|
Nitrox Diver and Trimix Diver are the scuba diver's ultimate resource for the latest in dive training for nitrox, wreck, trimix, instructor, and gas blending. Certifications for programs are issued through either CMAS, DAN, ERDO, IANTD, NAUI, PADI, SDI, TDI, or YMCA |
| Bravo on Your
book! I just got my copy of your new book on NAUI Nitrox: A Guide to Diving with Oxygen Enriched Air, and after an initial "thumb through", must confess that I am most impressed at this effort! Although tailored for a lay recreational diving audience, your book contained a substantial amount of technical meat and useful physiology. I especially like the fact that you did not shield the reader from the realities of decompression and "extended range/tech" diving and at least treated them as adults and explained how such diving fits into the continuum of their recreational efforts. I personally find it far easier to write technical information for a professionally trained, technically sophisticated audience. However, it is most difficult to write clearly (and especially in an entertaining fashion) for a lay audience. The authors have managed to explain some very meaty topics in about as lucid a fashion as I've seen for a non-technical crowd. I personally enjoyed the historic contexts that you placed your information. It's nice to know where we came from (and that all this stuff didn't just materialize yesterday! (was it Einstein who said, "We stand on the shoulders of giants"?) My recreational Nitrox certification was done through PADI and I found their manual to be quite sparse in detail and limited in scope (and frankly more than a little defensive to the point where I joked at the time that it was written more by lawyers than by divers or physiologists). Accordingly, I'd recommend your book for SUPPLEMENTAL reading to anyone *NOT* obtaining their certification through NAUI auspices. (the NAUI folks are now taken care of quite well!) I also found it refreshing that you (and NAUI) chose to address the "D" word. While NAUI (and I'm sure the other training agencies) also do not advocate planned decompression diving, PADI chooses not to even address it, thus leaving the recreational diver totally in the dark in the event of an inadvertent violation of no-stop limits. Unlike the NAUI EAN tables which give some "bail-out" decompression times and procedures, PADI merely advocates a stop to 15', breathing down your tanks, and staying out of the water for 24 hours. While functionally their procedure is safe and effective, I find it defensive on the agency's part and frustrating since it keeps the novice diver in ignorance on the "why's" of how things work. You treat your readership as the sophisticated adults they are and as an educator I feel you help create safer divers since they are not blindly following procedures but understand the reasoning behind those procedures. I found it a "fun read", and that's something to be said for a dive manual! Again, my thanks for creating a really valuable resource. Commander Robert Wolov _________________________________________ CDR R.B. Wolov, MC, (FS), USNR Orthopedic Pathology / Aerospace Medicine Department of Orthopedic Pathology Armed Forces Institute of Pathology 14th & Alaska Aves. NW Washington, DC 20306-6000 wolov@his.com (preferred) |