Technical Diving Books

General technical diving books

Kevin Gurr’s book was one of the most comprehensive technical diving books when it was first published, but the sport has moved on a lot since then. Reading it now is a fascinating window into how technical diving developed as a sport between the 1990s, and when the book was published in 2004.

Prominent ideas about how to dive with trimix and the most common equipment configurations are discussed. The foreword of the book is provided by Dr Richard Pyle and Tom Mount.

Following on from Kevin Gurr’s book above, this book is even more of a window into tech diving history; it was written when technical diving was in it’s infancy, and was an invaluable guide when training in things like trimix were not as readily available as they are today. A lot of the technology that we take for granted today was very new back in the 90s, such as progrmmable dive computers.

Worth a read if you’re interested in the evolution of technical diving as a sport.

Books about decompression theory and diving physiology

If you teach technical diving, you need this book. Moreover, if you’re learning tech diving, you need this book. It’s the standard reference for anything relating to decompression theory and basic diving physiology.

Wouldn’t it be great if somebody decided to collaborate with the world’s leading decompression researchers to distil their research into plain English, and then write a book about it.. This book will make you think again about how you can reduce decompression stress. This volume absolutely needs to be on your bookshelf in the technical diving books section.

Another in-depth look at our current understanding of decompression theory. A little more current than Mark Powell’s book. Contains a lot of information about the algorithms, and up to date information about the use of oxygen to reduce post-dive no-fly time.

Dr. Klaus M. Stiefel is a biologist and technical diver who has collated the latest research about how the brain is impaired during diving. This includes information on narcosis, and apnea diving. Not one of the typical technical diving books, but insightful about aspects that most tech divers wouldn’t necessarily think about.

A special edition published in Medicina, not specifically about diving. But very relevant for divers nonetheless. It was published in 2023, so it has a lot of up to date information on the benefits of hyperbaric medicine for patients.

This is an updated 3rd edition and is considered the standard textbook on the fitness to diving assessment process. It’s an accessible read that outlines the risks involved in diving. Relevant pathologies of every bodily system is described, along with information on how to assess and mitigate the risks involved.

Books about Rebreather Diving

Based on US Navy testing of rebreather scrubbers, this book examines how scrubbers work, what happens when they don’t work, and what parameters determine how effectively they remove carbon dioxide. It’s a must-read for all rebreather divers.

This book provides a history of rebreather diving, and outlines the technology in an accessible way, whether you are thinking of starting rebreather diving, or you already dive on one.

A seriously detailed look at all aspects of rebreather design and operation. Absolutely worth reading if you dive on a rebreather.

Books about famous diving locations or stories

One of the classic technical diving books. Gripping account of John Chatterton and Richie Kohler’s successful attempt to identify a U-boat discovered off the coast of New Jersey. If this doesn’t make you want to dive wrecks, nothing will.

An alternate version of the U-869 from the perspective of other people that were directly involved. The authors dispute some of the events and attrubutions that were outlined in Shadow Divers.

Any book on the Andrea Doria is a magnet to a tech diver. Peter Hunt dived the Doria a lot in the 80s. This book documents his journey to dive it one last time, 20 years later. It includes some good background about the sinking.

This book tells the story of three divers that lost their lives whilst diving the Andrea Doria in 1998 and 1999. All died on seperate dives whilst diving from a dive boat named the Seeker. The book asserts that one of the factors that led to their deaths was so called “China fever”- a strong urge to find and bring back mementoes from the wreck, such as intact plates and cups.

This may have led them to take risks that they shouldn’t have, such as entering deep inside the wreck into areas not previously scoped out. Combine this with narcosis from diving this wreck on air (at 70m), and it’s not surprising that things went south. One of the more gripping technical diving books.

Less known about than other technical diving books such as shadow divers. This is the story of the U-550, the last unfound diveable wreck on the east coast of the United States. The wreck was discovered in 2012, and a group of divers did a series of dives in order to identify it and investigate it’s last moments before sinking.

In the winter of 2012, Martin Robson was part of an expedition to dive Blue Lake in southern Russia. The divers were attempting to discover a new cave system. During one of the dives, he felt symptoms of Decompression Sickness (DCS) when ascending to 21m.

Because of the remoteness of the location, he decided to stay down and undertake in-water recompression- a risky endeavour without specialist expertise and equipment.

