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The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975 | |
For Divers since 1975
The Private, Exclusive Guide for Serious Divers Since 1975
"Best of the Web: scuba tips no other
source dares to publish" -- Forbes
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The Editor's Book Picks
The Best of the Dive Books for Serious Divers

 

Page:  1   |   2  

Complete List of Diving Books

Prices indicated below are valid at the time of posting, though Amazon.com may change them.

New!

Big; A Photographic Album of the World's Largest Animals Big; A Photographic Album of the World's Largest Animals
by Marko Dimitrijevic and Amos Nachoum

It's Big; A Photographic Album of the World's Largest Animals - by Marko Dimitrijevic and Amos Nachoum. The authors, one Swiss and one Israeli, who both live in the U.S., met on a Tonga expedition, and their mutual love of big animals has kept them working together. This book, uniquely the work of two master photographers, represents the 30-year product of their association and is a testimony to the animals they have encountered: big and consequently dramatic. They call it "Big Animals – Big Emotions."

Published in Germany by teNeues Verlag GmbH and printed in Italy, BIG lists for $85 but is available for less (currently about $62) on Amazon.

New!

101 Tips for Recreational Scuba Divers 101 Tips for Recreational Scuba Divers
by Dan Orr & Betty Orr

This e-book, compiled by a previous CEO of DAN and his wife, with more than 50 years experience, lists 101 stand-alone tips designed to guide readers toward their own safe and enjoyable diving practices and help them make informed decisions. Achieving neutral buoyancy is one of the main delights of scuba diving and a good tip is to do a buoyancy course if you don't know how. This must be one of the 101 tips in this book but it's a pity the designer of the cover didn't read it. It shows two anxious-looking divers apparently kneeling on the seabed. Don't judge this book by its cover. Kindle $10.03

New!

Underwater Wild: My Octopus Teacher's Extraordinary World Underwater Wild: My Octopus Teacher's Extraordinary World
by Craig Foster and Ross Frylinck

If you enjoyed watching My Octopus Teacher, you'll enjoy this book written by the same team that shot the Academy Award winning movie. In the heart-wrenching stories that make up this unforgettable book, we swim alongside co-author with Craig Foster, Ross Frylink, as he grows from skeptic to student of the underwater wild. In the revelatory marine science behind the stunning photos, we learn how to track sea hares, cuttlefish, and limpets, and we witness strange new behaviors never before documented in marine biology. The divers behind the movie reveal a new vision of the sea. Hard cover from $32.40, Kindle $23.75

Thirteen Lessons that Saved Thirteen Lives: The Thai Cave Rescue Thirteen Lessons that Saved Thirteen Lives: The Thai Cave Rescue
by John Volanthen

John Volanthen, along with Rick Stanton, was the cave diver who found the 13 young footballplayers and their coach trapped by floodwaters one-and-a-half miles inside a Thai cave system. The story of their 2018 rescue is one of bravery, persistence, and heroism. What makes a slightly built, ordinary-looking, bespectacled, self-deprecating Englishman into a cool-headed underwater cave explorer? Not only is this book an enthralling account of the Thai cave rescue, but it also explores how one copes with the impossible, something from which we can all learn. Available in hardcover and Kindle.

Into the Planet -- My Life as a Cave Diver Into the Planet -- My Life as a Cave Diver
by Jill Heinerth

When meeting Canadian Jill Heinerth, one is struck by what a thoroughly decent person she is -- the sort of person anyone would be pleased to have as a sister. Shes so wholesome. In times of lockdown, I bet she makes great cookies.

For those who know her outside of the world of diving, it must come as something of a surprise to discover what activities she partakes in -- because she is one of the worlds leading cave divers.

And unlike some cave divers, who often tend to be introverted, she likes to share her life by traveling the globe, making presentations, showing her underwater photos, and revealing what she gets up to when shes in her favorite environment.

