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Product Description
-Rodale's Scuba Diving magazine
"By far the best literary collection about scuba diving."
Product Description
Over 35 passages from novelists, journalists, poets, playwrights, essayists, and scientists detail an intertwined passion for diving and the written word in this collection. From Robert Stone's portrayal of a diver who faces the terrorising prospect of his air running out to Clare Booth Luce's search for the treasures of the underwater realm, every passage reveals a perspective of the world that only divers have known. Humour columnist Dave Barry battles a lobster and explains why staying on the ocean's surface is like 'going to the circus and staring at the outside of a tent'. From Rangiroa to the Red Sea, from deep within caverns to the eerie light under ice, from the lethal silliness of nitrogen narcosis to the elation of soaring over unfathomable depths, every selection, like every dive, is a unique experience.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
This is a great collection with a variety of writing on diving, great for a begining diver to get into when you can't get in the water. The selections by Cousteau and Barry shouldn't be missed, and while I skipped most of the poetry and didn't finish a few other selections; the rest have something for every kind of diver. I found some of the older articles particuarly fun as you can kind of trace the development of the sport. All in all the vast majority of stories/articles are well worth reading.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Decent collection, not all stories fantastic
6 Dec 2004
I recently read this collection of stories while on a nice tropical vacation where I did a couple of dives - so was in the mood. Below, I have broken down some of the positives and negatives that I took away from this collection:
The positives: This is without a doubt a comprehensive collection of writings - in terms of the time period covered and styles of writing (humor, poetry, etc). I thought that some of the stories were really great - couldn't help but laugh at Dave Barry's description of diving. I found a few of the older pieces very interesting due to the historic perspective / context.
The negatives: Any time you take on a project to complile a collection this large across different writing styles, it should be a given that all pieces are not going to appeal to all readers. About 25% of the stories simply did not appeal to me.
Secondly, there also seemed to be a recurring "What my first dive was like" or "What it feels like when you are down there" theme. I also found this a bit tiresome after awhile. As a diver, unending explanations of how clear and blue water is, the sense of weightlessness, etc got to be a bit much. Almost drove me to the best example I could think of - a bottle of Bombay Gin.
Closing: A large enough body of work that I think that every reader will find some of the stories very worthy reading. Light enough for a good vacation or bedtime read. Worthy enough purchase - I think a good gift type of purchase for that diver's christmas fin.
The positives: This is without a doubt a comprehensive collection of writings - in terms of the time period covered and styles of writing (humor, poetry, etc). I thought that some of the stories were really great - couldn't help but laugh at Dave Barry's description of diving. I found a few of the older pieces very interesting due to the historic perspective / context.
The negatives: Any time you take on a project to complile a collection this large across different writing styles, it should be a given that all pieces are not going to appeal to all readers. About 25% of the stories simply did not appeal to me.
Secondly, there also seemed to be a recurring "What my first dive was like" or "What it feels like when you are down there" theme. I also found this a bit tiresome after awhile. As a diver, unending explanations of how clear and blue water is, the sense of weightlessness, etc got to be a bit much. Almost drove me to the best example I could think of - a bottle of Bombay Gin.
Closing: A large enough body of work that I think that every reader will find some of the stories very worthy reading. Light enough for a good vacation or bedtime read. Worthy enough purchase - I think a good gift type of purchase for that diver's christmas fin.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
60% dull
6 Jan 2008
I consider myself to be an avid diver and reader, so I'm naturally drawn to books that cover a wide berth of topics regarding the ocean and diving. This particular book I had a difficult time wanting to finish. The perspective of the stories were grossly limited by both the recurrent theme of being a new/first time diver and by the fact that few were written after the mid 1970's. There are a few gems amongst the chapters, Dave Berry's lobstering for instance, but the wade through the rest of the book was tiresome. My advise is do not purchase, visit the Library and be willing to skip large portions.
A great read!
9 Jun 2009
It is hard to get across the myriad of feelings one experiences in Scuba diving. This collection succeeds in doing so. Particularly good was the selection from Philippe Diole , "Mingled Atoms." In short, I emphatically recommend this collection to both divers and non divers.
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