The authors recount Martin’s experience of the dive, how it felt to have DCS, and how the situation played out. It’s all set within the context of the history of DCS and the current scientific understanding of what it is.

The fascinating story of research into underwater reconnaissance, conducted by the Allies in World War 2. Leading up to D-day, the Allies realised that they needed better reconnaissance of the landing areas. A research project was conducted in London during the Blitz by a team of scientists.

Whilst bombs rained over London, the team worked out of makeshift labs, often experimenting on themselves. The outcome of these tests was often painful and potentially fatal.

The developments that came from the research allowed the Allies to use miniature submarines and breathing apparatus, which were instrumental in the planning of D-day.

Books on incident analysis and human factors

Steve Lewis’s books are always a good read. This will get you thinking about risk, and offers solutions on how to manage it when undertaking more advanced tech dives.

Technical diving books about deep diving

A window into the craziness of deep air diving, which was commonly done before trimix was widely used. Some pretty hair-curling stories to chat about over a beer or two. One of the earliest technical diving books available.

The story of two British deep divers, Leigh Cunningham and Mark Andrews, as they attempt to break the scuba deep diving record.

A comprehensive guide to deep technical diving. It gives an overview of the skills, equipment, and techniques required for deep diving. The book covers selecting and configuring equipment, gas management, dive planning, decompression procedures for deep diving, and rescue protocols and procedures.

Books on gas blending and oxygen measurement

Not a technical diving book, yet also one of the best technical diving books. Invaluable for tech instructors, rebreather divers, and gas blenders. Very comprehensive and well written for what many consider a dry subject.

If you’ve heard of the five rules of cave diving, Sheck Exley was the diver who developed them out of observations from his own diving. Get the background from the horses mouth.

One of the more comprehensive books on sidemount. There aren’t many out there. It covers the history of sidemount and what it takes to learn it properly. It also includes plenty of “how to” tips to help you get the most out of your own sidemount diving. Worth having in your collection of technical diving books.

If we ignore the fact that a lot of development has occured since this book was written in terms of better wings on the market, this book is still packed with information about sidemount diving procedures and techniques. Many of them are just as relevant now as they were then.

Expedition Britannic details a 2019 mission to dive the sister ship of the Titanic, located near the Island of Kea in Greece at over 100m depth. The book covers the planning and logistics of diving and photographing a wreck of this size and at these depths, and is set out dive-by-dive.

A comprehensive guide to 19 challenging and rarely dived wrecks in lake Erie. It includes the stories behind their sinking, and descriptions of the depths, locations, and current condition of the wrecks. The wrecks in the great lakes are number one on my dive bucket list. This book just makes a trip need to happen.

This 3rd edition marks the 100 year anniversary of the scuttling of the famous German battle fleet. It provides all the information you will need to dive these iconic wrecks, including historical info and descriptions of each wreck.

This book documents the diving career of someone who explored a lot of the wrecks in the Pacific; Truk Lagoon, Palau, and the south China seas. It also takes you through some diving in Scotland; HMS Hampshire, and the Corryvreckan Whirlpool.

Two people did all the research on the wrecks in Truk; Dan Bailey, and Klaus Lindermann. They were rivals in many ways. As with Dan’s book, the wreck descriptions are not as accurate as they continue to degrade. Everything I said about Dan’s book applies equally to Klaus’s. A must read.

An old book now (first published in 1989), but I don’t know of any other books that outline the wrecks of North Carolina. In case you didn’t know, there are many wrecks there. Maybe a good place to start for gain information, before looking for more up to date info once you know which wrecks you want to dive.

John Scott Haldane was a fascinating character who led a full and extraordinary life. He is the father of decompression theory, developing the first dive tables in 1908. To do this he put goats and family members into a recompression chamber. He even sent himself and his son JBS Haldane to the bottom of the North Sea for 30 mins to prove that his tables worked on anyone. Different times indeed.

Jill Heinerth is a scientist, explorer, videographer and cave diver. She has led underwater archaeological projects, dived underneath icebergs in Antarctica, and discovered new underwater caves. This book recounts the highlights of a varied career in her own words.

This is a history of the developments in underwater technology, as applied to commercial applications such as underwater salvage, civil engineering, and warfare. It highlights the pioneers of underwater invention and the brave divers that put such technologies into practice. Not strictly in the category of technical diving books, but worth a read nonetheless.