The Complete Book of Swimming (Paperback)

by Phillip Whitten (Author) "IF EVERY TIME you take a short flight of stairs you find yourself huffing and puffing, think of Paul Bragg..." (more)
Key Phrases: consistent breathing pattern, backstroke flip turn, dolphin breaststroke, United States, New York, Lynda Myers (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Experts agree that swimming is the best and most complete form of excercise. Here is the most authoritative and comprehensive guide to the sport.

From the Inside Flap
Experts agree that swimming is the best and most complete form of excercise. Here is the most authoritative and comprehensive guide to the sport.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (June 21, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679746676
• ISBN-13: 978-0679746676
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #512,176 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not highly technical but highly encouraging., January 4, 1997

By A Customer

a volume that preaches to the choir of masters (and would be) swimmers. discussions of benefits of swimming, weight loss, strokes, masters swimming & more. maybe the best starter book available for someone interested in getting started in swimming. not bed for those of us in it, but not as informative for stroke technique as other volumes. loses ponts on the one to ten scale due to lack of technical improvement information

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The complete book of the excitement of swimming, April 15, 2001

By	luij (South America) - See all my reviews

This book is great for getting started. If your first thought is,"do I really wanna go all the way up to the pool, get in my swimming trunks and jump into the cold wet?", just open this book and you'll already be in the water. Dr. Whitten has so much enthusiasm for the sport, that he could probably even convince a cat to take up swimming. I bet there are better books for competitive swimmers, which have more complete work-outs or are more technical, but this book gives you a bit of everything and it also explains WHY you should take up swimming.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Little about swimming, a lot about everything else, March 22, 2004

By	The Reader from California (California, USA) - See all my reviews

Why are swim book authors so lousy? This one is worse than the Total Immersion book. More pages are devoted to topics around swimming than swimming itself. There are chapters on health, diet, etc. etc. That's not necessarily bad, but I'd rather have a smaller, more focused book just about swim technique. In addition, the author gets carried away with love of his sport, asserting that swimming will lead to a better sex life, longevity, wealth, world peace. Well, many fitness regimes will improve your health. Buy it used and keep your expectations low.