More people have died exploring underwater caves than climbing Mount Everest. But that doesnt stop her. One of few women in what otherwise might be described as a mans preserve, shes explored the underground secrets of Wakulla Springs State Park, conduits within volcanoes, and cracks in the worlds largest icebergs. Her autobiographical book, Into the Planet -- My Life as a Cave Diver, tells all, sometimes in such detail that its hair-raising.

Referring to the relationship with her husband, she wrote, Regardless of the assurances I give him when he sees one after another of my colleagues die, it makes my career harder to defend.

Read the book, but dont be tempted to emulate her achievements. It can only end in tears. Into the Planet -- My Life as a Cave Diver, published hardbound by Harper Collins, can be purchased at Amazon by clicking here.

Sea Salt II - More Salt Sea Salt II - More Salt
by Stan Waterman

One volume doesn't do justice to the life of a man who's lived so long and filled his life with so much adventure. A few years later, and well into his eighties, Stan felt compelled to write down a few more of his anecdotes, seductive in the telling. Sea Salt II - More Salt carries on where the previous volume left off.

Peter Benchley (now sadly deceased) continues his homage to this man of the sea:

“Stan has a profound rapport with the sea, and his command of language and literature eloquently displays the depth of his feeling. The thoughtful, graceful writing sets the book a fair step above most memoirs about the sea. You'll be pleased to encounter an occasional quote from Joseph Conrad or Henry Beston - but he'll often turn a phrase or craft a paragraph that could well have come from the pen of a master.”

It would be foolish to try to scribe something better.

Sea Salt II - More Salt by Stan Waterman $36.06

Sea Salt - Memories & Essays Sea Salt - Memories & Essays
by Stan Waterman

When you've been around for a century, and had a full and exciting life, writing your memoir can be a challenge because, quite frankly, you've got too much material to choose from. Stan Waterman was eighty when he embarked on writing his first - Sea Salt.

Stan is a great raconteur so it's no surprise it's full of captivating tales from his times as one of the favorite underwater cameramen to the movie industry. His close pal Peter Benchley (the author of Jaws, The Deep, etc) wrote in a forward:

“Ladies and gentlemen, are you in for a treat! You are about to make the acquaintance of one of the most extraordinary gentlemen of this or any recent age. And not just a gentleman but a filmmaker, an adventurer, an explorer, a daredevil, a gallant, a poet, an intimate of creatures as exquisitely exotic as the leafy sea dragon and the sloe-eyed cuttlefish and - this above all - a true pioneer in the discovery of our last frontier, the sea.”

Says it all!

Sea Salt: Memories and Essays by Stan Waterman $29.99

Galápagos Galápagos
by Josef Litt

If you've visited the Galápagos Islands, you've probably fallen in love with them. That's what happened to Josef Litt, who grew up in Cold War-era Czechoslovakia, moved to the United Kingdom and fell in love with underwater photography. He not only fell under the spell of the Galápagos, he has produced a comprehensive guide to the archipelago.

With more than 280 lushly illustrated pages, Galápagos covers the island's history and unique wildlife. It's a definitive guide to the islands that has captured high praise from Tui de Roy, world-renowned photographer, author and conservationist based in the Galápagos, who says, “I found the writing crisp, clear and jam-packed with intriguing theories, eye-opening facts, and attractive illustrations.”

Litt's book offers over 300 pictures with detailed descriptions of species unique to the islands. Most people either visit to see the terrestrial life or take a scuba diving trip, while some do both, one after the other. If you are interested in diving with more than the marine iguanas, rosy-lipped batfish, penguins and sea lions, my own review of diving in the Galápagos can be summed up in two words: Darwin and Wolf, two islands 150 miles north of the main group. With the confluence of three ocean currents, the water can be chilly, the seas rough and the currents extremely strong. However, pelagic life is prolific. Not for the faint-hearted diver, but it's an experience few should miss. And I'll say the same for Litt's book. Whether you've visited or want to visit, Galápagos will make you fall in love with the place.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Costa Rica Blue Costa Rica Blue
by Genna Maria Davis and Avi Klapfer

Just as video killed the radio star, so the Internet has tolled the death knell of books. Our shelves are full of wonderful dive books that we bought and treasured but probably haven't looked at for years, while we go online now to look at dive information at sites like, yes, Undercurrent.

