Rating: 
Summary: An Undersea Prism of Adventure
Review: " Exciting to read", " gives me a sense of place", " A true feeling of how delicate our Ecological system is", " a real close encounter with sea life", " a prism of intertwined knowledge, intrigue, reflections and attitude"Beginning my experience in 1966 in Scuba Diving, I continued on to become a US NAVY Frogman (like Mike Nelson, my boyhood idol) and later a Dive Instructor, Sea Captain and finally a Diving Safety Officer for a University in the Panhandle of Florida. I have had thorough experience in the Liquid World. The Author has captured the history, the mystery and beauty of the diving experience. Like the first light prizms that were placed into the decks of 1750 era ships to focus rays of light on dark spaces below, he has given an empowering knowledge of the ocean. Tim Ecott has balanced the intriguing stories with the Physics and History of diving and has done so in such an artistic way, that the non-diver can imagine, through these stories and rays of light, the realism of Neutral Bouyancy. " Truly an Enlightened and Intriguing Experience" a must read for all...
Capt. Keith
Rating: 
Summary: Neutral Buoyancy
Review: Book was well written. However,this book is more on the histroy of Scuba Diving from way back. Not what I would expect from it's title. If one wants to know the history of the spunge divers in Tarpen Springs, once again this is a good book. This book was written by a man that is posesed with sponges and the history of Scube. Little to no action. and the bugs on Long Island in the Bahamas are over whelming.
If these are what you want to read about it is a good book. I was looking for some good infomation on diving in todays era. and maybe some action.
NOT IN THIS BOOK
It will sit on my shelf and not be read like others I have read 7 or 8 times.
Please Note, I am a scuba diver that has reached the level of Instructor, I know the sprot.
Rating:
Summary: Combining knowledge and pleasure
Review: I read any diving book I can find. This has been the best ever. A very personal account of discovering the history and pleasure of diving. Being a divemaster, this book gave me a chance to brush up on diving history, and much of the forgotten technical knowledge learnt in training several years ago. The diving and travel descriptions are beautifully written and make you feel like you are his buddy/ travelling companion. Highly recommended to divers and armchair travellers. If this doesn't make you want to dive, you're barely breathing!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting reading about diving
Review: It's a little hard to imagine that any thinking person who is a diver, or maybe wants to be a diver, would not enjoy and be informed by this book.
I know I learned lot. There is a lot of history of diving, combined with modern diving anecdotes. I would say the history part I found most interesting and informative was the discussion about the bends. Of course all divers today take this knowledge for granted, but if you stop and think about it, the connection between working in a tunnel, for example, and pain in the joints, and sometimes painful death, is not obvious. The author does a good job of telling this medical detective story.
His visit to volcano-ravaged Rabaul is also particularly interesting, and I would have thought the topic of free-diving was of no interest to me, but it turned out his treatment of this subject held my attention completely.
I first got certified to dive in 1967 when PADI and NAUI were both infants. I recently got re-certified, and now dive actively in the Philippines. Diving is a great sport, and this book is a useful and delightful addition to the literature on the subject. I will almost certainly re-read this one.
Rating:
Summary: Wets Your Appetite
Review: My girlfriend gave me two Christmas presents - both designed to wet my interest in diving. Admittedly, I was initially much more taken by the other present - a fish tank screen saver. However, in no time flat, the little fish ceased to dart around my screen and I turned my attention to this book. SO GLAD I DID! Ecott's descriptions of his underwater adventures kept me turning the pages and, better still, propelled me into the nearest dive center. What a revelation. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes water ... or even just a shower. (And don't buy those screen savers)
Rating:
Summary: Well written and extensively researched personal odyssey
Review: Neutral Bouyancy, is somewhat different to waht i had expected from reading various reviews and the book jacket, and thankfully it exceeded my expectations. The book is a history of diving interspersed with personal accounts and anecdotes, which balances nicely.
Being an avid diver i have often wondered about some of the early pioneers and evolution of the apparatus which is used, and this books answered a lot of my questions and filled ina lot of gaps.
It was interesting to read about Jaques Costeau, James Bond and other subliminal influences to my own diving ambitions.
Ecoot travels and dives inthe four corners of the earth, to research his book, and his passion shines through on every page.
a must read for british divers.
Rating:
Summary: he sees the magic
Review: No doubt Tim Ecott has a treasure trove of diving experience and subject matter knowledge and while reading his book I kept thinking these stories and historical anecdotes would be much more interesting confined to retelling in person or by the author via radio. The book itself is a meandering collection of stories without drama or other particularly compelling reasons to keep turning the pages. I'd love to tune in to the radio show where I'm sure Mr. Ecott does a better job at probing the depths of his passion than the shallow retelling in these pages.
Rating:
Summary: Great facts and History
Review: This book is a very facinaty story of the birth of diving to modern diving techniques. As well as adventure. I realy enjoyed reading Neutral Buoyancy: Adventures in a Liquid World
by Tim Ecott. I would recomend it to all who are divers and non-divers.
Rating:
Summary: Must read
Review: This is a must read for any serious scuba diver. The writer weaves his own story with the history of scuba, a very complete account...Also a good refrence...
Rating:
Summary: Love and Incredible Insight...
Review: Tim Ecott's love for diving comes through these pages in myriad ways -- it should be read by everyone interested in man's experience in the undersea world, from the beginning recreational diver to the experienced marine scientist. These 'adventures in a liquid world' trace the history, motivations, and science of our efforts to be free under the waves -- from Aristotle's 4th century BC sponge divers, to the diving bells and barrels of three hundred years ago, through the development of scuba equipment in the 1900s and today's very modern technical and deep sea free divers.
Throughout Ecott brings us to the source -- he takes us with him to Tarpon Springs, for years a major center of sponge diving; we meet with him the veterans of Sealab; we're with him to talk and dive with Umberto Pelizzari, a legend in the world of free diving.
Ecott weaves and intersperses the history of man's adventures beneath the surface, the science of changes in the body at varying depths, and the subculture of the modern sport of diving with his own very personal experiences of the wonderful silent weightlessness to be found under the waves. He shares with us his open and soul revealing delight -- the mustering of courage needed as he enters the sea in the dark of night, the awe of the underwater city-like arches deep off the coast of the Seychelles, the bewitching peaceful calmness of a chance meeting with a pod of gray-steel dolphins hunting mackerel in the shimmering blue space -- certain that this is their first encounter with man.
Rarely does a writer capture the spirit and color of the experience so well. Read it -- he's been there -- he knows...
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