"My name is Samantha and I’m an alcoholic. At the time of writing, I’ve been sober for 13 years, 11 months and 16 days. And yes I still count. I promised I would never speak about it publicly until my children understood what that meant, that mommy was an alcoholic. I think they may have understood long before I did."

From Whiskey To Water is the no-holds-barred memoir by one of South Africa’s most loved radio talk show hosts, Sam Cowen. Having kept her alcohol addiction well away from the public eye for over 14 years, in this tell-all tale, Sam finds the courage to talk about her struggle with her addiction to whiskey, food and finally to a passion that saved her life – marathon swimming. Told in her characteristically hilarious dead-pan style, this is one of the bravest books you’ll read this year.

"So this is a book on how I stopped drinking? No, it’s not. It’s how I stopped drinking, started eating, became clinically severely obese, stopped eating (everything that wasn’t nailed down) and swam my way to freedom. No, it’s not. It’s actually about addiction and learning and sadness and anxiety and love and drive. It’s about channelling the unchangeable into the miraculous. It’s about dragons and learning how to put them to sleep when you can’t slay them. It’s about being my own Daenarys."

The popular image of sharks is of a dorsal fin cleaving the surface as it rushes to its next kill, but this is a limited caricature. There are over 500 species to choose from, most of whom are far more frightened of humans than vice versa. In this beautiful book, diving veteran John Bantin recounts many tales of his diving with several species of sharks and other marine animals over the last 4 decades. Accompanied by his own stunning photography, the captivating, spectacular and sometimes shocking encounters show the reader what it is like to get up close and personal to these bizarre and beautiful creatures. The sharks covered range from the great whale sharks to the small blacktip reef shark, in locations extending to all corners of the globe.

"Being a refugee is not a choice. Our choice is to die at home or risk death trying to escape." - Yusra Mardini

Yusra Mardini fled her native Syria to the Turkish coast in 2015 and boarded a small dinghy full of refugees bound for Greece. When the small and overcrowded boat's engine cut out, it began to sink. Yusra, her sister and two others took to the water, pushing the boat for three and a half hours in open water until they eventually landed on Lesbos, saving the lives of the passengers aboard.

Butterfly is the story of that remarkable woman, whose journey started in a war-torn suburb of Damascus and took her through Europe to Berlin and from there to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Yusra Mardini is an athlete, one of People magazine’s twenty-five women changing the world, a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and one of Time Magazine’s thirty most influential teens of 2016.

“Being a refugee is not a choice. Our choice is to die at home or risk death trying to escape.” – Yusra Mardini

Yusra Mardini fled her native Syria to the Turkish coast in 2015 and boarded a small dinghy full of refugees bound for Greece. When the small and overcrowded boat’s engine cut out, it began to sink. Yusra, her sister and two others took to the water, pushing the boat for three and a half hours in open water until they eventually landed on Lesbos, saving the lives of the passengers aboard.

Butterfly is the story of that remarkable woman, whose journey started in a war-torn suburb of Damascus and took her through Europe to Berlin and from there to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Yusra Mardini is an athlete, one of People magazine’s twenty-five women changing the world, a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and one of Time Magazine’s thirty most influential teens of 2016.

Swim at your best with this step-by-step 30-day program from an Olympic medalist. 'Tracey and I both swam under the direction of Coach Richard Quick, who is considered an expert by everyone in our sport. Not everybody can have an Olympic coach, but having lessons from a former Olympian is certainly the next best thing. Tracey's book includes what all swimmers need to know to become better--no matter what their level. Perhaps someone reading it will become a future Olympian' - Jenny Thompson, holder of 12 Olympic medals and the most decorated woman swimmer in U.S. history. 'This is the quintessential book for those interested in improving their swimming skills at a rapid rate. It has all the basics for the beginner yet still is able to focus on the bigger picture - swimming faster and more efficiently with an improved stroke' - Rowdy Gaines, three-time Olympic gold medalist and commentator for NBC Sports. If you think the fastest way to better swimming is more boring, repetitive laps, you're (literally) wasting your breath! In this handy guide, Olympic medalist and former World Champion Tracey McFarlane Mirande uses her experience, skills, and know-how to get you swimming with speed, power, and grace - just like the pros. Whether you're a skilled swimmer or a beginner, "Championship Swimming" delivers competition-level techniques and training to provide real improvement in just 30 days. Tracey's comprehensive guide includes: workouts for both beginning and advanced swimmers; specialized drills for improved strokes; techniques for eliminating drag and swimming more powerfully with less effort; and, step-by-step instructions for flip turns.

