What makes the perfect swim? It's all about the most magical locations (and how to protect them), finessing your kitbag, keeping yourself and others safe ... and maybe discovering a nice place for a warm-up cuppa and cake. Whether you're a seasoned dipper or a fledgling, The Art of Wild Swimming is the ultimate guide to becoming an awesome, joyful and responsible swimmer. From the dramatic turquoise bays of Orkney to the peaty lochs of the Cairngorms, the thundering waterfalls of Skye to the calm depths of a reservoir in the Pentlands. Locals who know the secrets of their patch share over 100 spectacular dookin' spots across Scotland. Now they are yours to explore too.

Imagine living in a box at the bottom of the sea for a month at a time. Locked away in a saturation chamber, plumbed to depths of more than 500 feet, this has been David Beckett's love, life and work for all his adult life. Destined to become a pig farmer in the late 1960s, a twist of fate saw David become an air diver, and within a short space of time he progressed to saturation diving. He would brush with death on more than one occasion - not least when helping to recover 47 bodies of the victims of the Sumburgh chinook disaster in Scotland's Shetland Islands - and when called in to assist with the deadliest peacetime shipwreck in Europe, as the MS Estonia sank in the Baltic Sea in 1994 and claimed 852 lives. Amongst the depths of despair, there are many lighter moments, including treasure hunting in the Philippines, almost clinching a contract to salvage the bursar's safe from the Titanic and surviving a 24-hour typhoon which brought 80-foot waves crashing down on his boat. The Loonliness of a Deep Sea Diver is gritty, sometimes comical and offers a unique glimpse into a life at sea, much of it at the bottom.

An 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 it is about water that seduces us, despite its dangers, and why we come back to it again and again.

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.

Launched in 1914, two years after the ill-fated voyage of her sister ship, RMS Titanic, the Britannic was intended to be superior to her tragic twin in every way. But war intervened and in 1915 she was requisitioned as a hospital ship. Just one year later, while on her way to collect troops wounded in the Balkans campaign, she fell victim to a mine laid by a German U-boat and tragically sank in the middle of the Aegean Sea.

There her wreck lay, at a depth of 400 feet, until it was discovered 59 years later by legendary explorer Jacques Cousteau. In 1996 the wreck was bought by the author of this book, Simon Mills.

Exploring the Britannic tells the complete story of this enigmatic ship: her construction, launch and life, her fateful last voyage, and the historical findings resulting from the exploration of the well-preserved wreck over a period of 40 years. With remarkable sonar scans and many never before seen photographs of the wreck, plus fold-out sections of the original Harland & Wolff ship plans, not previously published in their entirety, Exploring the Britannic finally details how the mysteries surrounding the 100-year-old enigma were laid to rest, and what the future might also hold for her.

"Discover untouched lakes, rivers and waterfalls in the Alps and foothills of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Slovenia. Over 150 secret bathing and swimming spots with detailed descriptions and tips on safety and access. Including family-friendly locations as well as challenges for the true adventurer. > Bathe and picnic by secret forest lakes > Hike to pristine mountain waterfalls > Swim over rare underwater meadows in transient summer lakes > Plunge into the icy waters of an underground glacial lake at 3200m > Adventure through mysterious flooded caves and tunnels"

'From a young age, I was flirting with the sea and its power.' says Ben Thompson. This is the colourful and moving story of a boy who realised at an early age that the sea was his calling and followed his dream. By the age of twenty-five, Ben Thompson was being paid to dive the world's most exquisite coral reefs. Few people have worked as dive instructors in such varied locations around the world as he has. From exploring the far reaches of South East Asia by local yacht to off-roading through sub-Saharan Africa looking for new dives, Ben sees the world through a diver's mask. Along the way, he dives one of the world's only vertical wrecks (at a top-secret location) just as it ruptures its gas tanks and causes an international incident, is held up at gunpoint by a militia group in the Philippines, rescued by pirates in Indonesia, and visits the Caicos with America's largest naked diving group. His story will fascinate divers, travellers, seafarers, and adventurers of all stripes. It's an exhilarating tale of escaping the humdrum, and also a cheering love story as his ever-patient partner and dive buddy, Vic, accompanies Ben on his escapades around the world.

