Soul Of A Swimmer Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle version is available to download in english. Read online anytime anywhere directly from your device. Click on the download button below to get a free pdf file of Soul Of A Swimmer book. This book definitely worth reading, it is an incredibly well-written.
Soul of a Swimmer is the true story of Nicholas Dworet, a champion swimmer from Florida. Through interviews with his family, friends, coaches, and teammates, the book fondly describes the lifelong process of nurturing a child who has extraordinary talent and ebullient dreams as he develops into an elite athlete. As Nick matures, a young man with a remarkably humble and genuine character emerges amid his athletic successes. When he was a senior in high school, Nick found his Olympic dreams within reach. But tragically, his life was cut short in the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. Nick's story will resonate with the reader forever.
In Dip, Andrew Fusek Peters describes an extraordinary year of wild swimming. He leads us to rivers, lakes, waterfalls and hidden pools, into untamed landscapes that have the potential to surprise and move us in unexpected ways. Following in the wake of great writers such as Richard Jefferies and Edward Thomas, Dip combines meditations on place, history and myth with sharp observation and a poet's eye. As he takes the plunge and immerses himself in the elements, Andrew also begins to surface from a deep depression, making Dip at once a personal journey and about the many ways in which wild water and nature can restore us to ourselves.
The thrill of plunging--or dipping a toe--into open water brings joy, confidence, adventure, and friendship. It can wash away stress and sadness, pain and grief. Here water is a great healer, a place to feel gloriously, elementally alive and in touch with yourself, with others, and with nature. Full of life-affirming personal stories and breath-taking images of scenery and swimmers, this bookcelebrates the remarkable wild swimming community. With practical advice on how wild swimming works and how to get started--from what you'll need (a swimsuit and a smile ) to where best to go (rivers, oceans, lochs, lakes . . .)--there's never been a better time to take the plunge.
Chasing Water by Anthony Ervin,Constantine Markides Pdf
The Olympic swimmer reveals the wild and challenging journey that took place between two gold medals: “Inspiring, humorous, and often profound.”—People Magazine Anthony Ervin is an Olympic swimmer who won the gold at nineteen—and that may be one of the least interesting things about him. An athlete of Jewish and African-American descent who is also a practicing Buddhist, he auctioned off the medal he won in Sydney to help raise funds for victims of the 2004 tsunami. He had grown up battling Tourette’s syndrome, and later struggled with suicidal depression, drinking and drugs, and a period of homelessness. This blend of memoir and biography, written by Ervin in collaboration with trainer Constantine Markides, is part spiritual quest, part self-destructive bender involving Zen temples, fast motorcycles, tattoo parlors, and rock 'n' roll bands—revealing the journey that preceded his remarkable 2016 Olympic comeback as the oldest individual gold medal winner in swimming. Winner of the 2018 Buck Dawson Author Award presented by the International Swimming Hall of Fame “Gripping…Readers will understand the psyche and life of elite athletes as never before.”—Library Journal “A celebrated Olympian recounts how he rose to the top of his sport, crashed, and found redemption…The author never flinches at revealing his less-than-perfect past, and the humility he demonstrates at coming to terms with his own egotism and personal shortcomings makes the book frequently compelling. A provocative and refreshingly honest redemption memoir.”—Kirkus Reviews
Marathon Swimming The Sport of the Soul by Paul Andrew Asmuth Pdf
When the plans and dreams of a young swimmer are shattered by the United States’ boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, God opens the door of new opportunities. For Paul Asmuth, then 22, it is the end of an unfulfilled dream, and the beginning of another journey, this one remarkable and life-changing. Plunging into the astounding, grueling, hypnotic, and often oddly beautiful world of international marathon swimming competitions, Asmuth experiences both triumph and tragedy, and, in a process as long and punishing as the marathon swims themselves, slowly discovers the best of himself. If you care for resumes, Asmuth is one of the most successful marathon swimmers in history. In the sapphire seas off Italy, in the frigid lakes of Quebec, Canada, in the marshy back bays of New Jersey, in the questionable waters ringing Manhattan, swimming distances from twenty to forty miles, Asmuth emerged victorious, often to thunderous acclaim. After multiple victories at the twenty-six-mile swim across Quebec’s Lac Memphremagog, up to 20,000 spectators would cheer and call him “le roi” (the king) of their lake. But true victory is not a matter of accolades or medals, and the stories that make a real difference unfold behind the headlines. Overcoming self-doubt, nausea, hypothermia, cruel tides and dark, watery shadows both real and imagined, Asmuth calls upon passion, iron-clad resolve, and steadfast faith to emerge a changed man, attaining success in its truest and most honest form. This success does not end when Asmuth retires from competing. Coming full circle, when he hangs up his swim suit, Paul takes the knowledge, lessons and examples he learned from his own experiences and some of the world’s greatest coaches, and turns to helping others with their swimming dreams. His prayers to give back are answered by coaching opportunities at multiple World Championships and two Olympic Games, where marathon swimming is now a contested event. But this is not just the tale of a swimmer. Like any great story, Paul’s transcends sport. By listening to the voice of faith and not of fear, new dreams are born, and God’s plans are revealed.
