(Ebook) Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui ISBN 9781643750514, 1643750518

(Ebook) Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui ISBN 9781643750514, 1643750518

An immersive, unforgettable, and eye-opening perspective on swimming — and on human behaviour itself.  Take a dive into the deep and discover what it is about water that seduces us, heals us and brings us together.

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. 

"Drawing on personal experience, history, biology, and social science, [Tsui] conveys the appeal of ‘an unflinching giving-over to an element.’ An absorbing, wide-ranging story of humans’ relationship with the water."  -  Kirkus Reviews

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.