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The Last Dive: A Father and Son's Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths
Chris and Chrissy Rouse, an experienced father-and-son scuba diving team, hoped to achieve widespread recognition for their outstanding but controversial diving skills. Obsessed and ambitious, they sought to solve the secrets of a mysterious, undocumented World War II German U-boat that lay under 230 feet of water, only a half-day's mission from New York Harbor. In doing so, they paid the ultimate price in their quest for fame.
Bernie Chowdhury, himself an expert diver and a close friend of the Rouses', explores the thrill-seeking world of deep-sea diving, including its legendary figures, most celebrated triumphs, and gruesome tragedies. By examining the diver's psychology through the complex father-and-son dynamic, Chowdhury illuminates the extreme sport diver's push toward -- and sometimes beyond -- the limits of human endurance.
346 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 172 reviews
April 30, 2021
But there have always been people who have ventured into the deep despite the superstitions. If simple curiosity didn't help us overcome our initial fears and superstitions of the water, greed did. Depending on your beliefs, they were either brave, foolish, or insane.
The Last Dive was not only about the last dives of the father and son team, Chris and Chrissy Rouse, but it also included cautionary tales about the myriad ways one's underwater excursion can go tragically wrong.
I had already learned the fates of the Rouses in Shadow Divers, which is about the mystery German U-boat, circa WWII, that had been sunk off of the East coast. In 1991, the shipwreck had been discovered lying in a broken heap 230 feet below the sea. (I described more about the U-boat in my review). But even though I already knew the outcomes of their failed dives in 1992, listening to this book's detailed account of the Rouses' last hours was gut-wrenching.
The Rouses had been a part of a very small community with its own social customs and particular perspectives. They began as recreational divers in warm waters but quickly became enamored by cavern diving in Florida and then by deep shipwreck diving off of the East coast. Their passion eventually helped the sport niche, now called technical diving, to progress. Technical divers go beyond 130 feet, and this exposes them to potential complications from oxygen toxicity and decompression sickness (aka "the bends").
Existence was elemental under the waves: It was easy to eat or be eaten, live or die - not so different from how divers themselves had to function in the alien world.
The diving community ... is actually a very harsh group. We demand near perfection in skill and form, including the method and style of our dying.
And dying was mentioned repeatedly in The Last Dive. Technical diving is aptly named; these divers can carry equipment equal to their body weight. To increase the chances of survival, choosing which air to bring is mission critical - be it compressed air, tri-mix, a mixture with more helium, and/or pure oxygen for the decompression stage. The choice of gas mixture, the depth of the dive, the time spent below, and the diver's breathing intensity are all factored into determining the most appropriate decompression strategy. Decompression sickness doesn't just lead to a diver "getting bent" (which is stigmatized within the diving community) but could result in neurological damage, paralysis, or even death.
I'm not a diver, though I would like to be one. I have no aspirations to join this community of technical divers, but it was still beneficial to learn more about the sport. Hardcore divers would likely derive the most enjoyment from The Last Dive.
June 1, 2012
If you have not read Shadow Divers and are planning on it, read this book second. If you don't do it that way, you have to read a very brief, depressing version of the deaths all over again. I love that they have some decent books about scuba diving out there. This book makes you see everything they went through in their diving careers and how all of your training can still fail when you make one mistake diving. Also, no matter how much you know how you are supposed to react in an emergency situation, you heart will not allow you to save yourself when the fate of your own flesh and blood is impacted as well. I dive with my father a lot as well so this book hit close to home. Beautifully written and I read the last 50-100 pages with tears streaming down my face. A must read for any scuba diver!
April 9, 2025
Adventure’s Risks
Author Bernie Chowdhury wrote an interesting book detailing not only his own adventures and perils with diving into overhead environments, but also the stories of Chris and Chrissy Rouse who died on a diving expedition.
This story introduces you to the worlds of cave and wreck diving, as well as to the people who are always working to make the sport safer. If you ever find yourself interested in technical diving, THE LAST DIVE is an engrossing introduction. Five stars.
Author Bernie Chowdhury wrote an interesting book detailing not only his own adventures and perils with diving into overhead environments, but also the stories of Chris and Chrissy Rouse who died on a diving expedition.
