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The Editor's Book Picks
The Best of the Dive Books for Serious Divers
A portion of the profits from any books ordered
will be donated to preserve coral reefs.
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Prices indicated below are valid at the time of posting, though Amazon.com may change them.
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New!
It's hard enough to take a first-rate photo of reef life in the best of conditions. Try doing it in murky, bone-numbingly cold water while wearing a dry suit with 40-plus pounds of weights around your waist, and thick, insulating gloves that make it hard to use the camera controls. That's what David Hall had to endure while photographing in Canadian waters, but those physical disadvantages make Beneath Cold Seas all the more amazing. Hall's book successfully disputes the belief that cold-water reefs are drab and dismal. He has regularly photographed the world's most beautiful dive spots for major magazines from National Geographic to Time. While Hall's shots are taken entirely at Browning Passage in British Columbia, the reef life he shoots resides along the Pacific Coast, from Northern California up to Alaska, and they are as diverse and spectacular as any creature in Raja Ampat or Fiji. Click here to buy it at Amazon via our website -- our profits go to save the reefs. |
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New!
We support divers who turn their overseas dive trip tales into
full-fledged books. Sue Webb has done that with her first offering, "Off
the Wall." She takes readers around the world, from Australia to the
Bahamas, with funny, insightful stories of her experiences with fellow
travelers, dive crew, locals and some crazy cab drivers. Hair-raising
times mixed with touching moments. You'll relate to a lot of Webb's
experiences, or be inspired to take similar dive trips. "Off the Wall"
is for sale on Kindle and in paperback. |
New!
A good book to turn the kids you know into divers and
marine conservationists. Mark Kurlansky, author of "Cod: A Biography of
the Fish That Changed the World," offers this new book for kids ages 11
and up, about what's happening to fish and the oceans, and what, armed
with knowledge, they can do about it. "World Without Fish" is a
full-color graphic novel that connects all the dots, from evolution and
economics to climate and culture, so that kids can understand why the
common fish we eat are disappearing, why bottom-dragging fishing nets are
turning the ocean floor into a desert, and the domino effect this could
have when they're adults. It also tells kids exactly what they can do:
Find out where those fish sticks come from, tell your parents what's good
to buy, ask the waiter if the fish on the menu is line-caught, and never
eat endangered fish like bluefin tuna. It's a "Silent Spring" for a new
generation. |
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New!
By far, the best book written about man's relationship with sharks. Juliet Eilperin, the Washington Post's national environment reporter, exposes the depths of the shark fin trade, from the fishermen to the consumers, to the investigators trying to end it; the efforts (not always successful) at protecting whale sharks; sourcing by DNA testing and selling naming rights to new discoveries; Miami's macho shark hunter; the shark callers from Papua New Guinea, diving and surfing with sharks, and the risks inherent; and much more. After traveling the globe with her keen reporter's eye, Eilperin creates a fascinating story by investigating the lives of sharks, both above and below the surface. It's bound to hook every diver. Just published, this hardbound, 296-page book is available now. |
New!