Then there's the "fake news" angle. Of course, traditional books have publishers, which give a degree of veracity to the facts therein. Not so with self-published books, of which there is now a plethora, and you're never really sure of the truth of what you're reading. Be assured that is not the case with this tome by Avi Klapfer and Genna Maria Davis.

Klapfer, a former Israeli naval officer, has been operating the Undersea Hunter liveaboards in Costa Rica for as long as I can remember, and that primarily means trips to Cocos Island, the island of the sharks. After eight trips there spanning two decades, I can honestly say that Cocos diving always delivers, and the photos in this book are proof of that.

Originally conceived as a limited production run of books to interest regular passengers on Klapfer's boats (MV Sea Hunter and MV Argo), Costa Rica Blue is now available via Amazon to a wider audience. Avi and his co-conspirator Davis, an American writer based in Costa Rica, has set out to include everything any diver would need to know about Cocos and the other Costa Rican dive locations worth visiting.

Divided in two parts, the first describes in detail the marine life, while the second gives practical information about the diving and snorkeling. Unsurprisingly, info about Cocos Island comprises a great part of the book, but other dive locations in Costa Rica's Pacific waters are covered, and even the less auspicious Caribbean side has a chapter. The detailed maps are worthy, and each dive site is dealt with in the detail afforded only to someone entirely familiar with them.

Naturally, this 300-plus-page book is lavishly illustrated with seductive photographs throughout, from the smallest jellyfish to the largest whale shark. Costa Rica is an area of the world that is generous with opportunities for underwater photographers.

If you've been diving in Costa Rica, this is essential reading for reliving your great memories, and if you haven't yet been, it will surely entice you to go. As a guide to diving in Costa Rica, this flexibound book is one of the best.

More information about Costa Rica Blue and its authors is at www.costaricablue.org.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Muck Diving Muck Diving
by Nigel Marsh

Muck diving has become a global phenomenon. The critter identification guide has become almost as essential at dive resorts and on dive boats as the compressor that fills our tanks. Worthy as most of these invertebrate ID guides are, they can be something of a dry read and not set aside for bedside reading. That's not something one would say of Muck Diving - a Diver's Guide to the Wonderful World of Critters by Nigel Marsh.

Muck Diving is more than an identification guide. The author explores different muck environments, the history of muck diving, simple yet successful diving and photo techniques and the indispensability of a good local guide.

The second part of the book provides information about most of the critters you are likely to encounter, while the third part deals with the best places to find them. It's a great read -- 352 pages packed with pictures and information, and enclosed in a water-repellent cover! Finally, the book includes a comprehensive list of dive operations specializing in muck diving. It costs $19.99 through Amazon.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Tropical Ice Tropical Ice
by Ben Davison (writing as KL Smith)

Written by Undercurrent's publisher Ben Davison (writing as KL Smith) and set in Belize, Tropical Ice is a story of shark-finning and reef-raping, murder and politics, on an industrial scale, with plenty of diving. You'll sense a creature's eyes on a night dive, feel the sandpaper skin of a shark on your bare back, and taste the sweat dripping off your eyebrows as you push through the underbrush on Snapper Caye.

It all takes place at Cap'n Jack's Rum Caye Dive Resort, where Jack's trying to save his failing resort with shark-feeding dives, until a body turns up in the damnedest place. You'll flip pages through surprising twists and turns that keep you glued to the text, all the way to the surprising events at the end. I sure didn't see them coming.

Tropical Ice is available online from Amazon in paperback ($13) or Kindle, and in bookstores.

Diving in Southeast Asia Diving in Southeast Asia
by Sarah Ann Wormald

There was a time when every American diver automatically headed to the Caribbean, but more recently the lure of the burgeoning marine life, the colorful corals and the inexpensive cost of living of Southeast Asia is drawing more divers to Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Diving in Southeast Asia provides a useful starting point for planning a trip. It provides maps spotting the locations of sites and brief tabulated summaries for quick reference. Every page is adorned with a colorful picture generally taken underwater. From marine life suitable for super-macro cameras to WWII wrecks draped in corals, from whale sharks to pigmy seahorses, it's all covered.

