In alphabetical order, these are the books from my bookshelf that I really like……

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking,  is a great book about how we think, and therefore how we make decisions. As a diver, this book has given me some important insights into the human process, and how it works. In diving we have to think both slow and fast because that is what diving demands.

The Buccaneers of America is a translation of a book allegedly written in the late 1600’s, about the Buccaneers and the Golden Age of Piracy. It is alleged to have been suppressed in England by Henry Morgan, who had transitioned from Privateer to English Gentleman, and he was concerned about how the book portrayed him and his Pirate past. The author claims that his work is a first person account, and he was present for all of the significant acts of plunder he details in the book, although he somewhat downplays his plunder participation. It is a fun read for anyone who likes pirate history.

Caverns Limitless to Man, is about the dawn of cave diving, as seen by the greatest cave diver who ever lived. What they were able to to do with the equipment and knowledge of the time, will astound you. It is about a passionate life well lived.

Kevin McMurray’s, Deep Descent, chronicles the sad history of diving fatalities on what was once described as the Mount Everest of Deep Diving, the Andrea Doria. Personally, with roughly 170 dives on the Andrea Doria, I know most of the individuals involved, and I think Kevin does a good job of accurately telling the story of a difficult time in wreck diving history. No one should dive the Doria unless they have read this book.

Ghost Fleet by James Delgado is the history of the Sunken Fleet at Bikini Atoll. Bikini is arguably the best wreck destination in the world. This book gives you the history of the Fleet itself, as well as the stories of the individual ships accessible to divers. One of my overall favorite wrecks anywhere in the world is the USS Saratoga. You cannot go to Bikini without reading this book.

I Like Diving: A Professional’s Story, is a rare 1929 book, but if you can find a copy at your library, or at a yard sale, it is an amazing read. Tom Eadie was almost thrown out of the Navy for bad behavior. They gave him one last chance to shape up or else. He was assigned to the USN Dive School, under Edward Ellsberg, and it changed his life. The US Navy S-Class submarines had problems in the 1920’s. The S-51. the S-5, and the S-4 all ended up on the bottom, in separate disasters. Tom Eadie worked as a diver on all three of these salvage projects, inside, outside, and even tunneling underneath the submarines to run lifting cables, all in the beloved USN MkV heavy dive gear!! It is some amazing diving history, by a true legend. In the process, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, and two Navy Crosses as a diver, in peacetime. His story is inspirational, and absolutely amazing. This is our diving heritage.

Bernie Chowdhury’s book, is a classic, and a must read for divers. It is the story of Chris and Chrissy Rouse, the father and son dive team, that lost their lives while diving the WWII German submarine, U869. Last Dive is the complete story as to what happened in this tragic double wreck diving fatality. Bernie was close friends with Chris and Chrissy, and is the best person I could think of to tell this deeply disturbing story with lots of good lessons.

Living the Martial Way is a great book on living the martial lifestyle. As a diver, there is a lot in this book that relates to the serious, no bullshit kind of approach to life that we need to take if we are to undertake serious dives. There is a great deal of similarities in the attitudes between the dive artist and the martial artist.

On the Bottom: The Raising of the US Navy Submarine S-51, was first published in 1929 and written by then Lt. Commander Edward Ellsberg. The S-51 was operating at night on the surface near Block Island on September 25, 1925 when it collided with the merchant steamship, City of Rome. The submarine sank quickly, with only 3 of the crew of 36 surviving. This is the incredible story of that salvage project, and the Navy divers involved.

Joseph Bannister was arrested by the British for piracy in 1686 and taken to Port Royal for trial. At that time, the largest industry in Jamaica was piracy, so everyone was a pirate, or doing business with the pirates. As a result, a jury of his peers found Captain Bannister, Not Guilty.  This outraged the Governor, who insisted the Royal Navy take Bannister into custody and hang him, circumventing the courts. When word leaked to Bannister, he gathered his crew, and stole his ship back from the Royal Navy, sneaking out of Port Royal in the middle of the night. Pirate Hunters is Rob Kurson’s book about Joseph Bannister and the search for his ship, the Golden Fleece.

Rob Kurson is a brilliant writer, and I have been incredibly fortunate to have been able to work with him. Shadow Divers is the story of the discovery and identification of the German World War II submarine, U869,  sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey in 1991. The Uboat and the men still aboard, were a complete mystery that took six years to solve. Understanding the story of the U869, and the Crew, is why I dive shipwrecks. The Uboat arm of the Kriegsmarine suffered roughly 75% fatalities. Rob writes for his readers.

Thinking Fast and Slow is Daniel Kahneman’s book on exactly what we have to do as divers. Sometimes we have to react quickly, and typically we don’t have much room for error on big dives. However, there are other times when delaying a decision is the proper route to take. Understanding how our mind works, better prepares us to plan and execute dives where we may have to make a decision immediately….. or not. This is the kind of knowledge that helps to give you confidence as a diver.

The Titanic: Disaster of the Century by Wyn Craig Wade is far and away the best book ever on the subject of Titanic. Titanic, and her sister ships, were at the time the largest constructions ever built by man. Wyn is able to put Titanic into a cultural context that clearly explains the magnitude of the tragedy. The sinking was more than just a shipwreck, it was about the death of an era. If you want a brilliant analysis as to why the story of Titanic is so captivating, Wyn explains it beautifully.

Titanic’s Last Secrets is Brad Matsen’s account of the 2005 Titanic Expedition that Richie Kohler, Kirk Wolfinger, and I put together for the History Channel. We dived the wreck in the MIR submersibles from the Russian Research Ship Keldysh, looking for evidence as to why Titanic sank so quickly. The Titanic is in roughly 12,500 feet of water and our dives in the MIRs ran about 10-11 hours, surface to surface. The descent took about 2 and a half hours, ascent about the same, with 5-6 hours on the wreck depending on power usage in the MIR. What we found changed what we thought we knew about the sinking.

This is another great book about thinking and decision making. In, Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, Frank Partnoy explains the value of delay in decision making. As divers, we can suddenly be thrust into situations that require us to make important decisions, and we may have to move quickly, or we may be better off waiting to take action? Understanding how it all works is valuable.

Originally published in 1929 but has been reprinted, When the U-Boats Came To America by William Bell Clark, tells the story of the three specific U-boats that crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1918 to attack American vessels off the East Coast, at the end of World War I. The history of WWI is a fascinating study on the explosion of modern technology in warfare. Armies and Navies had all these new weapons, tanks, airplanes, machine guns, chemical weapons, and the submarine. This book is full of surprises.