This story introduces you to the worlds of cave and wreck diving, as well as to the people who are always working to make the sport safer. If you ever find yourself interested in technical diving, THE LAST DIVE is an engrossing introduction. Five stars.
July 11, 2020
The book has a wrong title, it should be a more general one about tech diving. The Rouses incident took one and a half chapter, the background maybe one chapter plus some sprinkles here and there. The family dynamics was intriguing, and it could be one of the factors causing them to decide their plunge to the ocean for one last time despite advice from others not to dive.
But anyway, at least half of the book is actually about the author himself. I don't mind since he had some interesting and relevant experiences that he shared quite in details - his bends accident and a few scares. All of which are very well written and gripping.
He also made a few argumentation on the psychological effect that makes tech divers doing what they do, keep trailblazing beyond any human record, getting artifacts from wrecks, anything disregarding their own physical limitations, families, faulty equipment, bad weather, zero visibility, and so on and so forth. But he did not go far enough, I need more. Also, I got a few bad vibes from the author's statement about bends and gender issue in diving, I could not help it if that skews my rating. (Heck, I just participated in a Zoom call last night with some female cave divers from my own country and I thought there are already some progress even here where the tech diving world is not only for the macho. Though I am still not convinced at all about cave diving, yikes).
If you read Shadow Divers and Deep Descent: Adventure and Death Diving the Andrea Doria already, you won't find much of anything new in this book. Even the people are the same as the tech diving world at that time was their own small world.
What I learned:
- techs should be maximized, use comm devices, don't be cheap, safety's first
- learn from others and their mistakes/accidents
- don't get complacent with your experience - accidents can happen to anyone, including diving legends
- only join boats with deco chambers on them if you're doing tech (deep) diving
- if you don't feel comfortable, don't dive
- If one of your important equipment have problems, get another or don't dive!
- Basically, live to dive another day!
But anyway, at least half of the book is actually about the author himself. I don't mind since he had some interesting and relevant experiences that he shared quite in details - his bends accident and a few scares. All of which are very well written and gripping.
He also made a few argumentation on the psychological effect that makes tech divers doing what they do, keep trailblazing beyond any human record, getting artifacts from wrecks, anything disregarding their own physical limitations, families, faulty equipment, bad weather, zero visibility, and so on and so forth. But he did not go far enough, I need more. Also, I got a few bad vibes from the author's statement about bends and gender issue in diving, I could not help it if that skews my rating. (Heck, I just participated in a Zoom call last night with some female cave divers from my own country and I thought there are already some progress even here where the tech diving world is not only for the macho. Though I am still not convinced at all about cave diving, yikes).
If you read Shadow Divers and Deep Descent: Adventure and Death Diving the Andrea Doria already, you won't find much of anything new in this book. Even the people are the same as the tech diving world at that time was their own small world.
What I learned:
- techs should be maximized, use comm devices, don't be cheap, safety's first
- learn from others and their mistakes/accidents
- don't get complacent with your experience - accidents can happen to anyone, including diving legends
- only join boats with deco chambers on them if you're doing tech (deep) diving
- if you don't feel comfortable, don't dive
- If one of your important equipment have problems, get another or don't dive!
- Basically, live to dive another day!
May 23, 2012
An interesting story, but the book contained far too much filler. At it's best, it provided a compelling human drama which it set in the context of the advances in diving of the time. However, it was amazing how often the author veered off into telling stories about himself instead of the Rouses. He also had a habit of repeating certain points endlessly, while leaving out other key details and then dropping them into the story later out of time and context. The author also tried to use the book as a platform for advocating the use of personal communications gear in diving, when it is far from clear how that would have saved lives in this case. Ultimately it was best as a cautionary tale of two divers who pushed the limits of the sport too far, too fast, with a blind faith in their skill to get them out of any situation.
October 23, 2007
What I learned from this book...
#1 When you're underwater no one cares how big you think your balls are
#2 Things can get out of hand very quickly
#3 Live to dive another day
Good book, sad book. It does a really good job at describing technical diving, even in a way that a non-diver can understand.
#1 When you're underwater no one cares how big you think your balls are
#2 Things can get out of hand very quickly
#3 Live to dive another day
Good book, sad book. It does a really good job at describing technical diving, even in a way that a non-diver can understand.