This book also provides a comprehensive section that deals with practicalities such as ways of getting there, where to stay, what to eat and who to dive with. The list of contributors to the text is a veritable Who's Who of experts on Asian diving.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

An American Immersion An American Immersion
by Jennifer Idol

An American Immersion takes the reader to every state for a visual feast of underwater exploration. It chronicles an adventure that goes far beyond the typical resort diving most divers experience. Jennifer Idol writes that inspiration came while flying over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. She didn't capture the flaming wreckage, but decided instead to photograph our neglected American waters in a more positive manner. This led to her goal of becoming the first woman to dive all 50 American states. She completed her quest by driving 72,000 miles over five years. On this journey, she took more than 105,000 photos and displays their immense variety in her spectacular photo essay of underwater America.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

What a Fish Knows What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of our Underwater Cousins
by Jonathan Balcombe

Do they really have memories? Can they recognize other fish by their faces? Or even humans? The myth-busting ethologist Jonathan Balcombe addresses these questions and more to reveal the astonishing capabilities of the fish we swim with. He upends our assumptions, portraying them not as unfeeling, dead-eyed feeding machines, but as sentient, aware, social and even Machiavellian - in other words much like us. This should be at the top of every diver's reading list.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Diving In Indonesia Diving In Indonesia
by Sarah Ann Wormald

Indonesia covers a large area - an archipelago that consists of at least 17,500 islands. It's 3000 miles from Pulau Weh in the West to West Papua in the East, and nearly all of it has exceptionally good diving. A book that attempts to encompass such an area is very ambitious. Sarah Ann Wormald has concentrated on the areas that she knows, including Bali, North and South Sulawesi, Nusa Tengarra, Maluku and Raja Amat. The author writes with authority and the voice of someone who has actually experienced first-hand the places she writes about The maps are detailed, the photographs excellent. Whether you are interested in the macro-life of Lembeh, the mantas of Nusa Penida or the wobbegongs of Cape Kri, this is a useful volume in a format that can be carried with you.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

One Breath One Breath
by Adam Skolnick

One Breath, a book by Adam Skolnick, is a fascinating, well-written if bleak commentary on a high-risk sport. Nicholas Mevoli was the best American free-diver until his unfortunate demise during a competition at Long Island in the Bahamas in 2013. The author tells his story, demonstrates unparalleled access to the sport and its personalities and takes great pains to explain how they achieve the seemingly impossible while often risking all to do it.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Underwater Photography Masterclass Underwater Photography Masterclass
by Alex Mustard

Some of these gurus are self-styled and not necessarily very good, but marine biologist, underwater photographer Alex Mustard is the modern master of what he does, and willingly reveals to others, by way of escorted photo-safaris, how he does it. Instead of producing just a coffee table book of pictures, he is more didactic in his approach, disguising his superb photos in this book as demonstrations of how to do it, or as inspiration to others to have a go themselves. It's a master class and it's stuffed with information.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession, and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship
another John Chatterton Adventure by Robert Kurson

The last time we read about diver John Chatterton, he was the dedicated, perhaps obsessed, wreck diver searching for the secrets of the German submarine U-869, sunk off the coast of New Jersey. Robert Kurson recounted that adventure in his 2005 New York Times bestseller, Shadow Divers. Chatterton became an instant diving celebrity, soon co-hosting, with fellow diver Richie Kohler, History Channel's Deep Sea Detectives. But, Chatterton set off for more adventure, chronicled in Kurson's new book.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Dive Palau (The Shipwrecks) Dive Palau (The Shipwrecks)
by Rod MacDonald