The diaries of a remarkable young woman who was determined to live a meaningful and happy life despite her struggle with cystic fibrosis and a rare superbug—from age fifteen to her death at the age of twenty-five—the inspiration for the original streaming documentary Salt in My Soul “An exquisitely nuanced chronicle of a terrified but hopeful young woman whose life was beginning and ending, all at once.”—Los Angeles Times Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of three, Mallory Smith grew up to be a determined, talented young woman who inspired others even as she privately raged against her illness. Despite the daily challenges of endless medical treatments and a deep understanding that she’d never lead a normal life, Mallory was determined to “Live Happy,” a mantra she followed until her death. Mallory worked hard to make the most out of the limited time she had, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University, becoming a cystic fibrosis advocate well known in the CF community, and embarking on a career as a professional writer. Along the way, she cultivated countless intimate friendships and ultimately found love. For more than ten years, Mallory recorded her thoughts and observations about struggles and feelings too personal to share during her life, leaving instructions for her mother to publish her work posthumously. She hoped that her writing would offer insight to those living with, or loving someone with, chronic illness. What emerges is a powerful and inspiring portrait of a brave young woman and blossoming writer who did not allow herself to be defined by disease. Her words offer comfort and hope to readers, even as she herself was facing death. Salt in My Soul is a beautifully crafted, intimate, and poignant tribute to a short life well lived—and a call for all of us to embrace our own lives as fully as possible.
This book explores the decades between the Reform Acts of 1832 and 1884 when British poets such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Arthur Hugh Clough, Robert Browning, and Algernon Charles Swinburne, along with their transatlantic contemporary Walt Whitman, defended the civil rights of disenfranchised souls as Western nations slowly evolved toward modern democracies with shared transnational connections. For in the decades before the new science of psychology transformed the soul into the psyche, poets claimed the spiritual well-being of the body politic as their special moral responsibility. Exploiting the rich aesthetic potential of language, they created poetry with striking sensory appeal to make their readers experience the complex effects of political decisions on public spirit. Within contexts such as Risorgimento Italy, Civil War America, and Second Empire France, these poets spoke from their souls to the souls of their readers to reveal insights that eluded the prosaic forms of fiction, essay, and journalism.
From the author of The Savage God, a unique memoir of growing old, and a lesson in not going gently into that good night The ponds of Hampstead Heath are small oases; fragments of wild nature nestled in the heart of north-west London. For the best part of his life Al Alvarez – poet, critic, novelist, rock-climber and poker player – has swum in them almost daily. An athlete in his youth, Alvarez chronicles what it is to grow old with humour and fierce honesty – from his relentlessly nagging ankle which makes daily life a struggle, to infuriating bureaucratic battles with the council to keep his disabled person's Blue Badge, the devastating effects of a stroke, and the salvation he finds in the three Ss – Swimming, Sex and Sleep. As Alvarez swims in the ponds he considers how it feels when you begin to miss that person you used to be – to miss yourself. Swimming is his own private form of protest against the onslaught of time; proof to others, and himself, that he's not yet beaten. By turns funny, poetic and indignant, Pondlife is a meditation on love, the importance of life's small pleasures and, above all, a lesson in not going gently in to that good night. _____________________ 'A beautiful unfolding of a story, told in deceptively simple prose but with a great power to move' Sunday Times 'The adrenalin still flows in lively extracts' The Times 'A marvellous book... it has no business to be as invigorating and absorbing – its success is against the odds' Observer
Fiction. Short Stories. LGBTQIA Studies. Women's Studies. Sharp and stylistic, the trifecta of diptychs that is SWIMMERS IN WINTER swirls between real and imagined pasts and futures to delve into our present cultural moment: conflicts between queer people and the police; the impact of homophobia, bullying, and PTSD; the dynamics of women's friendships; life for queer women in Toronto during WWII and after; experiences of economic precarity and precarious living conditions; the work of being an artist; and dystopian worlds. These are soul-searching, plot-driven character studies. "Faye Guenther lovingly tells the stories of ordinary women whose lives have yet been mostly ignored by literature. Each character in this collection is a planet unto herself: the stories part the mists and show the miles to the surface. Dizzying, precise, and beautiful."--Thea Lim "Faye Guenther's writing is fully given over to both the heart and mind. Her clear-eyed observations of the secrets we keep and the confessions we make lend the stories in SWIMMERS IN WINTER uncommon grace and raw beauty. Guenther traces the paths of women in the city, struggling to survive, keep themselves fed and afloat, while also falling hard for each other. In turns sexy and tender, tough and head-swirling, these characters will leave you changed."--Emily Schultz
A transformative, euphoric memoir about finding solace in the unexpected for readers of H is for Hawk, It's Not Yet Dark, and When Breath Becomes Air. Ruth's tribe are her lively children and her filmmaker and author husband Simon Fitzmaurice who has ALS and can only communicate with his eyes. Ruth's other "tribe" are the friends who gather at the cove in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, and regularly throw themselves into the freezing cold water, just for kicks. The Tragic Wives' Swimming Club, as they jokingly call themselves, meet to cope with the extreme challenges life puts in their way, not to mention the monster waves rolling over the horizon. Swimming is just one of the daily coping strategies as Ruth fights to preserve the strong but now silent connection with her husband. As she tells the story of their marriage, from diagnosis to their long-standing precarious situation, Ruth also charts her passion for swimming in the wild Irish Sea--culminating in a midnight swim under the full moon on her wedding anniversary. An invocation to all of us to love as hard as we can, and live even harder, I Found My Tribe is an urgent and uplifting letter to a husband, family, friends, the natural world, and the brightness of life.
