The Simple Guide to Commercial Diving
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The Simple Guide to Commercial Diving
Steven M Barsky and Robert W Christensen, Hammerhead Press, 176 pages (2004).
Are you thinking about a career in commercial diving? If so read "The Simple Guide to Commercial Diving". Barsky and Christensen's book covers the skills and attitudes needed by a successful commercial diver in a straight-forward and forthright way.
The book starts with a scary warning page before you even get to the contents, summarising the physical and emotional dangers of commercial diving. Once you get past that it describes the training you need to be a commercial diver, the types of work the divers do, the equipment used and the the attitude you need to be successful. The book is amply illustrated with 160 black and white photos and diagrams.
At the end of each chapter the authors elegantly illustrate their points by recounting their own experiences: foolish dives they shouldn't have done, near misses, equipment failures...
If one of the lines in the book is true: "The more you know the longer you live" then any aspiring commercial diver should buy this book for the insight and advice it provides.
The Simple Guide to Commercial Diving is available for $25.46 from Amazon.com at amazon.com/ and also from Hammerhead Press for $29.95 at hammerheadpress.com/
About the Authors
Steve Barsky started diving in 1965 and was certified as a diving instructor in 1970. He trained as a commercial diver between 1974 and 1976. He has since worked as a diver in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, before moving to first Diving Systems International then Viking Dry Suits. In 1989 he started his consulting company - Marine Marketing and Consulting. He has written 16 books and in 1999 formed the publishing company Hammerhead Press.
Bob Christensen was a US Navy diver before becoming a commercial diver. In 1969 he was invited to become an instructor at the Marine Diving Technician Program in Santa Barbara. He ultimately taught in this program for 16 years before retiring in 1985. A few years into retirement Bob started working with Kirby Morgan Diving Systems Inc and is still associated with them.
