shaary's review
4.0
3.5 stars.
I've never read books about diving before. The subject felt really well researched by the author. I enjoyed the personal touch to the story from the interview of the grandson of one of the passengers on the Empress.
The book made me crave more diving books. I might eventually pick up a book about Andrea Doria.
Also, I couldn't stop comparing it to Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer because it was the first book I read about mountaineering or maybe because the Empress was compared to Everest. And I felt that mountaineering left a bigger impact on me than deep-water diving.
Overall, I enjoyed most of the book but the ending felt a little drawn out (but it might be totally me and not the book :) ).
I've never read books about diving before. The subject felt really well researched by the author. I enjoyed the personal touch to the story from the interview of the grandson of one of the passengers on the Empress.
The book made me crave more diving books. I might eventually pick up a book about Andrea Doria.
Also, I couldn't stop comparing it to Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer because it was the first book I read about mountaineering or maybe because the Empress was compared to Everest. And I felt that mountaineering left a bigger impact on me than deep-water diving.
Overall, I enjoyed most of the book but the ending felt a little drawn out (but it might be totally me and not the book :) ).
dana_naylor's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
3.5
Parts of book are really neat. I enjoyed the first few chapters the most with the description of the sinking of The Empress of Ireland and the attempts at retrieve items in 1914. I was far less interested in the chapters about the author’s dives on the Empress. The book also suffered from time jumps historically where divers would be mentioned when we hadn’t been introduced to them yet. I still found reading it worthwhile, but reading about diving on shipwrecks fascinates me.
clarel's review against another edition
3.0
Reviewed here: http://www.learntodivetoday.co.za/blog/2014/02/02/bookshelf-dark-descent/
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