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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Water sports & recreations > Swimming & diving
THE ENTHRALLING INSIDE STORY OF THE THAI CAVE RESCUE FROM THE MAN
AT THE HEART OF THE MISSION, AS SEEN IN THE SUNDAY TIMES 'The
British divers are all heroes' Clive Cussler 'A case study in
courage' Ron Howard, Oscar-winning director of Apollo 13 ________
Thailand, July 2018. Twelve boys and their football coach vanish
into Tham Luang caves just as the monsoon rains hit. A mile from
the surface they are trapped by rising flood waters. All attempts
to reach them fail. As hope for their survival fades a retired
British firefighter tinkering with homemade cave-diving kit gets a
call. Rick Stanton and his dive partner race to the other side of
the world. The boys have been missing for days. Each hour, their
chance of escape shrinks. Rick must swim, crawl and squeeze through
treacherously tight submerged tunnels hunting for them. But that is
not the impossible part. Because if by some miracle they're alive
then somehow he must bring the boys back out again . . . He doesn't
know it yet but all his life he's been training for this very
moment . . . ________ 'The riveting, behind-the-scenes story.
Captivating' SUNDAY POST 'A definitive view of the rescue. You
probably won't read a better-written book about diving this year. I
just had to get to the end' DIVER MAGAZINE 'Diver Rick Stanton
relives the rescue of the century' SUNDAY TIMES 'Remarkable . . .
the chronicle of a man from a humble background who worked
devilishly hard . . . and was willing to go anywhere to help people
in the most dire cave disasters' WALL STREET JOURNAL THE RESCUE
WATCHED BY THE WORLD 'The Thai cave rescue was phenomenally
dangerous, and the work of true heroes' iNews '[The rescue] was
fantastic, it really was . . .' HRH Prince William 'If it was me
stuck anywhere, the one person I would want to come and rescue me
is Rick Stanton' Alex Daw, Watch Commander, West Midlands Fire
Service 'One of the great stories of our time' Elizabeth Chai
Vasarhelyi, Oscar-winning co-director of Free Solo 'Rick Stanton is
not the most domesticated of men' Sunday Telegraph
Undressed Toronto looks at the life of the swimming hole and
considers how Toronto turned boys skinny dipping into comforting
anti-modernist folk figures. By digging into the vibrant social
life of these spaces, Barbour challenges narratives that pollution
and industrialization in the nineteenth century destroyed the
relationship between Torontonians and their rivers and waterfront.
Instead, we find that these areas were co-opted and transformed
into recreation spaces: often with the acceptance of indulgent city
officials.While we take the beach for granted today, it was a novel
form of public space in the nineteenth century and Torontonians had
to decide how it would work in their city. To create a public
beach, bathing needed to be transformed from the predominantly nude
male privilege that it had been in the mid-nineteenth century into
an activity that women and men could participate in together. That
transformation required negotiating and establishing rules for how
people would dress and behave when they bathed and setting aside or
creating distinct environments for bathing. Undressed Toronto
challenges assumptions about class, the urban environment, and the
presentation of the naked body. It explores anxieties about
modernity and masculinity and the weight of nostalgia in public
perceptions and municipal regulation of public bathing in five
Toronto environments that showcase distinct moments in the
transition from vernacular bathing to the public beach: the city's
central waterfront, Toronto Island, the Don River, the Humber
River, and Sunnyside Beach on Toronto's western shoreline.
A fascinating, in-depth look at the history of competitive swimming
and the people and moments that have defined the sport. From the
first modern Olympic Games to the present, Below the Surface: The
History of Competitive Swimming covers all the greatest moments,
top rivalries, legendary swimmers, and biggest controversies in
swimming history. It features athletes like Michael Phelps and
Katie Ledecky, who have elevated the sport to an unprecedented
level, and individual performances that are groundbreaking and
awe-inspiring, such as Australian Fanny Durack becoming the first
female Olympic gold medalist in 1912 and Jason Lezak leading the US
to a come-from-behind victory in the 400 freestyle relay at the
2008 Olympics. While controversies such as doping and the advent of
tech suits have troubled the sport, a new generation of athletes
have produced fresh enthusiasm for competitive swimming. Below the
Surface offers little-known stories, unique insight, and a detailed
history of a great sport with a remarkable past and an exciting
future.
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