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. |
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For
armchair divers, the 288-page coffee-table book lets you see the kinds of
critters you only read about, from the pygmy seahorse to the picture
dragonet, as well as the seascapes of amazing hard and soft coral. The
text is informative, as are the bios of the nearly two dozen famous
shooters, including David Doubilet,Mark Strickland, Burt Jones and Maurine
Shimlock, Gerry Alan and Rogers Steene. |
Afraid of Sharks? Or Love Nemo? Here are fish that swim in the air! Perfect gifts for a diver's kids, that dive buddy, or for just for yourself -- Air Swimmers Remote Control Flying Clownfish |
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We don't know if Gladwell is a diver. He writes mostly about business,
science and psychology. But the reason why we're recommending his latest
book, a compilation of 10 years of his articles for the New Yorker, is
because of the chapter titled "The Art of Failure: Why Some People Choke
and Others Panic." He tells the story of a woman named Epjimia Morphew and
her harrowing experience in a dive class. Read the entire chapter to fully
understand fully the phenomena of choking and panic. The entire book is
filled with exceptional pieces, including a profile on "dog whisperer"
Cesar Milan, how we can blame no one for the Challenger disaster, and how
smart people are overrated. |
Sport diving is laden with unspoken rules. We've published most of them
over the years, but there is no single resource where the new diver, the
first-time liveaboard diver, or the spouse of a longtime diver can turn
to find them. At least, not until now. Dennis Jacobson has been diving for
nearly 15 years, his wife Debbie for 10. Hooked on diving, they've
traveled extensively, they've learned the rules, and they have observed
too many of their fellow divers ignore the social rules that maintain
order and composure in our sport. We published a few humorous but too-true
excerpts in our November 2011 issue, read the rest by buying the book
through us. |
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This book ought to be on every diver's reading list. Greenberg details
the decline in salmon, cod, tuna and sea bass, the dangers of wholesale
fish farming, and just what might be done to ensure a sustainable supply.
"Four Fish" helped me get a much greater sense of the demise of our food
fish and the impact of fish farming, but it also showed me a twinkle of
hope. This thoughtful and fascinating book will help you understand what's
happening to the oceans and what you, in your own way, may do to help. |
We've written much about lionfish, and how the Pacific native is
threatening reefs and marine life in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Lad
Akins, director of operations for REEF, belives humans are the best hope
as the lionfish predator, and his motto is "If you can't beat 'em, eat
'em." He worked with Tricia Ferguson, a "personal chef to the stars" to
create The Lionfish Cookbook, a collection of 45 lionfish-based recipes,
each with a full-color photo. It also has background on the lionfish
invasion and its impacts, and details on how to effectively catch, handle
and prepare the fish. After participating in a lionfish roundup, whip out
this book to make a tasty dinner. Paperback, 126 pages, $16.95 list price. |
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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. |
Scuba diving has not had a hero since the irreplaceable Jacques Cousteau died. Some graybeards still point to Mike Nelson, but he was a fictitious 1960s TV hero, not flesh and blood, unless you consider the actor who played him, Lloyd Bridges. Besides, the last episode of Sea Hunt aired 49 years ago, in 1961. |
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The Best of Undercurrent: Bizarre and Brilliant True Diving Tales from Thirty Years of Undercurrent. |
Jim Abernethy makes a living with his Scuba Adventures shark dives in
the Bahamas by baiting and chumming sharks to get them up close to his
diving clients. While some deplore his techniques, he has done an
admirable job as a shark-saving advocate. Abernethy's latest effort
is "Sharks Up Close", featuring his excellent photography and
detailed data about sharks biology and their significance in the food
chain. Buy it for that youngster you're trying to get interested in
scuba diving and ocean conservation, and you may even pick up a few
shark facts you didn't know before. |
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This is Part II of the authors' guide to preparing for a dive
photography trip, this time focusing how to do so on a liveaboard.
