|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Gutschein erhalten
Tauschen Sie jetzt Waterlog: A Swimmer's Journey Through Britain gegen einen Amazon-Gutschein in Höhe von EUR 0,40 ein - einlösbar für Tausende von Artikeln bei Amazon.de. Entdecken Sie mehr eintauschbare Bücher im Bücher Trade-In Shop. Bitte beachten Sie die Teilnahmebedingungen.
 Jetzt für Amazon Student anmelden und um 20% erhöhten Eintauschwert sichern. |
Wird oft zusammen gekauft
Produktinformation
|
Mehr über den Autor
› Besuchen Sie die Seite von Roger Deakin auf Amazon
Produktbeschreibungen
Amazon.co.uk
While swimming in the moat located in his own back garden, inspired by thoughts of his son's current quest travelling in Australia and John Cheever's classic short story, The Swimmer, Roger Deakin decided he would undertake his own adventure and swim across Britain.
The Rambling Association's Right to Roam campaign is well publicised in the UK, so should that not include our right to swim in our lakes, dykes, and tarns? Deakin was ready to prove it did and planned a trip around Britain which would take him to numerous wild swimming venues.
Waterlog, is Deakin's account of his journey. He seeks out tarns high in the hills of north Wales, swims with salmon in Somerset and eels in the Fens. He describes the nature he sees around him from his unusual perspective inches above water level. His love of swimming away from the confines of a swimming pool comes through strongly in his writing. Wild swimming is an unusual hobby in modern society as we are constantly told how our rivers and lakes have become polluted by large industries disposing of waste via waterways and chemical fertilisers washing off farmers fields into out rivers. During his visit to a weir on the River Avon in Worcestershire, Deakin's hosts and fellow swimmers show him a letter they have received from the local environment agency outlining the dangers of swimming in the river. The letter describes how sewage can constitute up to 80 percent of the river flow and increase the risk of catching Weil's disease. Deakin takes in the scientific argument, arguing that the figures show that very few people catch Weil's Disease in the UK and of those who do, they are invariably not river swimmers.
Deakin has produced a deeply personal account of his journey. He informs us of any cultural, historical or geographic points of interest in a highly descriptive writing style which does not, however, read as an adventure story. Unfortunately, this means there is no climax to the book as a whole, but it does mean each chapter stands alone as a description of each area. Together, they make an interesting read and leave the reader with a wealth of information from an unusual perspective. --Stephen Payne -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine vergriffene oder nicht verfügbare Ausgabe dieses Titels.
Pressestimmen
"A wonderful and romantic tale told by a true English eccentric...think Ratty, think Mole--enchanting." - Michele Roberts, Financial Times
Buchdeckel | Copyright | Inhaltsverzeichnis | Auszug | Stichwortverzeichnis | Rückseite
Tags(Was ist das?)Bei einem Tag handelt es sich um ein Schlagwort, das zum Produkt passt.
Tags erleichtern allen Kunden die Suche und die Sortierung ihrer Lieblingsprodukte. |
Kundenrezensionen
Deakin versteht es wie kaum einer, seine persönlichen Erfahrungen beim Schwimmen in Flüssen, Bächen, Kanälen, Strömen, Teichen, Gräben, Seen, Meeren, Freibädern und Wasserfällen minutiös und authentisch zu beschreiben.
Aber nicht nur das - er bindet diese Schilderungen ein in eine wohl durchdachte Struktur von geschichtlichen und gesellschaftspolitischen Diskursen über den Umgang mit der Natur im Allgemeinen und dem (wilden) Wasser im Besonderen.
Mal ehrlich, in welchem Buch ist schon ein Autor mit Fröschen auf Augenhöhe geschwommen, um im nächsten Atemzug zu erläutern, wie sich die Entwicklung der Kurbäder in England seit dem 19. Jahrhundert gestaltet hat? Oder welcher Schwimmer schwimmt schon durch einen Fluss, wird dann von Anglern beschimpft und gibt sich dann einer Betrachtung über das Forellenfischen und Fliegenlarven und dem Eigentumsrecht an Flussufern hin?
Es ist diese großartige Mischung aus Gefühl und Wissen, die dieses Buch zum besonderen Lesevergnügen macht. Und man wird immer wieder gern zum Wörterbuch greifen, um sich auch die letzten Wasserpflanzen und -tiere vorstellen zu können. Den Übersetzer dieses Buches beneide ich nicht um seine Aufgabe!
In Großbritannien hat das Buch tiefe Spuren hinterlassen - es gibt inzwischen Bildbände zum Thema Schwimmen in freien Gewässern, es gibt eine Video-Kolumne auf der Homepage des Guardian zum Thema. Wo sind die Pendants für andere Länder?
His writing very effectively describes both the athletic demands of his undertaking and things ecological and to do with the natural history of UK waters, in vibrant detail. The sceptics among us are nevertheless buoyed up by his passion for the subject.
In addition, he has researched the local history of most of the swimming venues and is able to account some interesting tidbit with each swim. Deakin entertained me with his various references to other literary works and to more generally celebrated persons or events in the British psyche. This all combines to create a gently nostalgic account of British water-landscapes, which are in the most part lost to the majority of its inhabitants today.
I was left knowing very little about the man, but hungry for more anecdotes of other swims. Quite charming.
Deakin takes off through the seas, ponds, lakes, rivers and pools of Britain to embark on an aquatic adventure through the country. It is a frog's eye view of the landscape, and the perspective offers a cleansing, healthy and subversive view on the surrounding area.
Frequently Deakin is prevented from swimming where he wants by jobsworths and signs from the dreaded 'environment agency'. But he braves opposition, as well as some extreme conditions to swim in a huge range of places, from the Cornish coast to the caves of Yorkshire, from the urban lidos of London to following Orwell's footsteps on the remote Scottish island of Jura.
There are some wonderful scenes and descriptions in the book. My favourite was his visit to Polruan in Cornwall, where every year 10 year old schoolchildren swim across the harbour in front of cheering parents before gathering for a huge hot chocolate and cream buns party. A hugely nourishing educational experience, as Deakin records, and a refreshing change from most modern day swimming in schools where budget cuts and health and safety fears prevent children from swimming more than a few derisory lengths in sanitised conditions.
Nature swimming is a subversive act as it necessitates veering off the regulated roads, cycle paths and official walkways that agencies would have us travel along. Deakin enjoys a quirky angle that freshens up the well worn genre of British travel writing. He combines the water log of his various swims with a wealth of local history, literature, anecdote and environmental advice. He was a meticulous and intelligent noticer of the natural world around him and his vision of Britain encourages the reader to take a fresh look at his or her life, get out of the house and seek out some quirky and refreshing swims of their own.
Kunden diskutieren
|
Das Forum zu diesem Produkt
Fragen stellen, Meinungen austauschen, Einblicke gewinnen Aktive Diskussionen in ähnlichen Foren
Kundendiskussionen durchsuchen
|
Ähnliche Foren
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lieblingslisten
Ähnliche Artikel finden
Anhand des Sachgebietes nach ähnlichen Produkten suchen:
Ihr Kommentar
|
