WATERLOG A Swimmers Journey Through Britain

Narrator Mike Cooper’s enthusiasm and wry British tones capture the luminous wonders of this reissued nature classic of “wild swimming.” Roger Deakin swims across Britain in every sort of body of water—freezing mountain lochs, moats, canals, spas, oceans, lakes, clean and dirty rivers. He swims with salmon and eels, naked and in a wet suit, in midsummer and midwinter. Cooper is compelling as he recounts, with quiet authority, histories and random facts as Deakin travels across the land—or more correctly, the water. Cooper expresses the thread of subtle rebellion that underlies this unstructured swimming as British “health and safety” are gently mocked, stuffy college security is dodged, and apologies are issued to Her Majesty’s Coastguard after a swim is completed. A.B. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2021]