WHAT IF THE FAMILY YOU WANT... ...ISN'T THE FAMILY YOU NEED? 'It was up to her now; everything was up to her; she needed only to make a choice and step towards it, out from the shadows and into the light.' At forty-three, Christina Lennox thought her future was settled: marriage to Ed, children, a house of their own. But this is not that future: her marriage has ended, fractured by the stress of five rounds of IVF and two miscarriages. Overwhelmed by grief and disappointment, Ed has relocated to San Francisco and Christina's dream of becoming a mother rests on persuading him to let her go ahead with one final round of IVF, using the last frozen embryo they have stored at the clinic. But when Ed drops a bombshell that threatens to undo everything Christina has strived for, she is forced, once again, to realign her plans. Is this the end of her dream, or an opportunity to consider a different - perhaps happier - version of her future?

In 1857 Everard Digby, an extrovert Cambridge scholar, published the first scientific treatise on swimming - and one of the first on any modern sport. Six months later he was expelled from his college, and died in obscurity as a country parson. Nicholas Orme rehabilitates Digby as a great pioneer of the history of sport.

The book opens with a detailed history of swimming in Britain from the Romans to the sixteenth century, which is followed by an account of Digby's life and work and its impact on swimming down to the eighteenth century.

The book also includes the first modern edition of Digby's treatise, in the English version of 1595, with the 43 original illustrations.

'The world is not neatly divided into two camps of women, those who wanted to reproduce and did, and those who didn't want to, and didn't. So many of us are caught here, in between, neither one thing nor the other, drifting towards a receding horizon, in our own camp . . .' When Miranda Ward and her husband decided to have a baby, they were optimistic. There was no reason not to be: they were both young, they were both healthy. But five years, three miscarriages and one ectopic pregnancy later, Ward finds herself still dealing with the ongoing aftermath of that decision: the waiting, the doubting, the despairing, the hoping. ADRIFT is a memoir about the unique place of almost-motherhood. Some people pass through it without even noticing; others languish there, held safe, held prisoner, by the walls of not-knowing - for as long as there is still a question mark, an open ending, there is a chance of escape. Inspired by her childhood on the California coast, Ward turns to the water, seeking solace in a landscape of a different kind - the swimming pool. Hoping to make sense of the uncertainty, she begins to ask questions of geography on the most intimate scale. How do we learn to feel at home in our own bodies, even when they disobey? How can we find our way, even when we feel adrift? What language do we have for the spaces in between? Charting a journey through territory at once deeply personal and widely shared, Ward offers a searing, lyrical and radically honest narrative of fertility and motherhood that is less often told.

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.

The earth's oceans hold many wondrous surprises-be they the small, colorful "critters" off the coast of Papua New Guinea, opportunistic red demon squids in the Sea of Cortes, or naval wrecks in the lagoon of Bikini Atoll. In Fifty Places to Dive Before You Die Chris Santella has invited diving experts from around the world to share some of their favorite destinations, so ardent divers can experience these underwater wonders for themselves-either on location in their SCUBA gear, or at home in their armchair. The fifth in Santella's bestselling "Fifty Places" series, the book takes divers from hot-spot destinations like Raja Ampat (off the coast of West Guinea) to old Caribbean favorites like Grand Cayman Isles. Readers will swim among whale sharks off Myanmar, befriend wolf eels off the coast of Maine, and marvel at the giant mola mola of Lembognan, Indonesia. These wonderful creatures-plus the brilliant coral reefs that often provide their backdrop-are captured in 40 gorgeous color photos from the world's greatest underwater photographers. And for readers who want to travel to these breathtaking locales, Santella provides complete "If You Go" suggestions to help you plan your trip.

Beneath the icy waters of Lake Superior lies a vast museum of maritime treasures, relics, and souls that in years past were lost to the crashing waves of this massive body of water. Those, those who remain on the surface can glimpse some of the sunken bounty, but most of it is accessible only to those who slip into scuba gear and brave the darkness of the deep.
In "Shipwrecks Along Lake Superior's North Shore," veteran diver Stephen B. Daniel, in collaboration with the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society, provides in-depth tours of the many sunken ships submerged in the waters of this region of Lake Superior. Readers will not only learn the maritime history and structural details of the original vessels, they'll also find the fascinating stories of the wrecks themselves-how they happened, what actions were taken to save both crew and vessel, and the modern-day efforts to preserve these sites. With detailed descriptions and hundreds of photographs, charts, and diagrams that will impress even the most seasoned diver, this book will also appeal to anyone who has ever wondered what nautical mysteries lie beneath the waves of the greatest of the Great Lakes.
Stephen B. Daniel is an active certified diver, shipwreck historian, and current president of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society. He is a communications professional at 3M and lives in Woodbury, Minnesota.

