected by aspirin. (To be fair, the authors get this right 50 or so pages later).
6) Out of date material. Some history is always a good thing, but I was astonished to see the citations in the scientific bibliography are mostly from the 1940's, 1950's, 1960's and 1970's. The most recent citations are: three from the 1980's, one from 1991 and one from 2000 (this is just a general physiology text).
In summary this book feels like a 1970's PhD thesis that's been rewarmed for publication. I know most of my criticisms are just pedantic - these should have been fixed by the editor. The authors are clearly passionate about diving - I've no doubt they are professional, diligent and expert physicians who I'd want treating me if I were bent. But they've been badly let down by Human Kinetics Press who failed to edit the book professionally.
The real problem is the accumulation of these irritations - on the stuff I know about - is enough to make me unsure of the stuff I don't know anything about - do I believe it or not?
If you need a good text on underwater science and medicine, there're several to choose from. The 2nd edition of 'Deeper into Diving' for example. Though it's pricy - and I had to order it from Australia - is a much better bet.
PS - to the authors: Feel free to counter-attack - I can be reached at [...]
 Far more than the minimum required to learn to dive yet does not require a medical degree. August 8, 2009
redrover (Hawaii)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
While still in dive class this was my first dive book. I am reasonably intelligent with a medical background yet deficient in grasping the concepts of science. This was exactly what I was looking for to explain dive physiology on a level far above the lowest common denominator yet I could grasp the relationships in this unique and alien environment. I recommend it every opportunity asked and feel Conrad H. Blickenstorfer review has captured the essence extremely well.
Disappointing July 22, 2009
Daniel Stolte
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Poorly organized content as well as scarce and bland illustrations make this book not worth its money. In addition to following a totally unintuitive and strange organization, the information presented is superficial and, if I had to guess, 20 years outdated in many places. Also, the authors completely dropped the ball on providing references in the text, an oversight that is inexcusable in such a dynamic and ever-changing field as dive medicine. The only reason I gave two instead of one stars is that the chapters do include real-world examples of the material covered, mostly in the form of diving incidents and accidents. However, when I wanted to learn the latest and greatest about nitrogen narcosis, for example, the entry on wikipedia turned out to far outperform the chapter in this book. Personally, I would not buy this book again and don't recommend it.
Great, but too advance medical stuff book August 24, 2008
Vladimir Stanojevic (Serbia)
In summary, book is great, rich with original information not so common to find in similar literature. It's intended for far too advanced readers, it's a good repository to have it if you are a medical doctor or so, or doing some research on the subject, it's great for learning and for references. It's generaly not for sport divers. I myself like it very much for all the data I found in it, becouse it feeds my couriosity.
Diving Science August 23, 2007
Richard Cavanaugh (Ellicott City, MD USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I purchased this book to give me more information on the science of scuba diving for my Dive Con and Dive Instructor courses.
The book give detailed information on the various theories, gas laws and how they interact with the human body. Examples of real life stories are also given.
If you are interested in get truly advanced knowledge of the effects of scuba diving on the body, I would highly recommend this book.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
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