Scuba Compendium by Simon Pridmore

Only available in e-book form, this is the presentation in one volume of four books in Simon Pridmore's Scuba series:

Scuba Fundamental,
Scuba Confidential,
Scuba Exceptional and
Scuba Professional.

In musical terms, Scuba Compendium is a re-mastering and repackaging of the original albums rather than a greatest hits or a Best of compilation.

The books were written and published over a period of eight years and each book was designed for divers at a particular point in their diving life. Listed in the order they were written, the audience for Scuba Confidential was the general population of divers; Scuba Professional was for those thinking of making a career out of the sport; Scuba Fundamental was for non-divers and beginners and Scuba Exceptional was for more experienced divers.

The idea was not to create a series. It just turned out that way.

A number of topics merited inclusion for multiple groups of readers - rebreathers and surface safety for example - which meant that there was some unavoidable overlap between the individual books. In Scuba Compendium, the text and chapters have been cleaned up and streamlined to remove any unnecessary repetition and improve continuity. Apart from this, nothing is missing from the four original books and the only new material is an introductory chapter on the philosophy behind the Scuba series.

So, if you already own all the books in the Scuba series, from a content point of view you have no need to buy this one. However, from a reference point of view, some readers may find it an advantage to have these four books in one volume where every word or phrase in the series is easily searchable on an e-reader.

They are arranged here in the order in which they make sense as a series, following the path from beginner to diver to experienced diver to expert. Scuba Compendium covers the full gamut of the sport diving experience and is a resource that will accompany a scuba diver throughout their career in the sport, wherever it takes them, to be dipped back into from time to time whenever necessary.

If you only own one or two books in the series, then you may find Scuba Compendium well worthwhile for another reason too. For instance, if you are not a beginner, you may think you don't need to read Scuba Fundamental, but many experienced divers have found it useful and entertaining. Also, Scuba Professional introduces a number of topics, such as real risk awareness and constructive paranoia, which are just as relevant for amateur divers as they are for professionals. Although the title makes it sound as if Scuba Professional is only for instructors, this is certainly not the case.

And, of course, if you have not yet bought any of these four Scuba series books, then this is a great option to buy all of them together with just one click.



"Scuba Fundamental is a great book! Simon Pridmore is to be congratulated for this insightful, interesting and honest introduction to scuba diving. He tells it as it is!" John Lippmann, Divers Alert Network

"If PADI's Open-Water manual is the Bible of scuba diving, consider this the New Testament." David Espinosa, Editor in Chief, Sport Diver magazines

"I so wish Scuba Exceptional had existed when I was in the early days of my diving life nearly 30 years ago!" Phil Short, explorer and pioneer

"There is quite simply nothing like Scuba Professional. It is the ultimate backstage pass into the business of scuba." Jill Heinerth, explorer and filmmaker