Even though swimming is the closest thing to a perfect exercise you can name, too few people experience its full benefits. That's because most find themselves fighting to stay afloat, struggling for air, and feeling exhausted after just a lap or two, all of which makes this perfect exercise frustrating, laborious, and complicated. For the past fifteen years, veteran swim coach Terry Laughlin has been teaching adults how to swim better - and enjoy it more - by using his simple and original techniques. Laughlin turns traditional swimming beliefs inside out as he explains that it's technique - not athletic ability - that makes a strong swimmer. Laughlin teaches 'Fishlike Swimming,' focusing on slipping through the water rather than using muscle to overpower it. The key is working with the water, not against it - learning to swim ever faster and farther without losing a sense of flow, grace, economy, and balance.

'This fascinating history of how, where and why humans swim...is perfect reading for those missing a splash-about during the lockdown.' Guardian From the first recorded dip into what's now the driest spot on earth to the recreational swimmers in your local pool, humans have been getting wet for 10,000 years. And for most of modern history, swimming has caused a ripple that touches us all. Splash! dives into Egypt, winds through ancient Greece and Rome, flows mostly underground through the Dark and Middle Ages (at least in Europe), and then re-emerges in the wake of the Renaissance before taking its final lap at the modern Olympic Games. Along the way, it kicks away the idea that swimming is just about speed or great feats of aquatic endurance, revealing how its history spans religion, fashion, architecture, public health, colonialism, segregation, sexism, sexiness, guts, glory and much, much more. As refreshing as jumping into a pool on a hot summer's day, Splash! sweeps across the whole of humankind's swimming history with an irrepressible enthusiasm that will make you crave your next dip.

During the last few years technical diving has become much more popular and has moved into mainstream diving. As a result a significant number of recreational divers are moving towards technical diving. Despite this, there are still many misconceptions about what technical diving actually means and what is involved. Introduction to Technical Diving - An Introduction by Mark Powell gives a straightforward overview of technical diving and dispels many of the myths surrounding this area. It explores what is meant by technical diving, what is involved, the risks that arise and how you can move towards this type of diving. Section one describes technical diving in general and illustrates some of the differences between technical and recreational diving as well as explaining some of the things that recreational divers can learn from technical divers. Section two explains some of the ideas behind this form of diving. It defines exactly what we mean by technical diving as well as why it has become so popular. This section then explains how to make a start in technical diving and the type of divers who tend to get into technical diving. For these divers the second section then goes on to explain what to expect from a technical diving course. Finally this section discusses how accident analysis has been used to shape some of the concepts in technical diving as well as some of the mental aspects of this type of diving. The third section then goes on give an overview of technical diving equipment and explains why this is different to the equipment used in recreational diving. There are many different opinions about technical diving equipment and this section of the book lays out the advantages and disadvantages of the various options so that divers can make an informed decision about their equipment choices. Topics such as twinset configuration, Hogarthian gear configuration and choice of stage cylinders are all covered for the open circuit diver. The fourth section covers the various skills required for technical diving are discussed in detail including buoyancy control, trim, tram diving, problem shutdown and valve shutdowns. Section five covers the issues involved in rebreather diving and the various choices available to divers looking to switch to a rebreather. Section six discusses the various aspects of technical dive planning including decompression planning, dealing with narcosis, avoiding oxygen toxicity and gas planning. Finally this section covers some of the various aspects of planning for specific situations such as wreck, cave penetration and mixed gas expedition diving. The book is aimed at anyone who wants to know more about technical diving. Whether you are looking to take a technical diving course, are looking to improve your skills or simply want to find out more about what's involved then this book will provide a comprehensive overview. Even those divers who are not tempted to venture into this area of the sport can benefit from this book as it also discusses what lessons can be learnt from technical diving in order to improve normal recreational diving.

