For many swimmers, the act of swimming is a tonic, in that old-fashioned sense of the word: it is a restorative, a stimulant, undertaken for a feeling of vigor and well-being. The word tonic comes from the Greek tonikos, “of or for stretching".
Read by Angie Kane. I spotted this in the Libro.fm audiobook sale and thought it looked intriguing: I didn't expect such a comprehensive survey of the history of swimming, from prehistoric times (I was especially fascinated by the chapter on the likelihood that the humans at Gobera swam in their lake) to modern competitive swimming.
Tsui covers five major reasons to swim -- survival, well-being, community, competition and flow. She discusses how various communities throughout history have adapted to swimming -- for instance, free-diving fishers in south-east Asia and Japan, or 'human seal' Guðlaugur Friðþórsson who survived six hours in 5o water -- and the ways in which swimming has been used and recommended as a therapy for centuries. She describes the creep of racial segregation in twentieth-century America, reducing access to swimming for non-white Americans. It's not just a leisure issue, but a question of being able to swim -- being able to avoid death by drowning.
I learnt about samurai swimming, and was inspired by the accounts of people who've overcome major physical challenges via the 'salt water cure' -- sea-swimming. "Being in the ocean, you can become part of the food chain at any moment," writes Tsui. (In 21st-century Britain you are, sadly, more likely to encounter the end product of the food chain if you swim in the sea.) And Tsui's mention of Lewis Pugh, who swam across the North Pole to highlight the climate catastrophe, led me to some videos that I swear will cool you down on the hottest of days.
Reading this book made me want to swim more often, especially in rivers and the sea. I already know it improves my health, mentally and creatively as well as physically.
Read because: I am a keen swimmer and was intrigued by this history of swimming.
No comments:
Post a Comment