Doing It Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving
THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR THE DIVER2DIVER MESSAGE BOARD GEAR REVIEWS.
I guess I should start off this review with some disclaimers:
I am not pro or con in regards to DIR. There seems to be some friction and high-emotions on D2D when DIR subjects come up. I read this book with an open mind and with the hope that I may be able to transfer some of the skills learned in the book into my personal diving style.
Unfortunately, what I found was a tendency by the author, Jarrod Jablonski, to dart in and out of subjects with an inconsistant style that sometimes beat subjects over your head and other times barely skim the surface. The book is 164 pages including the index and either should have been 1064 or 64. For instance, Jablonski spends 5 1/2 pages on hand signals and a mere 6 pages on diving with mixed gases. Either he could have skipped explaining the “Ok” sign or he should have spent far more time going over mixed gases. It’s quite obvious that Jablonski isn’t quite sure of who his audience is at times and so he seems to switch back and forth. Another example, this time going the other direction is in the Rescue section where he basically glosses over rescue procedures telling the reader that this should be learned in a rescue class and then describing how to ventilate an apneic victim with a SCUBA regulator, a process that he notes is “experimental, and has only been tested on a very small population.” Sounds to me like just enough information to make most people dangerous (and isn’t that the opposite of what the book is supposed to teach?). Should someone who needs this book to explain the out of air signal be doing experimental medical procedures?
Other parts of the book just seem absurd. I was somewhat amused by the physical fitness standards for technical divers. It asks you where you rate on several activities with “Advanced Fitness” as being defined as being able to swim (continuously) 5000 meters (that’s over 3 miles) and being able to jog for 26.2 miles. Who came up with these metrics? Are they based on any sort of medical or scientific recommendations? I don’t argue, in any way, with the fact that all divers (actually, everyone) should be in good physical condition but are these reasonable metrics for diving? Based on this standard, Carl Lewis (9 time winner of the gold medal in the Olympics) would be in “Medium Fitness” shape since he doesn’t train for distance. I think this point extends beyond physical fitness into other areas of the book where the author defines a standard yet gives absolutely no indication of how the standard was arrived at. There’s a distinct difference between, “I (we) feel that . . .” and “It is a fact that . . .” A difference, IMHO, that the author should be more careful of.
I will give Jablonski credit for explaining, and not preaching, the DIR ideology. Unfortunately, again, had I wanted just that I could have saved the $24 and simply read the GUE website. And I guess that’s my main issue with the book. If you’ve gone to the trouble of finding the GUE website, spent enough time reading about DIR or talking to DIR divers to actually want to order the book, then a good chunk of the book seems aimed at below your level. As mentioned previously, he could have spent 64 pages getting real in depth on the DIR ideology and made it a sales/marketing tool for $5.00 or it should go into depth on each of the subjects discussed and be 1064 pages and cost $50 (or been a 10064 technical diving encyclopedia for $500).
I’ve come away with the impression that this book was meant for those already practicing DIR diving. I say that because I have seen many DIR divers praise this book. It seems to preach to the choir while leaving the rest of us (or perhaps just me) with just enough knowledge for it to be useless. I think it’s a shame too because it seemed like everytime the author was about to get into something of value, he jumped to the next section. I would find it very hard to justify purchasing another GUE/Jablonski book again due to this. I might take a GUE class in the future, but if this is an example of what the rest of the books are like, I can learn more searching the internet than I can from the books.
Bottom Line: If you’re interested in learning more about DIR, skip this book and take one of the demo or fundamental classes. If you’re unsure about DIR, read the GUE website and do a search on D2D and Google for DIR and talk to some DIR divers.
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