Splash!

‘This fascinating history of how, where and why humans swim…is perfect reading for those missing a splash-about during the lockdown.’ - Katy Guest, Guardian‘deeply researched and written in an accessible and humorous style’ - Times Literary Supplement‘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!’ - Rowdy Gaines, three-time Olympic Gold Medalist and Olympic television swimming analyst‘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…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.’ - Julie Checkoway, New York Times bestselling author of THE THREE-YEAR SWIM CLUB

Howard Means is the author or co-author of ten books, most recently 67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocence, currently being developed as a feature-length film by Everyman Pictures (Jay Roach) and Little Stranger Picture (Tina Fey & Jeff Richmond). He began swimming competitively when he was five years old, continued through college, then coached for seven years. Swimming continues to define his life, and he practices it in pools, rivers, lakes, quarries, and oceans.