The author has followed a format similar to that of Dan E. Bailey's seminal work, World War II Wrecks of Truk Lagoon, although this 295-page hardcover book is significantly smaller. There's the history, the contemporary black & white photographs, both of the ships themselves and from aerial reconnaissance, the more recent surface photographs of wartime remnants of installations and detailed maps. In a second section, each vessel is covered in individual chapters, detailing how and where they were built, how they went down and what it's like to dive them now. There are sketches of the wrecks as they lie at the bottom of the lagoon today.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Nudibranchs Encyclopedia - Asia/Indo-Pacific Nudibranchs Encyclopedia - Asia/Indo-Pacific
by Cobb and Mullins

The second edition of the Nudibranchs Encyclopedia has been revised and updated by scientists Gary Cobb and David Mullins, but Neville Coleman is still very much in evidence. With more than 300 pages mostly bearing eight colored identification photographs per page, one could almost be forgiven for assuming that if a particular nudibranch isn't included in the more than 2000 photos, then it doesn't exist, but then, we all know that there will always still be more waiting to be discovered. In fact, it modestly claims only to include around 70 percent of the most commonly observed species of opisthobranchs as divers throughout the Asia/Indo-Pacific region discover more.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Nudibranch Behavior Nudibranch Behavior
by David W. Behrens

When it comes to that popular macro subject, the colorful nudibranch, one could be forgiven for thinking they don't do much. Marine biologist David W. Behrens, a household name among nudibranch enthusiasts, would beg to differ. His book, Nudibranch Behavior, divides nudibranch behaviour into locomotion and movement, feeding, reproduction, defences, relationships, colors, camouflage and mimicry, even senses and respiration. There are helpful contributions from photographers Constantinos Petrinos and Carine Schrurs, along with photographs by many others.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification: Indo-Pacific Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification: Indo-Pacific
by Terry Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and Dave Behrens

Indonesia has so much to offer the nudibranch enthusiast. For example, on Nudi Wall at Lembeh Strait, nudibranchs litter the seabed as if a great big sack of Gummy Bears has been carelessly tipped out. Nudibranchs are colorful slugs that wear their feathery gills on their backs. There are so many varieties, but how do you know which you've seen? New World Publications has come to the rescue with this weighty tome of 400 pages packed with color pictures, along with basic information to help the reader get the best chance of the right identification.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

The Soul of an Octopus The Soul of an Octopus
by Sy Montgomery

A decade ago in a posh San Francisco restaurant, I was tempted to order the grilled Pacific octopus. But I didn't, recalling that an octopus, by many counts, is smarter and more emotional than many wise mammals. Not wanting to be party to the death of such a remarkable creature, I stopped eating octopus. And having just read Sy Montgomery's new book, The Soul of an Octopus (a finalist for last year's National Book Award for Nonfiction), I'm all for taking it off everyone's menu. This animal belongs in a Head Start class, not a sushi restaurant. I guarantee you'll finish this book in absolute awe of the octopus. I also suspect that you'll never eat an octopus again.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Voices in the Ocean Voices in the Ocean
by Susan Casey

Susan Casey's new book is not only an intriguing, sometimes troubling look at the way we humans relate to what is surely our favorite ocean animal, but also how dolphins relate to themselves and us. Her interviews with marine biologists and others with an intimate understanding of dolphin behavior provide us with new insights into dolphin conversations, their families and rearing their young, and their relationship to us. Any diver who reads Voices in the Ocean will enhance his or her love for dolphins, but also finish the book knowing we all have a moral responsibility to see that dolphins don't suffer at the hands of callous profiteers.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Shark Bytes Shark Bytes
by John Bantin

John Bantin, who writes often, wittily and thoroughly about diving for Undercurrent, just had his second book published -- Shark Bytes, his personal stories and first-hand descriptions and anecdotes of over 30 years of diving with and photographing sharks. "I don't offer myself as an expert regarding sharks," Bantin says. "I simply offer myself as a shark witness, and in Shark Bytes, I delve into the way my own attitude to and understanding of sharks has developed during the intervening years. It's about how I grew to love diving with sharks."

