Swimming to Antarctica - by Lynne Cox (Paperback)

About the Book

Now in paperback, with photos and maps added especially for this new edition, this sports memoir is the acclaimed life story of long-distance swimmer Lynne Cox, a woman whose drive and determination inspire everyone she touches. High school & older.

Book Synopsis

International Swimming Hall of Famer and Alex Award-winner Lynne Cox's classic sports memoir Swimming to Antarctica is "a portrait of rare and relentless drive" (Sports Illustrated).Here is the acclaimed life story of a woman whose determination inspires everyone she touches. Lynne Cox started swimming almost as soon as she could walk. By age sixteen, she had broken all records for swimming the English Channel. Her daring eventually led her to the Bering Strait, where she swam five miles in thirty-eight-degree water in just a swimsuit, cap, and goggles. In between those accomplishments, she became the first to swim the Strait of Magellan, narrowly escaped a shark attack off the Cape of Good Hope, and was cheered across the twenty-mile Cook Strait of New Zealand by dolphins. She even swam a mile in the Antarctic.Lynne writes the same way she swims, with indefatigable spirit and joy, and shares the beauty of her time in the water with a poet's eye for detail. And this paperback edition of Swimming to Antarctica expands upon the detail of her extraordinary atheleticism with exclusive photos and maps throughout.

From the Back Cover

Newly Illustrated with Photos and Maps Throughout (format to separate this phrase from copy)
Here is the joyful, inspirational memoir of swimmer Lynne Cox. By age sixteen, she had broken all records for English Channel swims, so she set her goals even higher: She became the first to swim the Strait of Magellan, narrowly escaped a shark attack off the Cape of Good Hope, and was cheered across the twenty-mile Cook Strait of New Zealand by dolphins. Her daring eventually led her to the thirty-eight-degree waters of the Bering Strait, which she crossed in her usual outfit -- just a swimsuit, cap, and goggles. She has even swum (LYNN - right verb ) a mile in the iceberg-choked waters of the Antarctic. With a poet's eye for detail, Cox shares the beauty of her time in the water in this new classic of sports memoir.
"[Cox has] done things the rest of us only imagine--and she's written a book that helps us to imagine them with clarity and wonder."-- The Boston Globe
"More than the story of the greatest open-water swimmer, Swimming to Antarctica is a portrait of rare and relentless drive. . . .Gripping." -- Sports Illustrated
"A tale of remarkable physical prowess and heart." -- Vogue
"Fetching and pitch-perfect . . . Full of perilous, preposterous-if-they-weren't-true scenes." - Outside Magazine
"An instant classic of adventure writing." -- Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"The only things more impressive than her heroics are her magnanimous spirit and ability to bring people together." -- Miami Herald
"Even a cursory read leaves one shivering for a warm towel." -- Entertainment Weekly
"A triumph of a positive outlook, hefty preparation, and raw courage." -- The Economist
"So compelling and immediate that even a non-swimmer can almost feel as if he'd been a participant." -- Philadelphia Inquirer
LYNNE COX has set records all over the world for open-water swimming. She was named Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year, inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2000, and honored with a lifetime achievement award from the University of California--Santa Barbara. She lives in Los Alamitos, California.

Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR SWIMMING TO ANTARCTICA
"This would make a great story even if Cox couldn't write. But she can . . . She's done things the rest of us only imagine-and she's written a book that helps us to imagine them with clarity and wonder." -THE BOSTON GLOBE

"What emerges here is an athlete whose determination is so fierce that it seems almost exotic. She is fit. She is focused. She is Lance Armstrong with body fat."-USA TODAY

"More than the story of the greatest open-water swimmer, Swimming to Antarctica is a portrait of rare and relentless drive . . . Cox's understated style makes for gripping reading."
-SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
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