Scuba Exceptional may be the fifth in Simon Pridmore’s Scuba series but it is actually the true follow up to his first book, the bestselling Scuba Confidential.
The philosophy of safer diving through the acquisition of knowledge and skills is the same, although this time the themes are different.As before, Simon provides us with a whole host of extremely useful advice and techniques, illustrated by real life experiences and cautionary tales. The focus this time, though, is more on issuesthat face experienced divers. There is more technical diving content and Simon covers some relatively complex issues in his usual clear and easy-to-read style. In many cases, the issues that concern technical divers reflect those that affect scuba divers at every level. After all, as Simon writes, technical diving is on the same spectrum as conventional sport diving: it is just a different frequency.
Scuba Exceptional also deals in more detail with the psychological approach to scuba diving, broaching familiar topics from new angles and borrowing techniques and procedures from other areas of human activity.
While most of Scuba Exceptional focuses on the diver, it also takes a look at the wider picture and highlights a number of areas where scuba diving professionals and the “industry” as a whole are letting divers down. As always, Simon is realistic in his assessments. He may shine a little light on the dark side of the scuba diving world, but he does this in order to illuminate bad practice and encourage change, while offering solutions.