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Four Fish Diving Indonesia's Bird's Head Seascape
by Burt Jones and Maurine Shimlock

This dynamic duo's book describes 130 dive sites of Raja Ampat, Triton Bay and Cenderawasih Bay, while offering practical information about the area. The detailed descriptions of the sites, complete with GPS coordinates, explains the terrain, how to dive the site, and the kinds of animals, coral and critters you can expect. Excellent photographs will help you identify many of the critters you will encounter.

If you have been to Raja Ampat, or dream about going, this thoughtful and well-illustrated book is for you.

The book is not available at the moment.

Amazing Diving Stories Amazing Diving Stories
by John Bantin

In the search for great underwater adventure writing, one needs to look no further than this absorbing new book by John Bantin, one of Undercurrent's top-notch contributors. He has compiled dozens of true tales that will intrigue and delight everyone from the seasoned diver to the bathtub snorkeler. Consider the British diver who barely survived a crocodile attack while diving from a Indonesia liveaboard, or the divers fired upon by the military when diving in the Red Sea. Bantin, who makes 300 dives a year, gets behind the scenes of terrible tragedies, applies his great wit to his own travels and travails, and explores unusual and bizarre behaviors ­ both animal, fish and human ­ that take place a few fathoms down.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Staying Alive Staying Alive
by Steve Lewis

Steve Lewis is a dive instructor, expedition leader, industry consultant, and columnist who has authored several dive safety textbooks. In his latest, Staying Alive, he revisits the survival guidelines originally proposed by legendary cave diver Sheck Exley, and illustrates them in eight chapters: attitude, knowledge, training, gas supply, gas mix, exposure, equipment and operations. Lewis writes in a conversational manner, mixing discussions he has had with other dive pros on the topic with historical background about how dive training and safety was improved (you'll know all you want to know about Boyle's Law), and examples of disaster scenarios to try at home. One good chart to keep handy is a "reaction cheat sheet" that will make sure you know what to do about underwater mishaps such as lost masks or buddies and low air.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Scuba Diving Safety Scuba Diving Safety
by Dan Orr, Eric Douglas

Scuba Diving Safety by Dan Orr, the former CEO of Divers Alert Network and Eric Douglas, its former director of training is more a book for divers to know how to take care of other divers who've gotten into trouble. This is definitely a good book for a dive operator or trip leader, with its details about how to create an emergency assistance plan, conduct a missing diver search, and what information to collect about each diver just in case. However, sport divers planning trips with their buddies will get a lot of good advice. The authors offer useful details about how to rescue a conscious diver compared to an unconscious one, and how to do surface rescues versus ones underwater. There are chapters on resuscitation and towing and removing divers from the water, all with photos and images. The "Diving First-Aid" chapter is an essential reference guide for all divers.

Too many divers do not think about potential trouble, but rather defer to the dive crew. But a smart diver understands just how independent and alone he is. If you're keen on self-preservation, these two books belong in your diving library.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Reef Life: A Must Have Guide to Tropical Marine Life Reef Life: A Must Have Guide to Tropical Marine Life
by Brandon Cole and Scott Michael

What? Another fish ID book when you thought Paul Humanns and Ned Deloachs were enough? Yes indeed, and while I rarely say this, Reef Life: A Guide to Tropical Marine Life is a must-have for the library of every traveling diver. And if you only want one ID book, this is it.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Underwater Photography for Compact Camera Users Underwater Photography for Compact Camera Users
by Maria Munn

Today's compact camera systems can give sophisticated SLR setups a run for their money when it comes to fabulous shots, and they can do so at a fraction of the price and the bulkiness. But many divers who bring them along underwater still need to know how to use them. They often turn to Maria Munn for help to improve their techniques, and her compactcamera courses, held in her native Britain and on liveaboards abroad, fill up quick.

