This Month’s Spotlight

By Mat King

Neutral Buoyancy: Adventures in a Liquid World by Tim Ecott

I’ve been working on my NAUI Scuba instructor certification, which has me reading all kinds of books related to SCUBA diving. This one I picked up off the shelf when needing something to read on a trip. I’m glad I did!

Here’s the Publisher’s Commercial:  Neutral Buoyancy tells the history of undersea exploration and the emergence of diving culture, beginning with the sponge divers who Aristotle witnessed using iron cauldrons to hold air underwater in the fourth century BC through the development of today’s sophisticated scuba gear. Along the way, journalist and diver Tim Ecott intersperses the stories of his own thrilling adventures, taking you from the waters of the South Pacific to the remote islands of the Seychelles, while recounting divers in the clear flowing tides of Sardinia and a near-death experience in the cold gray depths of the English Channel. It’s a compelling and indepth look at our age-old fascination with the world beneath the waves and the burgeoning sport of recreational diving, featuring heart pounding action that will leave you breathless.

I have to be honest; I don’t recall a lot of “Heart Pounding Action that left me breathless”.  However, there is a great bit of history on diving in this book, interviews with some of the pioneers of diving. Oddly enough, there isn’t any discussion directly with Jacques Cousteau, and the references to him almost allude to an underlying resentment towards him. It’s almost like they see him as a grandstanding, self-serving capitalist instead of a guy who turned what he loved into a brilliantly successful career.  Kind of like the feeling you get when Steve Jobs talks about Bill Gates.

Never the less,  the interviews are interesting, and the descriptions of diving are poetic, if not dream inspiring. If you have a love for the water, and an interest in history you’ll enjoy this book. However, it does read more like an anthology of stories… there’s no plot. You might just throw it on the back of your toilet to read…

Note:  You may or may not find this book in the store.  We will be happy to order for you.  

New Paperbacks for September

Stolen in the Night by Patricia MacDonald

Just Beyond the Clouds by Karen Kingsbury

South of Hell by P.J. Parrish

Cold Hearted  by Beverly Barton

Beyond Reach by Karin Slaughter

Dark Light  by Jayne Castle

Agnes and the Hit Man by Jennifer Cruisie and Bob Mayer

The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin

Noah by Jacquelyn Frank

Crosshairs by Harry Hunsicker

Category 7 by Bill Evans and Marianna Jameson

Rhett Butler’s People by Donald McCaig

Night Work by Steve Hamilton

Eulalia! By Brian Jacques

Sidewinders by William W. Johnstone

Valor in the Ashes by William W. Johnstone

Buy One Get One Free

Books by the following authors are on sale now.  All used books by these authors are on sale, except for large print editions. 

V. C. Andrews

Maeve Binchey

Sandra Brown

Mary Higgins Clark

Janet Dailey

Jude Deveraux

Julie Garwood

Sue Grafton

John Grisham

John Jakes

Faye Kellerman

Jonathan Kellerman

Stephen King

Dean Koontz

Danielle Steel

 Beth and Marilyn