September 12, 2021
One gets the impression reading this book that if they hadn't died in 1992 they would have in 93,94,95,96..... It's an interesting read but the author tries a bit too hard to put deep meaning into what is essentially a suicidal hobby to collect plates. Less people die in a Stephen King novel. Really.
August 7, 2021
This whole book can be summarized as "toxic masculinity ruins the party again." The author is almost comically obtuse.
February 6, 2019
Mais fundo do que os oceanos nos quais imergem os mergulhadores perscruta o livro de Bernie Chowdhury. Ele desce aos abismos da psicologia humana.
Dentre outras coisas, ‘The Last Dive’ retrata a história da família Rouse e de seu envolvimento com o mundo do mergulho, até o fatídico dia em que Chris e Chrissy — pai e filho — perdem a vida ao tentar recuperar algum artefato que pudesse identificar o então recém-localizado “U-Who”, um submarino alemão da 2ª Guerra posteriormente revelado como sendo o U-853. Contudo, mais do que um relato sobre aventuras subaquáticas e, principalmente, sobre o desenvolvimento, entre as décadas de 80 e 90, do mergulho esportivo de ponta (e que viria a ser denominado de “mergulho técnico”), Chowdhury esmiúça a personalidade e as relações psicológicas que também entram em jogo nas ações e atitudes entre aqueles que decidem ingressar nesse esporte.
O autor foi parte importante da formação do mergulho técnico tal como é conhecido hoje, além de estar envolto na teia de todos os grandes nomes que deram a esse esporte o seu aspecto atual. Entretanto, apesar de bem escrito, explicado e detalhado, não creio se tratar de uma leitura trivial para não-mergulhadores. Certos conceitos são complicados até mesmo para mergulhadores que não tiveram alguma orientação sobre assuntos voltados ao mergulho técnico. O fato de o livro ter sido escrito à luz do melhor conhecimento sobre mergulho disponível à época, descobertas recentes não o diminuíram. Na verdade, só fortalecem a ideia de que este é um esporte que flerta com o desconhecido em todos os frontes, e que muitas discussões ainda seguem em aberto. Além disso, há insights poderosos na observação de como os mergulhadores de então percebiam as coisas.
Por fim, o que mais me cativou na leitura de ‘The Last Dive’ foi reconhecer que os medos, as dúvidas, as racionalizações, os egos… são todos elementos comuns aos mergulhadores de ontem e hoje, e que constituem, simultaneamente, sua perdição e sua possibilidade de salvação (ou seria redenção?).
Muito mais do que equipamentos, tanques e lastro, levamos para baixo d’água nossos medos, nossos assuntos mal resolvidos, nossas angústias… e também nossas paixões, nossos desejos e nossas esperanças. Em meio a tudo isso, é um verdadeiro milagre sermos capazes de flutuar, tão levemente, na imensidão azul.
Dentre outras coisas, ‘The Last Dive’ retrata a história da família Rouse e de seu envolvimento com o mundo do mergulho, até o fatídico dia em que Chris e Chrissy — pai e filho — perdem a vida ao tentar recuperar algum artefato que pudesse identificar o então recém-localizado “U-Who”, um submarino alemão da 2ª Guerra posteriormente revelado como sendo o U-853. Contudo, mais do que um relato sobre aventuras subaquáticas e, principalmente, sobre o desenvolvimento, entre as décadas de 80 e 90, do mergulho esportivo de ponta (e que viria a ser denominado de “mergulho técnico”), Chowdhury esmiúça a personalidade e as relações psicológicas que também entram em jogo nas ações e atitudes entre aqueles que decidem ingressar nesse esporte.
O autor foi parte importante da formação do mergulho técnico tal como é conhecido hoje, além de estar envolto na teia de todos os grandes nomes que deram a esse esporte o seu aspecto atual. Entretanto, apesar de bem escrito, explicado e detalhado, não creio se tratar de uma leitura trivial para não-mergulhadores. Certos conceitos são complicados até mesmo para mergulhadores que não tiveram alguma orientação sobre assuntos voltados ao mergulho técnico. O fato de o livro ter sido escrito à luz do melhor conhecimento sobre mergulho disponível à época, descobertas recentes não o diminuíram. Na verdade, só fortalecem a ideia de que este é um esporte que flerta com o desconhecido em todos os frontes, e que muitas discussões ainda seguem em aberto. Além disso, há insights poderosos na observação de como os mergulhadores de então percebiam as coisas.
