BOOK REVIEWS
Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui (Sportsbookofthemonth.com price: £12.69, saving £3.30 on rrp)
One of lockdown’s multiple low points came when it was announced that although pubs and shops were permitted to re-open (a development to which no-one could object), access to private and municipal swimming pools remained forbidden. This despite scientists declaring that the risk of contracting coronavirus while swimming in chlorinated water is effectively zero because the virus cannot survive in water treated with chlorine.
As an interim substitute to the early morning visit to the local pool, for several months your reviewer combined cycling with a weights-based work-out. Yet although the exercise eventually became enjoyable, the post-exercise buzz was nowhere near as gratifying as the enormously uplifting sense of satisfaction that washes over you following an hour’s worth of swimming lengths each day.
In her book, Why We Swim, published in paperback later this month, San Francisco-based Bonnie Tsui considers what is it about water that seduces us and asks why, despite its inherent dangers, do we return.
Completing a daily 2km in warmish water before enjoying a hot shower bears little relation to the many of the different forms of swimming, from wild to the open sea variety described in this excellent book, but Tsui maintains that we should ignore where we swim and consider instead the hugely beneficial effects this special form of exercise has on the human body. This undoubtedly explains why so many folks, aged 9 to 90, remain hooked on the activity.
More than 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, so it’s little wonder that around 40% of the world’s population lives within 60 miles of the coast.
Ms Tsui sets out her stall for anyone who has so much has paddled in an inch of water at the seaside: “This book is for swimmers and curious humans of every stripe and age, whether you’re drawn to water for speed or distance or transcendence,” she writes. “This is for those who heed the siren call of the water. It’s also for those who seek to understand ourselves, that lost quiet state of just being – no technology, no beeps – dating back to our watery human origins.”
Following such an inviting, open-ended introduction, it’s difficult to resist just diving in and enjoying Why We Swim. Once immersed, we discover the sport’s therapeutic characteristics and learn from swimmers situated around the world. It’s no substitute for the real thing, but it’s likely to inspire those who haven’t dipped a toe in the water for a while.
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