Discover over 150 magical places to swim and explore in Spain. With stunning photography this book reveals the best crystal mountain lakes, secluded lake-side beaches, and turquoise pools hidden deep in waterfall-filled gorges. With recommendations for places to camp and eat this is all you need to take you off the beaten track.

Ian Thorpe's achievements in the water are nothing short of phenomenal. He has won a record-holding 11 World Championship titles and ten Commonwealth Games gold medals. He has broken 22 world records and won five gold, three silver and one bronze Olympic medals. Having been under the spotlight since he was a young teenager, he retired from competitive swimming in 2006, but after five years he mounted a comeback for London 2012, and intense media attention followed. Thorpe is one of the world's most famous sportsmen, but it is the way he has managed his success and his commitment to helping others that has earned him respect and admiration internationally. This is a man who has had highs and lows away from the pool, who has led an extraordinary life of an elite athlete that most of us will never know, and who had the courage to come back and stake his claim for the ultimate goal once more.

Just one hundredth of a second separates elite swimmers from the podium, but what are the physical forces at work behind these tiny margins, and how can an understanding of them be used to improve your own technique in the pool? Swimming Science investigates, with each chapter focussing on a different area. From swimming technology, physiology, and psychology to hydrodynamics, the key principles of swimming science are addressed, with the content organised around a series of questions. What creates the drag in the water? How have swim suits evolved? Which muscles generate propulsion? How much force do elite swimmers use? Each question is investigated using up-to-date science and explanatory info-graphics.

This is an exciting new diving guide covering dive sites in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Explore the wreck of the E39 submarine off Pembrokeshire or the stunning Cathedral Rock off St Abbs to the Unknown Coaster in Portland Harbour. In this title, 100 dives are described in detail from easy shore dives to more demanding boat dives. Dive locations are fully illustrated with specially commissioned maps and diagrams together with full colour photography throughout. All dives are above 18m and suitable for all levels of experience from novice to technical diver. The United Kingdom has some of the best diving available in Europe offering a mixture of scenic reef dives and spectacular wrecks. Wherever you are in the United Kingdom you are only a short distance away from one of these spectacular dives.

A Best Book of the Season: BuzzFeed * Bustle * San Francisco Chronicle "A fascinating and beautifully written love letter to water. I was enchanted by this book." --Rebecca Skloot, bestselling author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta LacksAn immersive, unforgettable, and eye-opening perspective on swimming--and on human behavior itself. We swim in freezing Arctic waters and piranha-infested rivers to test our limits. We swim for pleasure, for exercise, for healing. But humans, unlike other animals that are drawn to water, are not natural-born swimmers. We must be taught. Our evolutionary ancestors learned for survival; now, in the twenty-first century, swimming is one of the most popular activities in the world. Why We Swim is propelled by stories of Olympic champions, a Baghdad swim club that meets in Saddam Hussein's palace pool, modern-day Japanese samurai swimmers, and even an Icelandic fisherman who improbably survives a wintry six-hour swim after a shipwreck. New York Times contributor Bonnie Tsui, a swimmer herself, dives into the deep, from the San Francisco Bay to the South China Sea, investigating what about water--despite its dangers--seduces us and why we come back to it again and again.

You say Lee-doh, We say Ly-doh From beautiful Art Deco lidos to humble, fiercely loved community pools, this is the definitive photographic guide to around 130 lidos in the UK and Channel Islands. Collected together for the first time, each entry details what makes the pool unique and what swimming there is like, as well as providing information about refreshments, accessibility and much more. This guide is organised geographically and includes information on how to find the lidos, it also suggests other nearby pools so you can plan your own lido road trips.