They did much of their field research and photo-taking aboard the
Paradise Dancer in Raja Ampat. Like the last book, there's a long
checklist of actions to complete (Where do I want to go? Who do I want
to go with?) and things to bring (How much do I pack? What photo
equipment do I need?). For divers wanting to take their first
liveaboard or preparing for the photography trip of a lifetime, this
is a good guide to ensure you have an enjoyable time and don't leave
any essentials behind. (Paperback, 120 pages, $42.50 list price, $8.95
for the Kindle version).. |
Authors Beth and Shaun Tierney describe 220 dive sites in 19 nations, along with site maps, country reviews, seasonal dive information, destination ratings, preferred dive operators and liveaboards, good travel information and hundreds of color photos. If you're interested in the Caribbean, you won't find much besides the Yucatan, Honduras, Belize and Grenada. But the key countries in the Pacific and Indian Ocean are all covered. If you're an adventurous traveler, there's a lot of good reading here. . |
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Diving and Other Adventures in the South Pacific. Documentary film maker and diver Julia Whitty paints a mesmerizing scientifically rich portrait of the coral reefs of the South Pacific. Her thoughtful and spiritual vision provides unique reporting a encounters with humpbacks, hammerheads eagle rays and the usual reef inhabitants, described in a lyrical, beautiful verse rarefy found in book aimed at literate divers. I think the review in O, the Oprah magazine says it best.”The product of a scientist’s mind, a sociologist’s eye, a Zen Buddhist’s soul, and a poet’s heart, it is at once a call to action, a natural history, a love song and a prayer “ ... about our oceans, it’s reefs and critters. Paperback, 292 pages. |
Here's a definitive guide book on what the authors call "the greatest repository of tropical marine life on earth." And anyone who has dived it knows they speak the truth. This 146-page book is filled with descriptions of mind-blowing dive sites, along with good descriptions of the area, the people and what you need to know to dive there. And the photos of unusual critters will knock your socks off. Whether or not you think you'll ever get to Raja Ampat, you should own this book just to nurture your dreams. |
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This just-published, 302-page, soft-bound guide by Beth and Shaun Tierney, is a must for anyone contemplating diving in Indonesia, Malaysia or Thailand. Where is Sipadan? Raja Ampat? Komodo? Richeliu Rock? Maps make it easy to pinpoint dive destinations and travel routes. Destination and 250 dive site descriptions (with tables on depth, visibility and currents) help you determine whether you’ll see big fish in the blue or pygmy seahorses in the muck. There’s a lot of supplemental information such as travel tips, health tips, and resorts and liveaboard descriptions. |
If you missed the great BBC documentary Oceans on
cable, content yourself with this print counterpart. Paul Rose led a
team of divers to explore seven oceans, from the Arctic to the Indian,
and 160 color photos give details of their voyages. The book
summarizes the ocean wonders they saw, like the Red Sea's
fluorescent corals and a potentially new species below the Arctic's
ice pack. Each chapter, devoted to a specific ocean, gives a briefing
of archeology, geology and marine biology for that body of water;
highlights for the Sea of Cortez include hammerheads, sperm whales,
and the Humboldt, "the Terminator of squids." (Hardcover, 240 pages,
$35 list price.) |
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Getting Started on a Scuba Photo Trip; Seven days on an underwater photography trip to a resort or on a liveaboard requires twice as many days to plan and organize, so if you haven’t done it completely and correctly you can waste a bundle of time and money and shed buckets of tears over missed shots. Not only does this 80 page book by Dennis Adams and Cathy and Peter Swan provide a full 17 page checklist of everything you will need to travel and shoot, but it provides an orderly planning and procurement schedule and scores of insider's tips. Its an essential book for anyone planning a first time photo safari, but just as useful for any of us who have spent a week kicking ourselves about leaving home that one crucial item and having to beg, borrow and jury rig while out of the water missing that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity below.
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This is the guidebook I wish I had when I first dived the
Caribbean. Peachin, who also wrote The Complete Idiot’s Guide
to Sharks, wrote Scuba Caribbean for traveling divers to find the
best destinations for their skills, interests and pocketbooks. In
her 30 years as a globe-trotting diver, she has visited nearly
every Caribbean dive destination. And as an Undercurrent subscriber and contributor,
she used
Undercurrent articles
and reports as a
source for this book.
She knows where the
truth lies. (239 pages, 16 pages of photographs, paperback, $25 list price.)