Por fim, o que mais me cativou na leitura de ‘The Last Dive’ foi reconhecer que os medos, as dúvidas, as racionalizações, os egos… são todos elementos comuns aos mergulhadores de ontem e hoje, e que constituem, simultaneamente, sua perdição e sua possibilidade de salvação (ou seria redenção?).
Muito mais do que equipamentos, tanques e lastro, levamos para baixo d’água nossos medos, nossos assuntos mal resolvidos, nossas angústias… e também nossas paixões, nossos desejos e nossas esperanças. Em meio a tudo isso, é um verdadeiro milagre sermos capazes de flutuar, tão levemente, na imensidão azul.
December 24, 2022
As someone who knows nothing about diving, I found the history, biology and psychology of the sport fascinating. As a reader, I found the multiple instances of passages being straight up repeated frustrating. If the editing had been more refined it would have been four stars.
January 10, 2025
Utterly fascinating book filled with many people’s stories and the deadly history of cave and wreck diving. I could not put it down.
May 27, 2007
Despite the folksy, hamfisted, and frankly amateurish writing, The Last Dive is at its heart a breathtaking adventure story about a truly different kind of thrill-seeking.
Don't confuse this with a deep-sea diving book. Both Bernie and the Rouses, the focal characters, are mainly cave and wreck divers as portrayed here, and those are quite different sports from the sort of deep sea diving you might do on a cruise or see on a Jacques Cousteau special. Specialized techniques and equipment abound, and you learn about the thrill of discovering hitherto unknown (if creepy) species in underwater caves, and of retrieving artifacts and solving historical mysteries inside decaying shipwrecks. Neither of these forms of diving are for the faint of heart--they are far more dangerous than regular diving, because of the confined spaces and additional obstacles you face.
Because of the focus on cave diving and the author's firsthand accounts of a terrible diving accident he himself experienced, this is a different book (and worth reading as well as) Robert Kurson's Shadow Divers.
At the heart of this book lurks the question at the heart of all extreme sports adventure stories--is it courageous or just out and out selfish, especially when you have a family, to put yourself in harm's way (indeed, death's way) in a recreational pursuit? Bernie seems pretty ambiguous about this himself after his own near death experience, and given that he sold off his diving magazine a few years after the book came out, one has to wonder if his opinion has changed even since the book's "it's ok if you play it safe enough" conclusion.
Don't confuse this with a deep-sea diving book. Both Bernie and the Rouses, the focal characters, are mainly cave and wreck divers as portrayed here, and those are quite different sports from the sort of deep sea diving you might do on a cruise or see on a Jacques Cousteau special. Specialized techniques and equipment abound, and you learn about the thrill of discovering hitherto unknown (if creepy) species in underwater caves, and of retrieving artifacts and solving historical mysteries inside decaying shipwrecks. Neither of these forms of diving are for the faint of heart--they are far more dangerous than regular diving, because of the confined spaces and additional obstacles you face.
Because of the focus on cave diving and the author's firsthand accounts of a terrible diving accident he himself experienced, this is a different book (and worth reading as well as) Robert Kurson's Shadow Divers.
At the heart of this book lurks the question at the heart of all extreme sports adventure stories--is it courageous or just out and out selfish, especially when you have a family, to put yourself in harm's way (indeed, death's way) in a recreational pursuit? Bernie seems pretty ambiguous about this himself after his own near death experience, and given that he sold off his diving magazine a few years after the book came out, one has to wonder if his opinion has changed even since the book's "it's ok if you play it safe enough" conclusion.
December 18, 2010
Whoah. Totally opened my eyes. I have a way deeper understanding of , the history of SCUBA and especially technical diving, the bends, decompression issues, the psychology involved in diving, etc. Looking forward to Tiger Beach in 6 weeks and feel more prepared overall for future diving. I also realize just how lucky I was in the Galapagos to have come back home totally healthy!
