Scuba & Snorkeling, Water Sports - Biography

Neutral Buoyancy: Adventures in a Liquid World

Name: Neutral Buoyancy: Adventures in a Liquid World
Author: Tim Ecott
ISBN: 9780802139078

by Tim Ecott

Available on Bookshop Write a review

Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.

Overview

"In the shock of bereavement, Tim Ecott went scuba diving in the Indian Ocean. What began as an underwater excursion to displace his grief became an obsession that has shaped his life. In Neutral Buoyancy he shares his passion for the sea." "Gripping tales of historical diving bells, Greek sponge-divers, World War Two frogmen and record-setting breath-hold divers are laced with captivating accounts of the author's own experience underwater in an elegant blend of arcane history, vivid reportage and memoir. The reader is taken from Ireland to Austria, Florida to Papua New Guinea and the islands of the Bahamas and the Seychelles." "Neutral Buoyancy is a journey filled with exotic, eccentric human characters competing for space with misunderstood sharks, weeping turtles, smiling dolphins and erotically shaped sea slugs. This unique and inspiring insight into our relationship with the deep will allow even the most timid swimmer to lose themselves underwater."--BOOK JACKET.

Synopsis

In Neutral Buoyancy, journalist and diver Tim Ecott takes you on a guided tour of the history of undersea exploration and the emergence of diving culture. He tells the extraordinary story of man's attempts to breathe underwater, from the sponge divers described by Aristotle, to the development of sixteenth-century diving bells, to the invention of modern scuba equipment. Along the way, Ecott intersperses the story with his own thrilling adventures, from the waters of the South Pacific to the remote islands of the Seychelles, from explorations in the clear, flowing tides of Sardinia to a near-death experience in the cold gray depths of the English Channel. Filled with engaging stories of humanity's conquest of the undersea world -- and heart-pounding action that will leave you breathless -- Neutral Buoyancy is a compelling blend of history and adventure, an exciting overview of the world of undersea diving. "As elemental, entertaining, and stimulating as the environment it traces." -- Kirkus Reviews "Engaging ... Neutral Buoyancy will certainly become cult reading for divers." -- Alexander Urquhart, The Times Literary Supplement "Ecott's encyclopedic recounting of diving history ... should be awarded a place on any diver's reference shelf." -- Paul McHugh, San Francisco Chronicle

Lorraine Korman - Forbes

The ocean is at least as mysterious as outer space, and arguably not much better understood. The advent of scuba technology in the past half-century has given us a radically different view of things down there, making at least part of the ocean's depths accessible. In Neutral Buoyancy, journalist and diver Tim Ecott combines his own experiences with those of fellow divers around the world to explore the allure of the ocean's embrace from the Seychelles to Sardinia. It appears that many find the sense of peace and equanimity that comes over them underwater as intoxicating as exploring the aquatic life itself. Woven throughout are tales of man's history in the water -- sponge divers in ancient Greece; the first diving bells and barrels; the Royal Navy frogmen of World War II and the free-diving daredevils of today. Sea Hunt it isn't, but rather a contemplative exploration of man's relationship to an environment that seems otherworldly.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

Forbes

Library Journal

Whenever I think about my years of scuba diving, the phrase that comes to mind is "variety of experience." This is also the best characterization of Ecott's book. An excellent writer and veteran reporter for BBC World Service, the author runs the gamut of the diving experience: he includes almost poetic descriptions of the mystic experience of weightlessness and being one with the underwater world, a history of diving, a discussion of hyperbaric physics and physiology, travel narratives of exotic diving locales, and an extremely interesting chapter on Florida sponge divers. This broad sweep is both the book's strength and its weakness. With something to appeal to everyone, it lacks an overarching focus. This also makes the book difficult to classify and hence to recommend to a specific audience. However, it is both enjoyable and informative and would be of interest especially to those who are new to scuba diving and looking for wide-ranging information. It would make a good supplementary reading assignment for a beginning scuba class. Recommended for academic, high school, and public libraries where there is interest in scuba diving. Margaret Rioux, MBL/WHOI Lib., Woods Hole, MA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

An enticing catalogue of undersea diving experiences, with extended side trips into the sport's history and culture, from BBC reporter Ecott. As a sport, diving is a mere 50 years old, so there is still much to discover in the waterworld, and Ecott seems bent on doing his part to cover as much underwater territory as is feasible. In the baker's-dozen diving areas described here, Ecott displays a knack for conveying the particular atmosphere of each place, tropical or cool temperate water, daytime or night. There are dives off Ireland and in the haunted waters of the Bismarck Sea, where warships litter the seabed; he dives with dolphins off the Florida Keys, and watches the wild antics of deep free diving off Sardinia. Each dive is told as a story, with a level of personal disclosure to keep the tale alive but not foundering on the confessional. Equal of interest to Ecott to any undersea habitat is the history and culture of diving. Is it possible, he wonders, that Alexander the Great "visited the seabed in a glass barrel at the Siege of Tyre in 332 b.c."? Maybe, though his tracking of the developments behind diving, bells, diving engines, and diving helmets is fully informed and fascinating. So too, and unexpectedly, is the world—biological, commercial, and mythopoeic—of sponges: know, for instance, that fresh sponges have the consistency of raw liver. Then there are the darker times he has witnessed, as when a woman underwent a panic attack and refused to budge from a compromised situation, nearly drowning in the process. Or his glimpse into the tortures of the bends, which is enough to keep readers—to this point increasingly rapt and ready to don scubagear—from ever taking the plunge. As elemental, entertaining, and stimulating as the environments it traces. (photos, not seen)