Under Pressure: Diving Deeper with Human Factors

As the headline goes, the most important book a scuba diver can read AFTER certification. I say this as a non-diver will not understand much of the terms, terminology, and environments presented. I myself am a recreational, and technical, dive instructor. I've been diving since the early 2000's, and have had my fair share of things come up over the years. Most of the time, the incidents simply happen, and they are forgotten till they come up again. Very few people are able to learn unless posting on social media.What Gareth has been able to achieve (quite successfully), is capture the mindset to go along with factors that can contribute to the reasons why we do what we do. Mistakes that we may make be it complacency, or just simply human error. The way the book was written allows a person to put themselves in the BCD (pun intended) of the diver, and get the chance to learn as things happened. This information comes from top instructors around the world sharing their story. That in itself is value as the stories are in a single place, and eloquently dissected for us to learn and obtain knowledge to prevent from being in the same scenario.Bottom Line: The information, the stories, the lessons to learn, understanding of human factors and behaviors, and in a short format--- You must read/learn for yourself. My takeaway will be different than yours, but promise you will definitely get more than you bargained for.

I heard about Gareth because of his live classes (which I am now scheduled for) and heard about the book because of a Facebook scuba book club. OH MY GOSH. So much insight into how to recognize events, personalities, behaviors, etc that can put your life at risk.I DEARLY love diving, but it has inherent risk even when everything is going well. This book, through case studies, will show you how to recognize dangerous patterns that could cost you or a loved one their health or life. After I read it I decided to buy a dozen copies for diver friends and fav dive masters and instructors.

Gareth's work helps divers understand how to prepare more effectively and think more clearly in their diving pursuits, whether warm weather, easy vacation diving to more demanding cold weather and technical diving. I was deeply impressed with how he applies approaches from flight operations, medical teams and oil field operations that have dramatically reduced accident rates to diving. As an aspiring dive master with children, I'm interest in both becoming a strong diver and instructor as well as personal safety for myself and my dive buddies. This book is invaluable as a guide for adding human thinking and communications skills to their technical skills or simply their joy of diving. This book is a must read for the serious diver. I'm happy I have a copy and recommend it highly.

This book has a lot of good information in it, but it was very difficult for me to stay interested in reading it. I finally finished it after having it for quite a while. The actual diver stories were a welcome part of the book, but the rest of the academic material, while valuable, was very hard to read without falling asleep.Also, I think there maybe have been a bit of a language barrier. I know it is in English, but you can tell it wasn't written by an American at parts. Not that it was a fault of the book or the author, just a bit of a heads up for American readers.Also, there were a fair number of spelling and grammatical errors in the book, which is ironic given the subject matter.All that being said, I'm glad I read it and would recommend it to anyone looking to try to understand the anatomy of dive accidents and to ultimately make themselves and their team safer divers. The info is also applicable to other safety critical activities, not just diving.

It is a very interesting book, it relates many issues about tech diving and near misses with the aeronautical industry. And it takes a deep analisys of many of the involved factors.I've been diving for at least 45 years and I'm a tech diver an instructor, and the book really got me thinking about myself , which is good.

Anti-errorism. Important concept with vital implications.

I am an open water diver recreational. I bought this book for my good friend who is an expert diver including cave diving. He has told me he is NOT giving me back this book! So glad he likes it.

great topic, good collection and structuring of ideas, really a unique book.Risk management, decission making, situational awareness, systems thinking, continues improvements, communication, teamwork, leadership, etc are topics applicable not only for diving.Thanks Gareth !

If you’re a serious diver you need this book. Anything but the most casual of divers can learn a lot. Well worth the money.

richtig gutes Werk über viele Aspekte, die man (wenn überhaupt) erst in einem Tauchleader, Master, *** Kurs besprechen oder hören würde. Vieles davon (e.g. Entscheidungen treffen, Verhalten bei Gruppendruck etc.) hat eine Relevanz weit über das Tauchen hinaus. Der Text ist gut verständlich und klar im Ausdruck - ich beziehe mich auf die englische Originalausgabe!

Really enjoyed reading itLoved the explanation of how important leadership and communication are in building teamsand how that helps mitigate failuresI took a lot from that book and not just for my scuba diving (my hobby) but also my professional life and career as an engineerI strongly recommend reading it to anyone in diving, leading, or risk management (which in a way or another is all of us!)

An outstanding book that explores the development of non-technical diving mindset and skills. A must read for keen divers, and certainly for dive instructors.

Great book! Essential for extended range and exploration divers of all disciplines.