Rating: 
Summary: Lessons to be Learned
Review: As a New Jersey diver who has encountered trouble at depth off the Garden State's coast, The Last Dive rang shockingly true. In the spirit of "Into Thin Air" and "A Perfect Storm," The Last Dive focuses on what happens when tragedy strikes when the best of the best just isn't good enough.My only criticism of the book would be that there's too little about the U-boat that plays such a large role in the characters' lives, and perhaps a bit too much about the author's own experiences and feelings. While they are perfectly valid and relevant to the book, the book's ending trails off as a result. Nonetheless, a great summer book and one that divers will certainly enjoy before passing on to non-diving family and friends.
Rating: 
Summary: Primer for the want-to-be technical diver
Review: An excellent view into the world of the technical scene as it evolved in the 90's. Anyone who is interested in taking up technical diving should read this book first. It's chilled a few bloodstreams of the gung-ho crowd and awakened many to the need for technical training.
Rating:
Summary: A heart-warming learning experience
Review: I have just been certified in open water diving & this book extended the teaching I learned to date. I started reading & found that I was unable to put it down until finish. Bernie's writing taught me to have more respect for this sport. Each dive is a new an exciting experience, as I recently learned in the Bahamas(2 weeks after certification on north shore of Long Island, NY). Read this book with an open mind, there is alot to be learned. Thank you Bernie for my lesson.
Rating:
Summary: Taking the Plunge
Review: Scuba diving at the extremes...taking the big plunge. This book was a fascinating look into the world of "tech diving." Chris and Chrissy Rouse were lured into the underwater realm and we are lucky enough to get to follow their adventures. The father and son team consistently strived to be the best, and ultimatly paid the price. This book not only chronicles their story but also gives history of how scuba diving developed and the current advancements. The descriptions of diving theories and principles are explained very well and offer the non-diver a good background. The Andrea Doria, a shipwreck that lies at 250 feet below the surface of the Atlantic is considered the "Mount Everest" of scuba diving is pictured and beautifully brought to life in this book. The hunt to disclose the identity of a mystery U-boat discovered in the Atlantic is the scariest part of the book, and as an outside observer you will find yourself yelling "turn around, turn around!" The description and harrowing bravery displayed in this book will make shudder. A must read for non-divers and divers alike, it just may make you think twice next time you want to "take the plunge."
Rating:
Summary: Respect the ocean - it shows no mercy
Review: About a group of friends who dive to the Andria Dora, "The Mount Everest of Diving", at 230 feet below the Massachusetts coast. They also go down to sunken German U-Boats off the New Jersey and New York coast. In one U-Boat, this guy was swimming through the walkway 70 meters down, with his tanks on his sides, when all of a sudden a freaking inflatable life raft inflates - after being sunk for 50 years! The goddam thing traps the guy in the U-Boat, pinning him to the floor! It tells a history of how people throughout the ages have gotten the bends - including the people who worked underwater in caissons building the Brooklyn Bridge, a history of diving, the pain of decompression chambers after being rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter off of a dive charter boat, breathiing mixed gases like helium and guys decompressing for 3 hours on an anchor line after a 30 minute bottom time deep dive.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor writing mars a brilliant outline
Review: Don't be fooled by all the dive junkies giving 5-star ratings to this dreck. Unless you're a diver, you'll be bored to tears. If you *are* a diver, be prepared to trudge through uninteresting crap looking for the treasure. The story of the Rouse deaths is merely a hook--their story only takes up a small portion of the book. Essentially, what Chowdhury is pedaling is a history of tech diving. The outline is brilliant, and in the hands of a skilled writer, this could have been a real gem. The prose is mediochre at best. Hard to believe anyone could make so fascinating a topic into a dull read.
Rating: 
Summary: Thoroughly disappointed....
Review: Perhaps because I knew how it was going to end, I found this book an incredibly slow read. Normally I would put it down after a couple of weeks, but it did get such rave reviews. I felt this book would have been better as a magazine article rather than a book.
Rating:
Summary: Thought-provoking
Review: Wow. I was blown away by this sensitive, poignant account of tragic loss of life. The author's own near-death experience had me sitting on the edge of my seat. It was absolutely terrifying, and was written in such a way that I was right there in the chamber with him. The book also has an unexpected bonus--a brief history of the evolution of technical and recreational diving as we know it today. I especially loved the fact that Chowdhury shared his sessions with a psychologist with the readers, and delved somewhat into what motivates a tech diver. Most importantly, this book made me re-live every single one of my dives, and all the stupid things I have gotten away with. I dug out my dive logs and shuddered. Chowdhury may have saved me from my own accidents. This is a book that every diver, technical or recreational, needs to read. I can't stress that enough. It is incredibly sad. Hats off to Bernie Chowdhury and to Sue Rouse.
Rating:
Summary: The Last Dive
Review: If your a certified diver, you gotta like this book. Bernie gets into the technicalities of high-risk adventure diving well enough to satisfy the trained diver. Neophytes to diving will develop a more serious attitude toward the sport. The next time I go under, I will be a little more careful, a little better prepared, and more wary. Very few books influnece your life. "The Last Dive" will definitely change every diver's attitude.
Rating:
Summary: The Last Dive
Review: The liner notes say "Like `A Perfect Storm,'" and that's not a bad comparison. It has a similar feel to it, although the author(s) aren't quite as gifted writers as Junger, they tell the story well. Stories probably is a more accurate description, since the father-son tragedy may be the centerpiece of the book, but there are many tales related about the (crazy) pioneers of technical diving. If you read "The Right Stuff," you might recall the constant refrain about test pilots crashing and "being burned beyond recognition." In The Last Dive, it's divers constantly getting bent, drowning and other awful tragedies. It's a very personal story for Chowdhury, a friend of many of the victims, and one himself. His exploration on what drives people--including himself--to risk their lives diving for artifacts on wrecks 200 feet and below is fascinating. All in all, an excellent book for anyone who pushes the envelope, especially divers. After reading this, I think I'll stick to rec diving.
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