I loved The Three Year Swim Club! Agreed that it would make a great movie! There are so many "common sense" aspects of technique and training that I think we just take for granted - it was interesting to see how different swimming was not that long ago.
@swimrn62 said:
I recently finished The Three-Year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui's Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory by Julie Checkoway.
I read that a while ago and really enjoyed it. I had forgotten about it until this reminder. Fascinating story about something that I had never heard about.
All the NYT short pieces combined with the lack of swimming led me to purchase "Why We Swim" by Bonnie Tsui... anyone else read it? I'm going to start in on it tonight.
I finished reading "Swimming to Antartica" by Lynne Cox. Holy Mother of Pearl! Each chapter was absolutely intense and couldn't possibly be more so. Then I'd read the next chapter which was more so...
I know that this is required reading, but I just got around to it now. Thought I would post this to bump the thread because I'm sure there are a lot of people who have never read the book.
If there is a book thread theres no way i can't mention Robert Greene. All of his books are phenomenal, and will expand your understanding of the world greatly. If new to him i'd recommend Mastery
@kejoyce said:
All the NYT short pieces combined with the lack of swimming led me to purchase "Why We Swim" by Bonnie Tsui... anyone else read it? I'm going to start in on it tonight.
I finished this book last week. I didn't really like it: a handful of anecdotes of individuals, without any serious attempt to find a common thread to join them, or to generalize. Not that this would be easy, though.
Of course every individual story is interesting, as read separately, but they don't answer the "we" of the title.
It didn't help that the Spanish edition is awfully translated.
@bruno for what it's worth (apologies for never coming back to leave my review...) I didn't like it, either. It sort of itched the spot I needed (purchased it when I was unable to swim pretty much at all due to covid) but I wasn't particularly moved by any of it and didn't think it was that well written. They can't all be winners!
Why We Swim....I wish it had included more of the 'ordinary' everyday swimmers motivations--and those swimmers who are in their 90's and have not missed a day of swimming in forever and less author interactions with the main characters (that is probably a literary style issue for me). Additionally, on the other end of the spectrum....some teenagers, little kidlets etc.... One book that is a slog but interesting read for me is: The Blue Mind. Tough, slow read but there have been so many developments about the brain and how it functions it is fascinating to me. (caveat: if I had to pick a profession again it would probably be neuropsych ...not available back in my day...).
Not exactly about swimming, but may I recommend, “Mental Training for Ultrarunning”, by Addie Bracy. The mental fortitude needed for ultraswimming is pretty similar to what’s needed in ultrarunning so everything in the book is very relevant to what we do.
I first heard of the author when she was interviewed on the podcast, “Trail Runner Nation”. Since I’m a psychologist, I can be very picky and skeptical of sports psychology consultants. But I was very impressed by Addie’s grounding in evidence-based approaches and solid understanding of the research literature on the mental side of performance. I worked through the book (which has a lot of worksheets) this summer and it helped me have a summer where not only did I succeed in completing the swims I did, but I had a really good time doing it.
The book systematically went through all the different components of having a good event and helped me figure out what I could and couldn’t control. I learned to “swim the mile I’m on” and figure out what I could do in the present moment that would make me most likely to be able to keep swimming later. This helped me not only with the swims themselves, but also getting sleep the week before and more effectively managing the logistics leading up to the swims. Probably one of the most useful books I’ve ever read!
I will follow @LakeBagger’s lead and suggest two books that are not about swimming but other endurance pursuits. The first is by Deena Kastor titled Let Your Mind Run: a memoir of thinking my way to victory. This book reflects on Deena’s ever changing motivation to run and how as life changed, so did her reasons why she ran. For many of us, swimming is the constant but why we swim may be in flux. The second book I read to prepare for my 340 mile paddle race. I found it to be exactly what I wished I had preparing for my first pioneering endurance swims. It’s called Missouri River 340: First time finisher.