September 1, 2014
Holy Backstory Batman!
I thought from the description (and the title) that this would be an adventure packed take of an expedition to a sunken U-boat that turned into a tragedy. Turns out, "The Last Dive" is simply the tie of the last chapter. Only on page 240 of 350 do you start the dive that cost the Rouses their lives. Some backstory is necessary, but 240 pages is over kill.
I thought from the description (and the title) that this would be an adventure packed take of an expedition to a sunken U-boat that turned into a tragedy. Turns out, "The Last Dive" is simply the tie of the last chapter. Only on page 240 of 350 do you start the dive that cost the Rouses their lives. Some backstory is necessary, but 240 pages is over kill.
October 11, 2018
This book is everything I love about non-fiction. It’s a subject that I know next to nothing about with an emotionally gripping story told in a breezey way with characters that are so detailed and gritty you feel like you know them... and all that makes it very interesting to learn/grasp the new subject matter. There is a bit of technical filler re: mixed gases, dive gear, etc that may bore some readers. But in the end, it’s a fascinating and heartbreaking story of Chris and Chrissy Rouse and their fatal dive with the added bonus of a WWII U Boat mystery. Never thought I’d go for a dive book as I have done nothing more but snorkel! For Philly folks there are local tie ins. Recommended.
March 1, 2025
One of my favorite diving topic books. It gives a great overview and background to recreational technical diving and introduces some of its early pioneers. The loss of Chris and Chrissy Rouse only covers about a chapter and a half but everything leading up to their loss is chronicled. I’ve read it half a dozen times and will probably read it a half dozen more.
June 3, 2022
Awesome book, picked it up last weekend and didn’t expect to get sucked into it.
Great telling of an incredibly tragic sequence of events. Even though they had their flaws, I was a fan of the Rouses. Full of historical and contextual information on all types of diving. Definitely recommend
Great telling of an incredibly tragic sequence of events. Even though they had their flaws, I was a fan of the Rouses. Full of historical and contextual information on all types of diving. Definitely recommend
July 4, 2019
A tragic story of a father-son diving team who die while diving a German u-boat wreck. This wreck was thoroughly described in the book Shadow Divers. This book focuses on the pair, their dives, and their relationship. A good and very informative account of their lives.
October 4, 2013
Sometimes I like to read about topics that are out of my comfort zone. This book is about recreational diving of the risky kind. Technical deep diving, it is called, I think.
I didn`t know anything about it before I read this book. I don`t dive myself nor do I know any divers personally.
Reading this book, I dove into a world (pun intended) that is very foreign to me. The diving realm is still very male-dominated, rather macho (who can dive the deepest? who can retrieve the most valuable items from ship wrecks?), and there are divers who die while diving and don`t deserve it (because they did everything right) and divers who - in the eyes of insiders - don`t deserve admiration (because their tanks were still half full when they drowned, for instance).
Author Bernie Chowdhury managed to make me familiar with the intricate ways this foreign world functions and how divers interact with each other. He is also very open about the risks involved - risks he took himself and nearly died.
I also learned about facts that are connected to diving but way more significant that just the sport. Wrecks of submarines, for instance. Another example: In 1986, divers/researchers explored a cave in Romania now called Movile Cave that was separated for 5.5 million years from the rest of the outside world. The composition of the air is completely different in the cave. Forty-eight species that were not known before, were found there, among them leeches, spiders, scorpions and insects. I love this kind of information.
But this book of course is about a father and a son, both passionate and well-known divers, who did not survive one of their dives. I don`t want to give away too much but the author shows us how the psychological interdependence of the two contributed to the tragedy. The pair were called "Bickering Brothers" (although not really brothers) by other divers.
The only weakness in this book (in my eyes) is that Chowdhury dwells on the particular dynamics between father and son too long because readers are quick to understand what was going on between these two. So it became a bit repetitive.
Nevertheless a fascinating book about a fascinating sport.
I didn`t know anything about it before I read this book. I don`t dive myself nor do I know any divers personally.
Reading this book, I dove into a world (pun intended) that is very foreign to me. The diving realm is still very male-dominated, rather macho (who can dive the deepest? who can retrieve the most valuable items from ship wrecks?), and there are divers who die while diving and don`t deserve it (because they did everything right) and divers who - in the eyes of insiders - don`t deserve admiration (because their tanks were still half full when they drowned, for instance).
