Why We Swim

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Bonnie Tsui’s Why We Swimis a love letter to swimming . . . In the tradition of memoir writers like Rebecca Solnit, Tsui examines the history of swimming as a sport, a survival skill, and even a martial art . . . Her hybrid memoir and history book traces swimming’s roots around the globe while also looking at how a swim can be a meditative, transformative, and deeply personal activity.” as you possibly can. (Swimming teachers call this two-part process the "catch" and "pull.") If you make a long, complete stroke with a proper follow-through, you're applying your pulling force for longer Why We Swim is a celebration of the many varieties of joy that swimming brings to our oxygen-breathing species.”

This book must have been great fun to write. I would have enjoyed writing it as much I did reading it. The interviews, travel, (thorough) research, swimming, and musing were intriguing and powerful. We first learn to swim in the womb, Bonnie Tsui writes, and while “not everyone is a swimmer … everyone has a swimming story to tell.” Of course, it has to do with survival: Somewhere along the way, swimming helped us to get from one prehistoric lakeshore to another and escape predators of our own; to dive for that trove of bigger shellfish and get to new sources of food; to venture across oceans and settle new lands; to navigate all manner of aquatic perils and see swimming as a source of joy, pleasure, achievement. To arrive at this day, to talk about why we swim.In addition to examining the biology of it, the author explores the psychological aspect of our love of water- starting with herself. The author is a lifelong swimmer— on the swim team as a child, then swimming to recover from knee surgery, while pregnant with two sons, and even swimming out to Alcatraz Island. She talks to Kim Chambers, one of the best marathon swimmers in the world today (she started swimming as an adult after nearly losing her leg to amputation, after the most horrifyingly everyday accident: she tripped while wearing high heels, and fell down the stairs outside her apartment). Of swimming in the deep ocean, Kim says this: Why We Swim is a gorgeous hybrid of a book. Bonnie Tsui combines fascinating reporting about some of the world's most remarkable swimmers with delightful meditations about what it means for us naked apes to leap in the water for no apparent reason. You won't regret diving in.”

In 2015, she became the first woman to swim from the Farallon Islands to the Golden Gate Bridge – a distance of about 30 miles. Chapter 10: Energy Expenditure During Walking, Jogging, Running, and Swimming" in Exercise Physiology: Nutrition, Energy, and Human Performance by William McArdle et al. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2015, p601. Featured in San Francisco Chronicle's 10 books by Bay Area authors that should be on your holiday list” A harsh interpretation of this book is a hodgepodge of stuff related to swimming: early human history, various anecdotes from the author and others, positive and negative health effects (physical and mental), swimming as a social sport or as a competitive one, etc. A more generous interpretation is that it's view of the world and ourselves through the lens of swimming. air above. Getting into "cold" water is like touching "cold" metal: both feel cold because they conduct (and steal) heat from your body very effectively.

As she looks at competition and what drives athletes to swim competitively, Tsui speaks with five-time Olympian Dara Torres. But competition also exists for explorers, such as the open-water swimmer Lewis Pugh, who has swum at the North Pole and in Antarctica’s Ross Sea. “Being first is everything,” Pugh tells Tsui, adding that “it’s a competition in creativity.” The great intake of air, a breath that keeps a human able to move through water as if we were not gone from our breathable blue past.” This book isn't much what I thought it would be from the trailer. It's all about effusive feelings and almost romantic notions of our Earth's water. Of course there is some science and reality but it's minority of the whole.

Photo: Even the best swimmers create drag. Notice the turbulence forming around this swimmer's hand and body as they push through the pool. Photo by Shane Manson courtesy of US Marine Corps But I've always been a terrible swimmer. It started with swimming lessons as a kid, but it never came intuitively to me as it did so many others. I saw them zip through the water with barely a motion. Meanwhile, though I was getting the same lessons, I was the one thrashing in place. It's what we do with that knowledge—and with that precious, not infinite resource—that's one of many ongoing and essential questions of our lives, the answer to which will leave a reality in its wake for future generations.We also told guests to ‘whisper-their-words’......( no loud or rude behavior or they would be asked to leave) The pandemic has stopped me and many others to swim in our usual spots. The loss is felt until now. I swim not only for fitness but also the feel of water surrounding me, the way it buoys you, the sense of freedom and weightlessness, untethered from technology (!) I could go on. Tsui is a poetic writer whose flowing, immersive prose and colorful storytelling will hold significant appeal for readers—especially swimmers—of all curiosities.” Charlotte Epstein, for example, a court stenographer who in 1903 formed the Women's Swimming Association. By 1920 she was managing the US Olympic Team's female swimmers, who were collecting gold medals by the handful. She also personally trained a woman who went on to set 29 national and world records, won three medals in the '24 olympics, and swam the English Channel with a time two hours faster than the men's record.