An illustrated guide to competitive swimming containing detailed overviews of the four primary strokes; racing strategies; and the most effective training methods and the science behind why they work.
For the first time in trade paperback-a classic memoir of Navy SEALs in action. In gripping prose, Captain Robert A. Gormly tells about his days as a leader in the Navy SEALs- taking readers into the night, into the water, and into battle on some of the most hair-raising missions ever assigned. Trained to a fine fighting edge just in time for Vietnam, Gormly served two tours of duty and engaged in top-secret missions in the Persian Gulf. Here, he shares his viewpoint and his experience-including what is perhaps the most graphic description ever of SEAL action in the invasion of Grenada. Gormly takes readers behind the myth of this awesome team, revealing how their lives depend on their unprecedented expertise and unparalleled courage.
Focusing on Algernon Charles Swinburne's poems on Apollo, Yisrael Levin calls for a re-examination of the poet's place in Victorian studies in light of his contributions to nineteenth-century intellectual history. Swinburne's Apollonian poetry, Levin argues, shows the poet's active participation in late-Victorian debates about the nature and function of faith in an age of changing religious attitudes. Levin traces the shifts that took place in Swinburne's conception of Apollo over a period of four decades, from Swinburne's attempt to define Apollo as an alternative to the Judeo-Christian deity to Swinburne's formation of a theological system revolving around Apollo and finally to the ways in which Swinburne's view of Apollo led to his agnostic view of spirituality. Even though Swinburne had lost his faith and rejected institutional religion by his early twenties, he retained a distinct interest in spiritual issues and paid careful attention to developments in religious thought. Levin persuasively shows that Swinburne was not simply a poet provocateur who enjoyed controversy but failed to provide valid cultural commentary, but was rather a profound thinker whose insights into nineteenth-century spirituality are expressed throughout his Apollonian poetry.
A powerful story of friendship, bravery, and a desperate bid for freedom, inspired by true events. Ming survived the famine that killed his parents during China's Great Leap Forward, and lives a hard but adequate life, working in the fields. When a group of city boys comes to the village as part of a Communist Party re-education program, Ming and his friends aren't sure what to make of the new arrivals. They're not used to hard labor and village life. But despite his reservations, Ming befriends a charming city boy called Li. The two couldn't be more different, but slowly they form a bond over evening swims and shared dreams. But as the bitterness of life under the Party begins to take its toll on both boys, they begin to imagine the impossible: freedom.
In July 2007, Lewis Gordon Pugh became the first person to swim at the North Pole, in temperatures that would kill a normal person, primarily to raise awareness of climate change. Nicknamed 'the human polar bear' for his ability to raise his body temperature at will, he has pioneered swims in the world's most hostile waters, redefining what it is possible to achieve in terms of endurance. A former member of the SAS, Lewis tells his fantastic story here for the first time. Chapters cover his childhood, growing up with his 'hero' Surgeon Rear Admiral father, his early life in South Africa, his gruelling training in the army's elite regiment, his inspiration and, of course, plenty of action/adventure stories, chronicling his many nail-biting endurance swims. With practical lessons taken from his own life, Lewis explains how recognising one's passions and taking calculated risks is essential for anyone looking to fulfil their goals. The book will also cover his expedition kayaking to the North Pole in summer 2008 and preparing for his most dangerous swim yet - on Everest! - planned for May 2010. His story is inspiring, entertaining and thrilling in equal measure, and its 39-year-old author is a much-needed role model for our times.