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This 600-page encyclopedia is jam-packed with fascinating dive-related facts. The Blue Pages carry dive information by country, from Argentina to Yemen, followed by a worldwide directory of dive resorts, liveaboards, charters and dive operators. This year's edition has bios on 600 diving personalities, 200 new diving records set, a Dive Business Directory, a new photo video chapter by Dr. Alex Mustard, and reviews all the diving development in 2008. $27.50, plus $6.50 shipping and handling ($9 in Canada). |
Waterman tops the list of America’s best representatives of scuba diving and underwater videography, and Peter Benchley, the deceased Jaws author and one of Waterman’s best friends, has said this about his excellent book: “Hang on, because when Stan recounts scenes from the filming of the classic 1971 documentary feature film, Blue Water, White Death, you'll be there beside him ... There is excitement enough in his encounters with wild animals and weird people to fill a hundred lives and all their fantasies. The thoughtful, graceful writing sets the book a full step above most memoirs about the sea." 288 pages with 32 pages of photographs, hardbound, $30 list price |
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In this new book, edited by Chris Santella, a bevy of well-known divers wax about 50 top dive destinations, most of which are on everyone’s list. The descriptions are brief and to the point, just enough to help you decide whether to do more research. Divers will agree on most choices (what, no Red Sea? And there are better places for whale sharks than Utila) with Indonesia getting the most selections (5) But there are Australia and Fiji, Cayman and Costa Rica, and even plenty of cold water spots: British Columbia, Washington State, the UK and New Zealand. The perfect book to stimulate your fantasies.
224 pages, hardbound, $24.95 listed price.
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These married divers and yoga practitioners say yoga can help reduce your air consumption, improve your flexibility and buoyancy control, and make you a more proficient diver. In this book, the Stedls describe and photograph the yoga poses that work best for divers and explain why they’re beneficial. They also give details for breathing exercises, and visualization techniques to prepare for tough dives. All the exercises can be done anywhere there’s space to roll out a yoga mat. Paperback, 128 pages, 9 x 6 inches, $12.95.
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For Children!
The latest book in Brazilian photographer O’Neil’s series of children’s books. Shark Encounters is for grades 1 to 4, although the text is somewhat more sophisticated. But the photos take precedence anyway – O’Neill features great close-ups of open-mouthed sand tigers, bulls and black-tip reef sharks. He has a section for each shark type, with some description about markings, behavior and favorite meals. It just skims the surface of shark behavior but it will spark kids’ interest in learning more. Hardcover, 45 pages, 11 x 8 inches, $20.
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For Children!
This great Scholastic series of marine-life books is officially for kids ages 8 to11, but younger kids can easily follow along with Hall’s close-up photos and easy-to-understand text. Each of the 10 books focuses on a subset of marine biology from crabs to dolphins to sea partners to predators of the sea. Even adults will learn some facts about underwater critters they didn’t know before.Every book lists more resources to learn more about the marine life profiled. They’re a great way to turn kids into future divers. Each book is paperback, 48 pages, 9 x 8 inches, $6.95.
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Peter B. Bennett was the first president of the Diver’s Alert Network, and led it through its formative years. A Ph.D in anesthesiology, Dr. Bennett has contributed decades of research about human physiology under pressure, including important work on decompression, narcosis, and mixed gases. Seven years ago, the DAN board voted to throw him out, amidst conflict of interest and other issues. He spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of DAN’s money defending himself, finally departing in 2003. Much of this book is devoted to his side of that story. While the like of Dr. Peter B. Bennett would be more fairly told by an independent writer, this book offers insights into the real Dr. Bennett.
