Neutral Buoyancy: Adventures in a Liquid World

In Neutral Buoyancy, BBC journalist Tim Ecott recounts his ongoing adventures in the "liquid world" of scuba diving, from battling rip tides off the Dorset coast in southwest England to exploring the shark-rich waters of the Caribbean, musing along the way on the history and meaning of humanity's fascination with diving and reflecting on how his underwater experience has reshaped his life.

Four days after my mother's funeral I went scuba diving for the first time.... Surfacing from a dive ... I often think it strange that this mind-cleansing, emotionally charged experience is one that my mother never knew I had. It is something akin to the sense of regret I feel that she never met my daughter, born a few years after her passing. How odd that something so wonderful was not part of our shared experience.

Be warned: if you are already a diver, Neutral Buoyancy will heighten the sense that you are wasting far too much precious time on dry land. For the rest, even if your underwater ventures are largely confined to the bath, this book will have you contemplating a trip to your local swimming pool at the very least. Truly inspirational. --Alex Hankin, Amazon.co.uk