Posted by Richard on October 23, 2000 at 21:25:04:
Borne from a discussion on this billboard service I went on quest for a book that Frank Farmer said is the book to read in regards to solo diving, called of course "Solo Diving".
After not being able to find a new copy in any of the dive stores I frequent, or from Amazon or Barnes & Noble, I contacted Karen at Best Publishing in Flagstaff Arizona this afternoon and asked where I might find a copy.
The book has been out of distribution since 1990 and will not be reissued. I told Karen that there is a resurgence in diving solo and that the book was one being referenced as a source for information on the practice. She said that the book was well out of date and not very current in it's ideas and advice for the more contemporary diver. She said this one of the reasons the author(s?) wished not to write an update since they felt the practice of solo diving was well and dead. As a side bar, she asked me why anyone would want to dive solo anyway, but that's another discussion for later.
I asked her if she knew of another more modern book that would give some direction on solo diving. She referred me to "Dive Like A Pro" by Rossier (#BO995), but said there was very little information on solo diving other than to say... get this, it's discouraged.
What I took away from the exchange is that Best Publishing and the authors moved into more modern times and realized that such a book on solo diving has gone by way of the do-do bird... in their opinion.
So does anyone know where there are some new copies of "Solo Diving" for sale? I want to get three copies. Two of them are to be gifts.
-Ricardo