Now she has placed the knowledge and tips from her courses into this 175-page book, with easy-tofollow techniques opposite hundreds of full-color photographs to show how easily it can be done, and what results can be achieved.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Reef Fish of the East Indies Reef Fish of the East Indies
by Gerald R. Allen and Mark V. Erdman

It's got a list price of $250 and a weight of 14 pounds, but the price and the poundage will be worth it to add this three-volume set to your library. Renowned marine biologists Gerald R. Allen and Mark V. Erdman have combined 60 years of surveys, fieldwork and research to create the most definitive guide of the Coral Triangle to date, perhaps forever. The 1,292 pages of text and 3,600 photographs (40 percent of which are of fish not seen before in print) gives comprehensive information on every known reef fish species from a region known as the global epicenter of marine biodiversity. An essential reference for any scuba diver.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Travel Edition of Reef Fish Identification: Caribbean, Bahamas,
South Florida. Travel Edition of Reef Fish Identification: Caribbean, Bahamas, South Florida
by Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach

Today's airline weight restrictions not only limit the amount of dive gear and cameras you can pack for overseas trips, but also those valuable prized marine life identification books. And with spotty Internet access overseas, it's not like you can look a critter of or fish up easily online. For the divers who still want a book in their hands post-dive to look up the fishes they encounter, Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach are offering "Travel Edition of Reef Fish Identification: Caribbean, Bahamas, South Florida." It's lightweight enough to thrown in your carry-on but rugged enough to withstand frequent saltwater washings on board.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Reef Creature Identification: Tropical Pacific Reef Creature Identification: Tropical Pacific
by Paul Humann and Ned Deloach

Paul Humann and Ned Deloach have done it again, releasing a definitive identification guide to 1600 extraordinary reef creatures of the Tropical Pacific. with this 500+ page softbound guide, you get upwards of 2000 exceptional photos of shrimp and crabs and stars and worms and lobsters and nudibranchs and slugs and squid and bivalves . . . well, all those invertebrates that move along the reefs of this region without fining, so it seems. There are several photos of some creatures to help you identify them during different life stages, and about ten percent of the book is descriptive copy so you can tie down your identification. Even if you have no plans to go to the tropical Pacific, just to thumb through the pages, gawk at the complexity and uniqueness of these animals, and read a thumbnail sketch will give any serious diver vicarious thrills for endless hours.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Reef Fish ID Reef Creature ID Reef Coral ID

The Reef Set: Reef Fish, Reef Creature and Reef Coral (3 Volumes):
Paul Humann ID Books
by Paul Humann, Ned Deloach

The three set fish, creature and coral ID books by Paul Humann are the unparalleled sources for information on Caribbean sea life and identification. Paul and his partner Ned Deloach recently released updated and expanded editions of each, with scores of new critters, even better photos, and information unavailable anywhere else. Why, the Reef Fish Identification book, at more than 500 pages, is 20 percent larger than the previous volume, which came out in 1994. Whenever I travel to the Caribbean, I tote all three books and spend my down hours figuring out what I saw and where to look to find rare creatures. Paul's splendid Reef Creature book (420 pages), covers sponges, nudibranchs, octopus, crustaceans, Christmas tree worms and plenty more. His Reef Coral ID book (276 pages) helps you identify all the hard and soft corals, spawning, and even the growth on top of corals, as well as algae and other plant life. Beginners may want to ID only fish, but I'd recommend that all three books be part of every diver's library. And, if you have an old set, by all means replace it. You'll be delighted at the additions and improvements. Each book normally retails for $40, but are discounted when you order here. And the boxed 3-volume set is available now at a bigger discount, up to 30%. Click below to buy them at Amazon:

* Reef Fish Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas,
* Reef Creature Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas, and
* Reef Coral Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas
* The Boxed Set of all three (you can save up to 30%)

Reef Fish Identification Reef Fish Identification: Baja to Panama
by Paul Humann and Ned Deloach

The latest edition in the popular Paul Humann series of marine life books. The most comprehensive field guide ever compiled for identifying reef fishes from the Gulf of California to the Pacific coast of Panama, including offshore islands. More than 500 photographs of 400 species taken in their natural habitat. The book is dedicated to Baja Legend Alex Kerstitch and includes several of his drawings and photographs. The concise text accompanying each species portrait includes the fish’s common, scientific and family names, size range, description, visually distinctive features, preferred habitat, typical behavior, depth range, and geographical distribution.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