Discover 120 of the most beautiful places to swim, from the Mediterranean coastline of Croatia to the mesmerising mountain landscapes of Slovenia. Including secret coves, sea caves, rock arches, waterfall pools, aquamarine canyons and hidden lakes - many never before published. Lavishly illustrated, with 200 photos and 120 maps. The perfect guide for families on holidays or explorers looking for their next adventure.

**Winner of the William Hill 2018 Sports Book of the Year Award** A Sunday Times Book of the Year and Telegraph Best Book of 2018 'Extraordinary' Clare Balding The poignant, life-affirming story of a determined boy, a visionary coach, and how the dream of a record-breaking Channel swim became reality Eltham, South London. 1984: the hot fug of the swimming pool and the slow splashing of a boy learning to swim but not yet wanting to take his foot off the bottom. Fast-forward four years. Photographers and family wait on the shingle beach as a boy in a bright orange hat and grease-smeared goggles swims the last few metres from France to England. He has been in the water for twelve agonizing hours, encouraged at each stroke by his coach, John Bullet, who has become a second father. This is the story of a remarkable friendship between a coach and a boy, and a love letter to the intensity and freedom of childhood.

Trudy Ederle loved to swim, and she was determined to be the best. At seventeen Trudy won three medals at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. But what she planned to do next had never been done by a woman: She would swim across the English Channel in fourteen hours and set a world record.

The famous swimming Ladies of Hampstead ponds bring us their favourite walks with a dip in London and south east England, all accessible by train. Featuring secret lakes, river meadows and sandy seaside beaches, this is the perfect way to escape the city and leave the car at home this summer.

Kaitlin Sandeno was one of the world's greatest and most versatile swimmers. Competing at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, she was a part of the world record breaking 4x200-meter relay team and is one of an elite few to medal in three different strokes. In Golden Glow: How Kaitlin Sandeno Achieved Gold in the Pool and in Life, Dan D'Addona recounts Sandeno's amazing swimming career, including her spectacular Olympic performances, and details the impact she has made in the world outside the pool. Breaking into the Olympics at seventeen years old, she became the face of the team with her enthusiasm and bubbly personality. She returned to the Olympics four years later to have one of the most dominating meets by an American woman in history. But Sandeno's legacy in the pool is nothing compared to how she has used her platform to help those around her. She is the national spokesperson for the Jessie Rees Foundation and spreads joy around the country to children with cancer. She has emceed Olympic trials, hosted multiple shows for USA Swimming, and has given back to her sport, working for USA Swimming and coaching youth teams. Golden Glow is not only the story of how hard work and perseverance led Sandeno to Olympic gold, but also how she has used her success in the pool to inspire those around her.

This book contains 100 workouts that focus on improving general swimming efficiency.The workouts are specific to each of the competitive swimming strokes: freestyle, backstroke, breastroke, and butterfly. Together, the 100 workouts blend swimming drills and conditioning sets that total up to 2,000 yards. Each workout is accompanied by a Focus Point, allowing swimmers to zero in on stroke improvements by eliminating drag, improving feel for the water, and swimming in a core-centered manner. Swimmers at any level will improve their swimming technique, efficiency, and performance with Swim Fast!

From more powerful strokes to quicker turns, propel yourself to improved times with "Complete Conditioning for Swimming."

This multidimensional training program uses fitness assessments to tailor strength, endurance, and flexibility exercises to each swimmer's individual needs.

Dave Salo, coach of Olympic medalists Rebecca Soni, Lenny Krayzelburg, Aaron Peirsol, Amanda Beard, and Jason Lezak, and Scott A. Riewald, performance specialist for the U.S. Olympic Committee, have teamed up to create a comprehensive program that provides you with the following tools to improve your times:

- Exercises and drills for each stroke

- Event-based workouts and programs

- Dryland training

- Tapering for peak performance

- Year-round conditioning plans

- Nutrition before, during, and after swim meets

In addition, the 80-minute DVD takes you to the pool and into the gym to demonstrate the drills and exercises used by the sport's elite. "Complete Conditioning for Swimming" is simply the best guide to preparing your body for competitive success.

Claire Walsh spent her twenties living the life she thought she was supposed to live, all the while playing hide and seek with depression. As a result, the road to recovery was the only travelling she did. Aged 32, single and living with her parents, she decided it was time to chart her own path. Booking a flight to South America, she let go of 'at home Claire' and opened herself up to a new world of possibilities. It was here she discovered freediving. Diving deep under water without the use of breathing apparatus, freediving is one of the most dangerous sports in the world, but at 60 metres below the surface, Claire discovered a fresh perspective that transformed her life and helped her find freedom. Under Water is Claire's candid and captivating story of how holding her breath taught her to live.