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Steve Kovacs, a dental surgeon from Florida, was inspired by pros like Roger Steene to put his underwater photos from past dive trips in a coffee-table book -- and publish the entire thing himself. We interviewed him about his self-publishing experience in the August 2008 issue, and I think his debut holds its own against professional photographers. In Magic Beneath the Seas, Kovacs captured scores of unique shots of interesting behaviors, and often the resolutoin and color surpasses that in books by well-known photographers. Hardcover, 240 pages, 300-plus color images, $44.95. |
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For divers who aspire to the technical skills needed to dive shipwrecks, this book may be the kick in the pants you need. Jackson gathered some notable wreck diving enthusiasts, including Bob Halstead and Scottish diving pioneer Lawson Hood, to write about their favorite wreck dives, from the graveyards of Truk and Scapa Flow to overlooked wrecks in New Zealand and South Africa. Each entry has a brief history of the ship's background when it was above water, description of its current location, and tips of notable details to look out for. Hardcover, 12 x 11 inches, 160 pages, listed price $60. Click here to order. |
Literally the size and shape of a brick, "Underwater Eden: 365 Days" by American photographer Jeff Rotman features a colorful photo for every day of the year. Rotman took close-ups of reefs from the Red Sea and Costa Rica to Palau and the Great Barrier. Opposite each photo are captions written by Rotman that contain scientific facts and trivia along with personal anecdotes from 30 years of photography. 9 x 6 inches, 365 photos, $30. |
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This book by Andrea and Antonella Ferrari is filled with spectacular images, designed not only to offer great technical guidance, but also help the underwater photographer discover and develop the artist within. Clearly the best and most beautiful 'how-to" book ever produced. Rigorously field-tested digital techniques; the hidden techniques behind imaginative framing and lighting, wide-angle and fish-eye to macro photography, from fish portraits to above/below split images, from basic point-and-shoot digital pocket cameras to complex housed professional DSLR systems, it's all here in a highly-readable, technically-accessible, step-by-step guide. 9 x 9 inches, 360 color photos, $60. |
Mysteries of the Silent Deep. This new book by Roger Steene is among the best book of underwater photographs ever published. He has captured unique behaviors of unique creatures - like a harlequin shrimp devouring a sea star -- with an unprecedented level of color and camouflage. Steene has a scientific eye that goes far beyond most professional photographs, which results in an endless array of surprising and stunning shots. More than 500 images fill the 340 pages of this oversized coffee-table book. A must for your library. 13 x 11 inches, hardcover, $60. |
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Industry veteran Bret Gilliam's newest book is Diving Pioneers & Innovators, is chock-full of incisive and unique interviews with 20 people who helped make diving what it is today. These luminaries open up in a way they rarely have before in print.It's like relaxing on the back of a dive boat while listening to a fellow diver tell tales, except they come from an MVPs who changed diving forever. Notables include now-deceased Jaws author Peter Benchley; Oceanic founder Bob Hollis; History Channel's featured wreck diver John Chatterton; shark-diving pioneers Ron and
Valerie Taylor; and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Stan Waterman. Insightful conversations with answers to questions never before asked. Great anecdotes and thorough details of diving's history. Diving Pioneers & Innovators is filled with full-color photographs. At
496 pages coffee table book book weighs in at eight pounds. |
The Drafahls’ latest book, Adobe Photoshop for Underwater Photographers, explains how to use your computer as a darkroom to perfect underwater images, fine-tune underwater film scans, and retouch and enhance digital images with Adobe Photoshop software. 224 pages, 9 x 6 inches, $26. |
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At last, the book for digital photographers at levels. Professional exposure and lighting techniques, available light, dealing with blooming and backscatter, super macro, digital menu control for underwater shots, equipment maintenance. Great how-to information, with scores of photos and diagram every digital underwater technique. It’s all here in the just-released soft-bound guide by Jack and Sue Drafahl, the experts in underwater digital photography. Click on this Undercurrent link to purchase the Guide at Amazon.com‘s best price, and all our proceeds will go to coral reef conservation..
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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 order. |
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Here's the all new, comprehensive second edition of John Lippman's 1990 classic, the definitive book for serious divers who want to dig deep to understand their sport. Lippman and co author Dr. Simon Mitchell, cover virtually all decompression procedures, computers and their various algorithms) physical and medical aspects of deeper diving, including nitrogen narcosis, carbon dioxide, heat loss, decompression sickness, multi-level diving, and everything you ever cared to know about diving. At $65, it's a serious book for a serious diver's reference library. This book is available directly from the publisher. |
If Fodor's produced a worldwide dive guide, this would be it. Brits Beth and Shaun Tierney have produced, no doubt, the most complete book of its kind, covering 220 dive sites in 19 countries and the most popular resorts and liveaboards -- many we'd pick ourselves. Add to that a dollop of information on weather, restaurants, local laws and customs, transportation, events and side trips, and you've got a Footprints Travel Guide just for us. Unlike Undercurrent, it's not evaluative, but it is balanced -- and I think essential for any traveling diver or for armchair fantasies. Australia's Rowley Shoals, PNG's Loloata Island, Utila in Honduras -- these aren't venues to be covered by your father's guidebook. Softbound, 352 pages, with endless photos, some with folks you may have met along the way. Order at www. undercurrent. org (click on the book icon) and you'll get it at Amazon.com's great price ($10 off the list price of $29.95 as we go to press), and our profit will go to save coral reefs. ... ordering here |
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The Reef Set: Reef Fish, Reef Creature and Reef Coral (3 Volumes): 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%. You'll get the best prices Amazon.com has to offer, speedy delivery, and the knowledge that a large hunk of our profit will go to preserve coral reefs.