 

Reef Fish ID Reef Fish Identification: Tropical Pacific
by Gerald Allen, Rodger Steene, Paul Humann, & Ned Deloach

At last, here's a comprehensive fish ID guide covering the reefs of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The generous 500-page text, displaying 2,500 underwater photographs of 2,000 species, identifies the myriad fishes that inhabit the warm tropical seas between Thailand and Tahiti. The concise text accompanying each species portrait includes the fish's common, scientific and family names, size, description, visually distinctive features, preferred habitat, typical behavior, depth range, and geographical distribution. This is an essential book for every diver traveling westward. 6x9 inches.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Malaysia Macrolife A Diver's Guide to Underwater Malaysia Macrolife
by Andrea and Antonet La Ferrari

We just discovered the ultimate guide to Indo-Pacific macro life. It was published late last year by marine photographers and writers Andrea and Antonet La Ferrari, who have several other winning books in their portfolio. They picture and describe in full detail 600 different species, focusing on those found in the South China, Sulu, and Sulawesi seas. From colorful nudibranchs to cleaner shrimps and pipe fish, to larger species like cuttlefish and clown fish. Each description offers an insight on distribution, habitat, size, life habits, and U/W photo tips. Illustrated with more than 800 extraordinary color photographs and written in a clear, concise, informative style, this book is both a macro and fish field guide for all serious divers from the Maldives to Australia. A must for traveling divers.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Underwater Photographer The Underwater Photographer, Third Edition: Digital and Traditional Techniques
by Martin Edge

A prodigy of Jim Church, Martin Edge has produces the third edition of his classic book. While he provides the basics for beginning photographers, he delves deeply into the digital revolution, helping even the skilled underwater shooter better use his LCD screen, read histograms, or, if one wants to shoot manually, use exposure modes and solve metering, focusing and TTL issues. Edge accompanies hundreds of his own issues with description of his his technique and mechanics, a great teaching tool. 392 pages softbound.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Sea Hunt TV Series (24 Hour Marathon) Sea Hunt TV Series (24 Hour Marathon)
Starring Lloyd Bridges, Jeff Bridges, Beau Bridges

If you're old enough, you'll remember how you first got hooked on diving by watching Mike Nelson, ex-frogman turned freelance scuba diver, outwitting villains, disarming nuclear missiles and rescuing victims underwater, all while wearing a wetsuit and fins. The series Sea Hunt, which ran on TV between 1958 and 1961, ignited the craze for recreational scuba diving at a time when it was still brand new. Each episode (with star Lloyd Bridges doing mostly voiceover narration as obviously it's hard to emote while underwater) brought adventure and included pleas to viewers to understand and protect the marine environment.

Sea Hunt's four seasons of episodes have been hard to find on DVD until now. Sea Hunt - 24 Hour Television Marathon, an 8-DVD collection priced at $30, just went on sale at Amazon. Bridges' two sons, Beau and Jeff, started their acting careers here, making appearances when both were tater tots. You can also order Seasons 1 through 4 separately for $15 each.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

NOAA Diving Manual, 5th Edition. NOAA Diving Manual, 5th Edition.

For years, the NOAA Diving Manual has been a mainstay in the library of every professional diver and plenty of us serious divers, too. Hands down, it is the industry's major, unbiased diving reference. Last published in 2001, it has now been updated into the all-new Fifth Edition. With 875 full-color pages, it's the most detailed diving reference book available, yet written in lay language for all divers to thoroughly understand and enjoy.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

Diver Down Diver Down: Real-World Scuba Accidents and How to Avoid Them
by Michael Ange

A survival guide discussing the gamut of what can befall you in diving situations, including cave, wreck and drift diving, and decompression sickness. Each tale of a real-life diving accident is followed by an in-depth analysis of what went wrong, and how you can recognize, avoid and respond to similar underwater calamities.

Click here to buy it at Amazon.

 


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Complete List of Diving Books

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