Review For Descent into Darkness - Book Report/Review Example

The book contains true to fact and vivid descriptions of diving missions undertaken amidst risky and dangerous circumstances, the unknown human factors that complicated these diving missions and the emotional content associated with the task of rescuing the bodies of dead personnel. The secondary objective imminent on the writing of this book is to elaborate on the human and personal side of naval divers and their quest for fun and frolic, contrived by them amidst the most trying of situations and circumstances.

The information and facts given in the book are indeed reliable as the writer of this book himself served as a naval diver during the Pearl Harbor attack, and the details and nuances furnished by the writer are rich in veracity and content. This book tends to facilitate a vivid description of the varied duties incumbent on an enlisted naval diver undertaking missions after the Pearl Harbor attack, to salvage the machinery and the bodies of the dead personnel. The book though utterly informative and accurate is indeed replete with insights that happen to be of value for both the professional divers and the lay readers.

Raymer extends a light hearted view of the off duty exploits of the naval divers as well a non-technical account of the enormity of risks faced by the divers during the course of duty, the challenges they came across, the dangers they had to contend with and the innovative strategies resorted to by them to deal with the risks facing them. Raymer in an elaborate and detailed manner presents an engrossing portrayal of how it is to work in a sunken ship under an impending lack of visibility, relying for guidance and direction solely on the sense of touch and personal intuition.

The accounts of naval divers working under water in zero visibility amidst oil soaked machinery and ships brings to light the horror, threat and a sense of claustrophobia faced by the naval divers undertaking such missions almost on a daily basis. The language resorted to by Raymer is benignly non-technical and he relies minimally on the naval jargon to present an insight into a world that is seldom visited by the non military people. In that sense, it would not be wrong to say that Raymer has indeed succeeded in achieving his objective without being too complex and technical to be understood by lay readers.

In the first chapter Raymer tries to elaborate on his personal background and his experience of being stationed at Pearl Harbor Salvage Office. Raymer tends to focus on the gut gripping and somewhat spooky accounts of the missions undertaken by him and his fellow divers to salvage the sailors who got trapped in the capsized and sunken hulls. The first chapter onwards one comes across a racy and engrossing account of the diving missions undertaken on USS Oklahoma, USS Nevada, USS West Virginia, USS Utah, USS Californian and USS Arizona.

It goes without saying that to be able to fully appreciate the information and details given by the writer, one does need to have some basic knowledge of diving. Still, overall, the book makes an interesting and memorable read. The book, Descent into Darkness is indeed written in a beautiful and descriptive manner, while making it a point to facilitate a regular and non-technical framework and seldom