Author Bernie Chowdhury managed to make me familiar with the intricate ways this foreign world functions and how divers interact with each other. He is also very open about the risks involved - risks he took himself and nearly died.
I also learned about facts that are connected to diving but way more significant that just the sport. Wrecks of submarines, for instance. Another example: In 1986, divers/researchers explored a cave in Romania now called Movile Cave that was separated for 5.5 million years from the rest of the outside world. The composition of the air is completely different in the cave. Forty-eight species that were not known before, were found there, among them leeches, spiders, scorpions and insects. I love this kind of information.
But this book of course is about a father and a son, both passionate and well-known divers, who did not survive one of their dives. I don`t want to give away too much but the author shows us how the psychological interdependence of the two contributed to the tragedy. The pair were called "Bickering Brothers" (although not really brothers) by other divers.
The only weakness in this book (in my eyes) is that Chowdhury dwells on the particular dynamics between father and son too long because readers are quick to understand what was going on between these two. So it became a bit repetitive.
Nevertheless a fascinating book about a fascinating sport.
December 18, 2018
This book is something of an extended accident investigation into a well-known (in the technical diving community) double fatality that occurred in the mid-90s on the wreck of a WWII U-boat off the coast of New Jersey. The victims were a father and son, both portrayed as experienced technical divers, well-trained, cautious, and thorough. Their log books reveal more of a "zero to hero" situation - both victims had fewer than 800 dives when they died, and certainly did not use caution or fall back on their training in their decision to dive air instead of trimix on their fatal dive.
The book provides a biography of Chris and Chrissy Rouse's diving history leading up to this fateful dive, as well as some autobiographical bits about the author, an accomplished technical diver as well. The author describes his own fairly serious wreck-diving accident in a sort of "bonus" accident analysis from which the reader can learn valuable lessons.
This book is a must-read for any technical diver, and I encourage recreational divers to read it as well. Accident analysis is critically important, especially as one approaches the pinnacle of our sport. I docked one star because the writing is quite flat and dull, making this a bit of a slog from time to time.
The book provides a biography of Chris and Chrissy Rouse's diving history leading up to this fateful dive, as well as some autobiographical bits about the author, an accomplished technical diver as well. The author describes his own fairly serious wreck-diving accident in a sort of "bonus" accident analysis from which the reader can learn valuable lessons.
This book is a must-read for any technical diver, and I encourage recreational divers to read it as well. Accident analysis is critically important, especially as one approaches the pinnacle of our sport. I docked one star because the writing is quite flat and dull, making this a bit of a slog from time to time.
May 12, 2017
It is tough to evaluate this book without having a clear sense of who Chowdhury considered his target audience. In serving multiple audiences, this can get slow and bogged down in needless detail in places. Is this book for experienced divers? Their friends/family? New divers? Historians and archaeologists? Designers of sport diving gear?
As a recreational diver, I appreciated that Chowdhury takes time to consider the psychology of risk and how our perception of risks can be distorted by circumstances. Books like Diver Down: Real-World Scuba Accidents and How to Avoid Them depict dive accidents in more black and white, "those idiots had it coming" sorts of terms. Although Chowdhury concedes this sort of analysis has increased the safety of cave divers and the diving community as a whole, I've found it also creates a temptation to interpret all accidents in a similarly unsympathetic way. This book helped me appreciate that even the victims of such seemingly avoidable tragedies are heroic on several levels.
As a recreational diver, I appreciated that Chowdhury takes time to consider the psychology of risk and how our perception of risks can be distorted by circumstances. Books like Diver Down: Real-World Scuba Accidents and How to Avoid Them depict dive accidents in more black and white, "those idiots had it coming" sorts of terms. Although Chowdhury concedes this sort of analysis has increased the safety of cave divers and the diving community as a whole, I've found it also creates a temptation to interpret all accidents in a similarly unsympathetic way. This book helped me appreciate that even the victims of such seemingly avoidable tragedies are heroic on several levels.
