Splash!

"What could be more audacious an act than the attempt to tell the entire 10,000-year story of swimming in a single volume? But that is exactly what Howard Means's Splash! aims to do. Splash! is an exuberant and sweeping cultural history of the sport and a thoughtful meditation on its possible origins and humankind's larger relationship to water itself. From the first evidence of swimming in Middle Eastern desert cave art to "aquatic heroism" in ancient Roman warfare, to a visit with the uber-stars and superhuman speeds of the 21st century--Means takes us on a breezy, easily readable journey across time and space to help us even to begin to understand why we took to the water in the first place and why we still insist on splashing about in it today. A great gift for the swimmer in you or in your life."

"Howard Means' Splash! has raised the bar for the 'swimoir'! He takes masterful strokes through 10,000 years of the cultural and social history of swimming and makes the strongest case yet written on why everyone should swim."

"Splash! is an incredible book--the most amazing stories of anything and everything you wanted to know about the world and culture of swimming and its history. I loved every page!"

"With wit and rich detail,... Means's delightful history of humans in water simultaneously educates and entertains."

"A nimble social history of humans at play in water... Devoted swimmers will want to splash about in this entertaining narrative."

"A thoughtful,... comprehensive, well-researched homage to swimming as a component of survival, leisure activity, and competitive sport"

"Splash is a tour de force across the history of swimming... One of the better explanations of swimming I've ever read.... A joy to read. It should be on every swimmer's reading list and in every swim bag alongside cap, goggles, fins, and paddles."