Comments
I loved The Three Year Swim Club! Agreed that it would make a great movie! There are so many "common sense" aspects of technique and training that I think we just take for granted - it was interesting to see how different swimming was not that long ago.
I read that a while ago and really enjoyed it. I had forgotten about it until this reminder. Fascinating story about something that I had never heard about.
All the NYT short pieces combined with the lack of swimming led me to purchase "Why We Swim" by Bonnie Tsui... anyone else read it? I'm going to start in on it tonight.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/books/review/why-we-swim-bonnie-tsui.html
I bought it after reading her NYT piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/opinion/sunday/swimming-covid.html?searchResultPosition=3
It's on the list but I haven't started it yet.
Yes I was gifted a copy and read "Why we Swim". Will be interested to know your thoughts.
I finished reading "Swimming to Antartica" by Lynne Cox. Holy Mother of Pearl! Each chapter was absolutely intense and couldn't possibly be more so. Then I'd read the next chapter which was more so...
I know that this is required reading, but I just got around to it now. Thought I would post this to bump the thread because I'm sure there are a lot of people who have never read the book.
If there is a book thread theres no way i can't mention Robert Greene. All of his books are phenomenal, and will expand your understanding of the world greatly. If new to him i'd recommend Mastery
I finished this book last week. I didn't really like it: a handful of anecdotes of individuals, without any serious attempt to find a common thread to join them, or to generalize. Not that this would be easy, though.
Of course every individual story is interesting, as read separately, but they don't answer the "we" of the title.
It didn't help that the Spanish edition is awfully translated.
dieciseisgrados.com/
@bruno for what it's worth (apologies for never coming back to leave my review...) I didn't like it, either. It sort of itched the spot I needed (purchased it when I was unable to swim pretty much at all due to covid) but I wasn't particularly moved by any of it and didn't think it was that well written. They can't all be winners!
Why We Swim....I wish it had included more of the 'ordinary' everyday swimmers motivations--and those swimmers who are in their 90's and have not missed a day of swimming in forever and less author interactions with the main characters (that is probably a literary style issue for me). Additionally, on the other end of the spectrum....some teenagers, little kidlets etc.... One book that is a slog but interesting read for me is: The Blue Mind. Tough, slow read but there have been so many developments about the brain and how it functions it is fascinating to me. (caveat: if I had to pick a profession again it would probably be neuropsych ...not available back in my day...).
Not exactly about swimming, but may I recommend, “Mental Training for Ultrarunning”, by Addie Bracy. The mental fortitude needed for ultraswimming is pretty similar to what’s needed in ultrarunning so everything in the book is very relevant to what we do.
I first heard of the author when she was interviewed on the podcast, “Trail Runner Nation”. Since I’m a psychologist, I can be very picky and skeptical of sports psychology consultants. But I was very impressed by Addie’s grounding in evidence-based approaches and solid understanding of the research literature on the mental side of performance. I worked through the book (which has a lot of worksheets) this summer and it helped me have a summer where not only did I succeed in completing the swims I did, but I had a really good time doing it.
The book systematically went through all the different components of having a good event and helped me figure out what I could and couldn’t control. I learned to “swim the mile I’m on” and figure out what I could do in the present moment that would make me most likely to be able to keep swimming later. This helped me not only with the swims themselves, but also getting sleep the week before and more effectively managing the logistics leading up to the swims. Probably one of the most useful books I’ve ever read!
https://www.amazon.com/Mental-Training-Ultrarunning-Addie-Bracy/dp/171820017X
I will follow @LakeBagger’s lead and suggest two books that are not about swimming but other endurance pursuits. The first is by Deena Kastor titled Let Your Mind Run: a memoir of thinking my way to victory. This book reflects on Deena’s ever changing motivation to run and how as life changed, so did her reasons why she ran. For many of us, swimming is the constant but why we swim may be in flux. The second book I read to prepare for my 340 mile paddle race. I found it to be exactly what I wished I had preparing for my first pioneering endurance swims. It’s called Missouri River 340: First time finisher.