May 1, 2018
Interesting at times, but this is really a story about two individuals, father and son, who were constantly bickering, but not much about their adventures underwater. The rest of the book is filled with a lot of repetitive explanations and references to others who had died underwater. Difficult to get into the book and finish it.
Unfortunately, like a lot of American literature, the grammar is at times irritating. For instance, the word 'got' is the past tense of 'get'. Where does 'gotten' come from? i.e. "... he got himself into trouble", or '... he had got himself into trouble". Not ".... he had gotten himself into trouble' It's positively rotten!
Also; Dive, 'dived' ('dove'); Drag, dragged ('drug') ...
Sorry Bernie, not your fault, or anything specifically about your book.
Unfortunately, like a lot of American literature, the grammar is at times irritating. For instance, the word 'got' is the past tense of 'get'. Where does 'gotten' come from? i.e. "... he got himself into trouble", or '... he had got himself into trouble". Not ".... he had gotten himself into trouble' It's positively rotten!
Also; Dive, 'dived' ('dove'); Drag, dragged ('drug') ...
Sorry Bernie, not your fault, or anything specifically about your book.
March 25, 2014
What a disappointment! The actual story about the father/son last dive is collectively only about two chapters worth. The rest of the book is just filler. Some of it is educational. You learn about diving, its techniques, verbiage and history. But the author has a problem with repeating some parts over and over and OVER again! It got really annoying. He also took a slight detour and told about his diving accident (which took up more than the actual story of the father/son's last dive). I was really hoping this would be an exciting read but it got to the point where I didn't even care how the last dive happened.
February 15, 2017
O livro tem seus prós e contras. É bom saber que ele não trata unicamente do caso do pai e filho mortos. O caso, aliás, ocupa uma pequena parte do livro. A maior parte é sobre a história do mergulho, os desafios em busca das maiores profundidades, embates entre profissionais e mergulhadores recreativos, os problemas de saúde decorrentes da atividade etc. Há redundâncias e a habilidade narrativa não é um forte do livro, mas é bom para quem se interessa por uma visão geral do esporte com algumas tensas histórias aqui e ali. Definitivamente não é um livro a ser lido por quem só deseja saber sobre o caso que intitula a obra.
December 26, 2025
wow, this was a page turner! learned so much about the history of scuba while learning about the Rouse family. excellent read, hard to put down.
August 30, 2011
"The adventurous father and son diving team of Chris and Chrissy Rouse is the center of Chowdhury's book, which details their lifestyle from learning to dive to exploring Florida's limestone cave system to diving wrecks at the limit of advanced scuba diving capabilities (The Andrea Doria as well as the U-boat, also mentioned in "Shadow Divers". Chowdhury himself is an expert diver as well as a friend of the family's. His book not only explores the father-son dynamic but also the world of deep sea diving."
March 14, 2012
I thought this was going to be a narrative of the final dive of father and son, Chris and Chrissy Rouse, but it was actually a superb history of the sport of technical diving. I really enjoyed this book. It was informative and made me appreciate everything that went into all the gear, rules and regulations that I was required to learn for my diving certification. (Although I'm not sure I would have ever scuba dived had I read this book first!) It was a hard book to put down, and I would recommend it to anyone who dives.
April 4, 2012
Great example of a true story done well. History of diving, history and personal stories of the Rousses, all terms and scuba practices explained - just excellent at pulling the world into the world of scuba diving without leaving the reader at a loss. Made me want to try it, but also respect the folks who dive and understand the dangers that come with the sport. If you're looking for something eloquent or fancifully written, this isn't it, but if you're looking for something informative, touching, an captivating, "The Last Dive" is a good bet.
August 14, 2022
If you’re interested in this book, do yourself a favor and just read Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson instead. This book’s title does not accurately reflect it’s true contents, which are mostly focused on the author himself. There are really only incidental and disjointed forays back to the story of the Rouses, which include mostly conjecture (e.g., “he might have said,” “he was probably thinking”) and at least one outright false portrayal of a critical event (as fact checked by an actual eye witness).
June 16, 2013
The true story of extreme diving: arrogance, greed, carelessness and death. Are all extreme divers already arrogant; is that some kind of prerequisite for the lure of deep wreck diving or cave diving? Does the greed of finding and retiriving treasures, added to the arrogance, cause deadly mistakes?
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