Peek into the mind of a champion swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time (28 medals, including 23 gold) In this candid memoir, Phelps talks openly about his battle with attention deficit disorder, the trauma of his parents' divorce, and the challenges that come with being thrust into the limelight. Readers will relive all the heart-stopping glory as Phelps completes his journey from the youngest man to ever set a world swimming record in 2001, to an Olympic powerhouse in 2008, to surpassing the greatest athlete of ancient Greece, Leonidas of Rhodes, with 13 triumphs in 2016. Athletes and fans alike will be fascinated by insights into Phelps's training, mental preparation, and behind-the-scenes perspective on international athletic competitions. A chronicle of Phelps's evolution from awkward teenager to record-breaking powerhouse, Beneath the Surface is a must-read for any sports fan.

This book recounts the efforts over many years to dive wrecks that contained treasure in one form or another. The often prolonged and sometimes dangerous expeditions tell of dives to many ships that were wrecked while carrying tons of gold or other valuables. Many of the wrecks came to lie at great depths which demanded considerable diving expertise using rebreathers which allowed longer dives to be performed.The authors are both diving experts and in addition to the accounts and historical pictures they have added their own photography to convey to the reader the challenges of the dives undertaken. The technical demands were considerable, from adjusting the camera housing to accommodate the depth to diving at particular times of the year because many of the wrecks were situated in areas of high seas and extreme currents. Many of these wrecks have been the subject of concerted efforts from salvage teams but success could never be assumed.It took several years to visit and photograph the wrecks mentioned in the book which provides a fascinating account of the vessels and their treasure, and the challenges of diving in what can be a dangerous environment. Each entry provides details and a brief history of the vessel and the means of its demise, enhanced by a modern diving account with photographs. As such the book will be of great interest to all divers whether active or armchair, and to anyone with an interest in maritime/military history.

Following the successful previous book, this new and expanded edition is the most informative and comprehensive book available, particularly for the diving fraternity, and will be essential for divers wishing to experience the rich underwater heritage around the 28 Farne Islands. However, it is not only a diver's guide to the Farnes underwater and the surrounding wrecks, as it will also be a must for visitors to the islands with the wealth of information on the area's history and wildlife. The author has dived every one of the 178 sites and explains what can be seen at each one. This includes the little-known underwater Nature Reserve, north of the North Wamses Island in the Outer Farnes. For ease of location, WGS84 GPS coordinates have been introduced in this new edition for many of the sites. The book also benefits from a vast amount of technical detail and history about the 50 or so extra shipwrecks that have been added to this new edition, many of which can be easily reached from Seahouses and Beadnell harbours. Another major plus for divers who are unfamiliar with the islands' tides, currents, general depths, wrecks and marine life is the author's star rating for each site, so that divers will waste no time in selecting the right and most suitable dive site. Other interesting features include the sometimes bizarre but fascinating history of the islands and the local villages of Bamburgh, Seahouses and Beadnell, together with information about the local seabirds, wildlife, seals and marine life.

'A joyous collection of essays celebrating the sanctuary of the women's pond on Hampstead Heath.' - New Statesman

Tucked away along a shady path towards the north-east edge of Hampstead Heath is a sign: Women Only. This is the Kenwood Ladies' Bathing Pond.

Floating in the Pond's silky waters, hidden by a canopy of trees, it's easy to forget that you are in the middle of London. On a hot day, thousands of swimmers from eight to eighty-plus can be found waiting to take a dip before sunbathing in the adjoining meadow. As summer turns to autumn and then winter, the Pond is still visited by a large number of hardy regulars in high-vis hats, many of whom have been swimming here for decades.

In these essays we see the Pond from the perspectives of writers who have swum there. Esther Freud describes the life-affirming sensation of swimming through the seasons; Lou Stoppard pays tribute to the winter swimmers who break the ice; Margaret Drabble reflects on the golden Hampstead days of her youth; Sharlene Teo visits for the first time; and Nell Frizzell shares the view from her yellow lifeguard's canoe.

