[PSUBS-MAILIST] Another great book

[John Brownlee <jonnie@cobweb.scarymonsters.net>]

	Just finished reading 'The Universe Below,' by William Broad. It
was an excellent treatment of deep submergence research, ranging from WHOI
spreading center dives to economic exploration of minerals and
environmental survey. It is also well written and easily picked up and put
down; each excursion is a chapter though they do read well in sequence.
For wanna-be oceanographers like myself (why I stuck in terrestrial
geochemistry still defies me) it is like tagging along on several dives
with a lot of background and the detail p-subber's crave.
	It was humorous to finally see in print someone admit that the
Alvin bail-out (i.e. detaching the Ti sphere from the rest of the sub and
'rising to the surface,') is not a gentle escape. Most of the work from
WHOI makes it sound like that procedure's primary drawback in an emergency
is losing the bulk of the sub. Broad goes into the full details of how the
ascent is not exactly gentle, the bouyancy shoots that sphere to the
surface ... and into the air ... like it was shot from a musket! That's
the sort of detail I mean. The real operational bits, plus an enjoyable
narrator to tag along. Highly recommended to keep a copy within reach of
your favorite armchair!
	Just started reading 'Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea,' hoping
to get some background on the Central America salvage done by
Columbus-America. It's by Gary Kinder, ISBN 0-965-060690. I'll post my
thoughts on it when I finish.
	Should it not be obvious, I am a rather intense reader and
practicer of all things nautical. That is why I now live in a desert! :-)

							John

John Brownlee
Chief Systems Administrator
Scary Monsters Network
jonnie at scarymonsters dot net