Mastering Rebreathers, 2nd Edition

No question that one of the more significant developments in sport diving over the past 15 years is the fast rise of technical diving and the use of rebreathers. But they're complex to use and fraught with hazards for less-than-precise divers. Enter Mastering Rebreathers, 2nd Edition, by Jeff Bozanic, a long-time technical dive instructor, who published the first edition of this book in 2002. The dramatic changes in rebreather technology in the past decade make this revision essential.

While the book is a thick brick of 700 pages, half of it is made up of appendices, glossary and index, while the rest is neatly divided into 14 chapters. The first seven provide good background information, ranging from the history of and introduction to rebreathers, to diving physics and physiology. The latter chapters detail the prep work needed for rebreather dives, dive techniques, post-dive and emergency procedures, long-term maintenance and traveling with rebreathers. After going through those chapters, you'll probably appreciate the appendices -- dive tables, checklists and maintenance schedules for a wide range of rebreather models.

This is fundamentally geared as a textbook for novice rebreather divers, not a manual for the advanced. It doesn't cover deep, mixed gas, cave or decompression diving. Each chapter ends with multiple-choice and shortanswer questions to test the reader's understanding of key concepts. It's a good way for beginners to make sure they're following along correctly, but also serves as a good resource for current rebreather divers who need a refresher on easy-to-forget things like arcane equations.

Mastering Rebreathers, 2nd Edition is only available through its publisher, Best Publishing, but you can order either a softcover version or the e-book download for $43.85 ( www.bestpub.com ).