Parachuting: The Skydiver's Handbook

One of the quotes in this book is "the difference between fear and respect is knowledge." As a newbie to skydiving I have (like many others, I'm sure) wanted to gather as much information as possible about the sport, how the equipment works, the safety features that have evolved over the years to keep skydivers safer. So I've done a lot of research, thumbed through a lot of books and paid very close attention at the dropzone where I'm training. This book, unlike anything else I've seen, organizes the principles of skydiving and the descriptions of various seemingly every possible relevant point into a very easy-to-follow format. I'm about halfway through it now and the more I read, the more comfortable I am with everything. Poynter and Turoff seem to simply be reinforcing everything I've learned from my actual instructors (both AFF and tandem). To the point, if you're considering skydiving, if you're new to the sport, if you're an instructor looking for resources to pass along to uneasy students, this is it... a fabulous companion to the training you'll get at your own dropzone.

This book is absolutely great. Everything you could possibly want to know about the sport. I would consider this book to be a true handbook of the subject. I had a clear understanding of what to expect before my first jump. I felt like a veteran. I'd recommend it for anyone wanting to make the leap either as a once in a lifetime event or lifetime sport. Kudos to the author Dan Poynter and Mike Turoff. Thanks for the great book!

If you are even remotely courious about skydiving, read this book. If someone you love is taking up the sport and you are nervous about it, read the first few chapters. If you are concerned about safety, health requirements, equipment, procudures, you name it... get a hold of this book.It is a good reference to review emergency procudures from time to time and it is a fantastic aid for skydiver like me that are just out of student status striving to find someone to jump with. It contains several pointers on exercizes to practice while in freefall and under canopy that are useful well after a skydivier is off student status.I read it cover to cover almost twice before getting my first lesson. Of course that did not prevent me from forgetting the little detail of deploying my canopy on my first jump (but I am alive and still skydiving, yes, skydiving is THAT safe).Student skydivers should always listen to their instructors.

Now in a completed revised, updated and expanded eighth edition, The Skydiver's Handbook continues to be the "bible" of this dramatic and popular sport. Skydiving is much more than just jumping out of an airplane with a parachute. Skydiving today is as close as a human can come to unencumbered bird-like flight, and with proper aerobatic maneuvering, a skydiver can cover about 1.35 miles on a sixty-second skydive from 12,500 feet, providing 10,000 feet of freefall. Skydiving is aptly described as high-speed vertical aviation, and The Skydiver's Handbook is a reader-friendly, comprehensive, reliable, informative, and complete instruction manual and guide to a safe, exciting, skill-building skydiving experience.

I have read this book cover to cover before I did my first tandem. Later I have gone through many books on parachuting but never came across such a complete and simple book that explains virtually everything you need to know about parachuting. This book is especially useful for beginners. Well... this book is simply the best I have seen on parachuting. Need I say more?