Combining personal reminiscence with reflections on the history of the place over the years and through the changing seasons, At the Pond captures fourteen contemporary writers' impressions of this unique place.

Triathlon Swimming reveals the rewarding and rigorous Tower 26 program for mastering open-water swimming by the world's leading open-water swimming coach Gerry Rodrigues and former pro triathlete Emma-Kate Lidbury. Triathlon swimming is unique in its challenges and physical and mental limits. Over his lifetime of over 100 open-water swim race wins and over 30 years of coaching, Rodrigues has perfected the art and science of open-water swimming. His famed Tower 26 swimming program trains athletes in both the pool and in rough open water conditions, making triathletes and swimmers skilled, confident, capable, and fast in any condition. In Triathlon Swimming, Rodrigues and Lidbury break down open-water swimming technique and show how triathlon swimming requires different form. From kicking to sighting, Triathlon Swimming describes the best technique for swimming in open water. This guide shares the best gear for open-water swimming, shows how to create your own effective open-water swim workouts, and shares a plan for race prep and taper. Tower 26 offers the best open-water swimming technique. With Rodrigues' coaching approach and Lidbury's first-hand experience and insight, Triathlon Swimming can help you become a master open-water swimmer for faster, fearless racing.

Transform your technique in the water and become a better swimmer with this remarkable new approach to freestyle swimming, suitable for all levels - beginner, intermediate and advanced, as well as swimming coaches. Aimed at both fitness and competitive swimmers, it explains what makes a successful stroke and how to develop your own swimming style. The Swim Smooth approach, developed by consultants to the gold medal winning British Triathlon team, helps you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your stroke and provides drill and training tips to make the most of your time in the water. It accepts differences in individual swimmers and shows you how to understand the fundamentals of swimming to find a style that works for you. Technique, fitness training, racing skills and open water swimming are all covered, with photographs and 3D graphics helping you to put theory into practice. Swim efficiently. Swim fast. Swim Smooth.

Recounted with his usual level of meticulous historical research, Rod weaves an easily readable account of the build-up to and implementation of Operation Desecrate 1 - the raid undertaken to destroy Japanese ships and aircraft in the lagoons of Palau. He uses his intimate knowledge of shipwrecks to reveal in glorious detail each of the 20 major Japanese WWII shipwrecks lying at the bottom of the Palauan lagoons today. On 30th March, 1944 Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters made an Initial fighter sweep of the lagoon to destroy Japanese air cover. Simultaneously Grumman Avenger torpedo-bombers dropped mines and successive group strikes of torpedo bombers and dive-bombers sank the shipping and destroyed the airfields. Palau was neutralised as a Japanese naval and air base in a repeat of the same Task Force 58 raid, Operation Hailstone, on Truk Lagoon 1,000 miles to the east just six weeks earlier. A number of long-lost wrecks have recently been relocated including a Japanese freighter filled with depth charges and Army helmets. This was found in 1989 but remained unidentified until now - after painstaking research Rod reveals her identify for the first time in the book. Each wreck is covered in detail and is supported by underwater photography and by fabulous illustrations by renowned artist Rob Ward. The shipwrecks of Palau are now revealed.

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER Meet Rosemary, 86, and Kate, 26: dreamers, campaigners, outdoor swimmers... Rosemary has lived in Brixton all her life, but everything she knows is changing. Only the local lido, where she swims every day, remains a constant reminder of the past and her beloved husband George. Kate has just moved and feels adrift in a city that is too big for her. She's on the bottom rung of her career as a local journalist, and is determined to make something of it. So when the lido is threatened with closure, Kate knows this story could be her chance to shine. But for Rosemary, it could be the end of everything. Together they are determined to make a stand, and to prove that the pool is more than just a place to swim - it is the heart of the community. 'Feel-good and uplifting, this charming novel is full of heart' LUCY DIAMOND