Scuba Diving Book Reviews

Not what we've heard about these books, we've read them.

Learn more about diving and broaden your diving horizons.

 

Beyond The Deep

William Stone & Barbara Am Ende

The Deadly Descent Into The World's Most Treacherous Cave

DiveTulsa comment: The subtitle says it all, this book is gripping! A great read!

A

 

The Cave Divers

Robert F. Burgess

DiveTulsa comment: Very informative about the history and development of cave diving, especially in the U.S.
Very much worth the read.

B

   

Caverns Measureless To Man

Sheck Exley

DiveTulsa comment: You'll never look at diving quite the same after reading this book and learning where the edge of extreme diving is. It's the diving story of Sheck Exley, probably America's best diver and pioneer of cave diving and super deep technical diving.

Read this book!

A+

   

The Darkness Beckons

Martyn Farr

The History and Development of Cave Diving

DiveTulsa comment: If you want to learn the very detailed history of world wide cave diving, this is the book for you. As a general read, it is a bit cumbersome with detail, but still a worthwhile read.

B-

   

Deep Atlantic

Richard Ellis

Life, Death, and Exploration In The Abyss

DiveTulsa comment: I wish this book was as good as its subtitle. Good information but not a page-turner.

C

   

Deep Descent

Kevin F. McMurray

Adventure and Death Diving the Andrea Doria

DiveTulsa comment: There are a number of books about diving the Doria. They are all grabbers and you need to read them all to really put the checkered history of the Doria into perspective.

B+

   

Fatal Depth

Joe Haberstroh

Deep Sea Diving, China Feaver, and the Wreck of the Andrea Doria

DiveTulsa comment: Another fascinating book about the successes and failures of diving the Doria. Well worth the read.

B+

   

The Last Dive

Bernie Chowdhury

A Father and Son's Fatal Descent Into the Ocean's Depths

DiveTulsa comment: A great book! Everyone interested in deep or technical diving MUST read this book.

A

   

A Pictorial History of Diving

The Undersea Hyperbaric Medical Society, Inc.

DiveTulsa comment: A wonderful pictorial history of diving.

A

   

Reef Fish - Tropical Pacific

Gerald Allen, Rogers Steene, Paul Hunan, Ned Deloach

DiveTulsa comment: If you want to be able to identify the fish you see or take pictures of, there is nothing better than this.Ther are versions for various locations around the world.

A+

   

I Thought I Saw Atlantis

Albert Tillman

Reminiscences of a pioneer skin and scuba diver

DiveTulsa comment: A great history, right back to the 1940's. A bit surprising at points to see the disregard for aquatic life in the early days of skin and scuba diving. This book is very genuine but also just a bit homespun. A good read.

B

   

SCUBA America

Zale Parry and Albert Tillman

The human history of sport diving

DiveTulsa comment: This has got to be the ultimate history of scuba diving. Hard to even imagine the work put into assembling this book.

A

   

Stars Beneath The Sea

Trevor Norton

The pioneers of diving

DiveTulsa comment: A good book but quite detailed rather than story-like.

C

   
Download an Issue !

Underwater Photography Magazine

A Web-Based Magazine

A

   

Dark Descent

Kevin F. McMurray

Diving and the Deadly Allure of the Empress of Ireland

DiveTulsa comment: A slow 'factual' start but it's a great book!

A

   

Deep Blue

Nate Hardcastle

Stories of Shipwreck, Sunken Treasure and Survival

DiveTulsa comment: It has some good spots but plenty of other spots too.

C

   

Deep Into Blue Holes

Rob Palmer

The Story of the Andros Project

DiveTulsa comment: Only fault is that there is a lot of detail, good book though.

B-

   

No Safe Harbor

Joe Burnworth

The Tradegy of the Dive Ship Wave Dancer

DiveTulsa comment: Read it, powerful, scary, sad, informative - certainly biased but still a great read and a good story to know.

B+

   

The Rapture of the Deep

Michael G. Zinsley

And Other Dive Stories You Probably Shouldn't Know

DiveTulsa comment: The subtitle is the best part.

D

   

Underwater Odyssey

Charles Ballinger

50 Dives in 50 States

DiveTulsa comment: Good solid book, interesting but it's hard to get to all the states.

B

         
         
         

Scuba Diving Book Review Submission:

To submit a review, please e-mail information in the form that you see in these reviews, along with a photo of the book cover to Adventure@DiveTulsa.com