* Reef Fish Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas, |
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.
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. Order through us, get Amazon.com's best price and a good hunk of the profit will be donated to preserve coral reefs. |
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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. |
This book doubles as a guide to the natural history of the coral reefs and a diver's travel guide. In addition to providing information about some of the most popular diving and snorkeling, it also offers practical suggestions to divers who want to protect these sites. Author Mark Spalding, a coral reef scientist who has worked on coral reefs in over thirty countries, delves into the eco-problems with a focus on what each person can do to protect the reefs. The guide section covers 35 dive destinations with key information on the reefs, marine parks, remote places, and unusual species as well as excellent maps and a photographic field guide of the marine flora and fauna. |
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At last -- a just-published, complete guide to help you identify the uncountable variety of weird critters you'll see on any Indo-Pacific dive, complete with full-color photo of 1,100 species. About Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific, Chris Newbert says, "This invaluable new book makes identification easy and enjoyable." There are scores of flatworms, nudibranchs galore, bumblebee shrimp, painted crayfish, pompom crabs, side-gilled sea slugs, and endless corals. Marine biologists Terry Gosliner, David Behrens, and Gary Williams cover the reefs from the Solomons to Sipadan, from the Maldives to Maui, from Palau to Papua New Guinea. They provide good notes to help you find and identify each critter. Indispensable for any Indo-Pacific trip. Paperback, 8x110, 314 pages, $45.00. |
For starters, this 320-page book has more than 300 color photographs and maps, and references top more than 400 dives, all the way from North Carolina to Catalina, from Wakatobi to Uepi and Gizo in the Solomons, to Fiji, Yap and the incredible Aussie wreck of the Yongala. If you have heard of it, author Monty Halls has included it, with information on water temperature, visibility, specific dives and depths and critters, and a beginner-to-expert grading system. There’s information about recompression chambers and dive governing bodies, travel and accommodations, local culture, visa requirements, related web sites, and even airlines that Hall, in his years of leading travel groups worldwide, finds to be diver friendly. Currently $19.97; buy through Undercurrent and our profits will go to support coral reef protection worldwide. |
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The Dive Atlas is two books in one, a reference and a large format, hardbound coffee table book, meaning this is a “dive wishbook” that’s also at home in your living room. In addition to the vivid u/w photographs, it features over 300 dive site maps along with information such as the best time to go, likely visibility, and whether the destination has good snorkeling. Dive Atlas of the World: An Illustrated Reference to the Best Sites covers a lot of territory, so it can’t cover every good dive. Still, this isn’t a book you’ll put away on a shelf; it’s one you’ll use to guide you to your next dive adventure. Order now at Amazon's best price. |
Finding Nemo gave a lot of public exposure to clownfish, but savvy divers who really want to know their Nemos need a copy of the revised edition of "Anemone Fishes and Their Host Sea Anemones" by the renowned marine life authors Daphne G. Fautin and Gerald R. Allen. It’s written for all levels, from diver to aquarist to research scientist, and permits quick and accurate identification of the invertebrate hosts as well as the fishes through well-illustrated, easy-to-use keys and underwater photographs. 160 pages, 130 color pictures, and 300 illustrations. Order the hardcover revised edition for $30. All of the profits from the sale of this book go to help save coral reefs. |
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