- Hardcover: 552 pages
- Publisher: Thorndike Press; Lrg edition (April 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0786264217
- ISBN-13: 978-0786264216
- Product Dimensions: 22.1 x 14.4 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
56,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6 in Books > Biography > Sport > Swimming
- #34 in Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Water Sports > Swimming & Diving
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Just about every other person in the world seems like an unfocused dilettante compared to long-distance swimming legend Lynne Cox, as revealed in Swimming to Antarctica. At the age of 14, after several years of training hard in pools and the open sea, she was swimming the 26 mile stretch from Catalina Island to the coast of California. A year after that, she surpassed a lifelong goal by not only swimming the English Channel but setting a new men's and women's record in the process. Rather than be satisfied, Cox aimed still higher, conquering the Cook Strait in New Zealand, the Strait of Magellan and, the Cape of Good Hope, none of which had been swum before. Being the first to swim the Bering Sea from Alaska to what was then the Soviet Union is perhaps Cox's most impressive achievement, requiring a phenomenal amount of physical strength and endurance to withstand the chilly waters and diplomatic persistence to gain permission from Gorbachev during the Cold War.
Swimming to Antarctica is Cox's remarkably detailed account of her major swims and all that went right and wrong with them. While there are plenty of highs, as one might expect in a memoir by so impressive an athlete, all is not sunshine and roses for Cox. She overcomes extreme physical hardship, predatory sharks and a swim through a sewage-soaked Nile while suffering from dysentery. There is plenty in Swimming to Antarctica to encourage even non-swimmers to work hard to achieve the seemingly impossible, but Cox, a skilled and highly readable writer, sticks to the swimming, leading the reader by example. For thrills and inspiration, it's hard to find anyone better than Lynne Cox. --John Moe, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I first picked up this book thinking to read about a swim to Antarctica, wondering how, what, when and where? And thinking they must have been crazy (having been to Antarctica myself I know the climat conditions).
Instead I found myself immersed in one woman's experience as a long distance swimmer, a sport I didn't know existed, and found myself swimming along behind in her wake living each moment as she did. Not only did she do some amazing swims, but she fought hard to convince people to let her do her swims and get the necessary logistical support.
She tells her story so well that it comes alive, and I often felt shivers running down my spine as she described the sensations of the cold water... Fortunately there are plenty of heartwarming moments to bring your body temperature back up again!
All in all a very good read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book while on holiday as something to read when i returned home. This book is truely awe-inspiring and i couldn't put it down from the moment i started reading it. I desperately wanted to finish the book to find out how Lynne did to see if she fulfilled her dream but i also never wanted it to end as it was so good. Throughout Lynne's journey's there is so much detail and passion that it is like you are part of her crew swimming with dolphins, escaping shark attacks and building bridges between countries.
This book is filled with emotion, it has made me laugh, cry, cringe, feel proud and most of all feel inspired to not only think but to actually do. The book truely is inspiring and appeals to me not just as a swimmer or a swimming coach but purely as a human being.
I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone who has ever had a dream!
This book is filled with emotion, it has made me laugh, cry, cringe, feel proud and most of all feel inspired to not only think but to actually do. The book truely is inspiring and appeals to me not just as a swimmer or a swimming coach but purely as a human being.
I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone who has ever had a dream!
Format:Paperback
Frustrated by lap swimming in pools, Lynne Cox tells us of her adventures and trials of swimming in open water and her resistance to the freezing water. This is her story of how she achieved her dream of swimming across the Bering Sea, between the US and the then Soviet Union. She shares with us her years of pains of getting there, not just the swimming in decreasingly cold water but also perservering in her battles against Soviet bureaucracy. Then comes her swim in the Antarctic, where no-one had swam before ... and lived to talk about it! It's a story very told, easy to read: a great book to take on a long journey - you won't want to put it down! An excellent book of someone's determination to live their dream.
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