Twelve Books About Swimming

Choosing what to give to a friend who's a swimming enthusiast on his/her special occasion should not be hard when one thinks about the wide variety of swimming accessories available in the market. But other than the usual swimsuit, swim cap, or such other swimming needs, one may also consider giving a book on swimming.

Here are 12 books recommended as gift ideas for your swimming friends:

1. "First To The Wall: 100 Years Of Olympic Swimming," by Kelly A. Gonsalves and Susan A. LaMondia - This book is a review of one hundred years of Olympic swimming. Photographs are by Tim Morse.

2. "Get Set! Swim," by Jeannine Atkins - This book is a story about a girl's perseverance in succeeding at competitive swimming. Valuable lessons can be learned by the whole family from this book. Illustrations are by Hector Viveros Lee.

3. "The Springboard in the Pond: An Intimate History of the Swimming Pool," by Thomas A.P. van Leeuwen - This book attempts to study the nature and architectural form of the swimming pool and all things that are related to it. It contains over 200 illustrations, 28 of which are in color.

4. "Open Water Swimming: A Complete Guide for Distance Swimmers and Triathletes," by Penny Lee Dean - Those who participate in triathlon or open water swimming competitions will find great use for this book. It includes training programs and lessons for open water swimming beginners. The book contains more than a hundred photos and illustrations.

5. "Superstars of Men's Swimming and Diving," by Paula Edelson and Howard Keiser - The history of competitive swimming and diving is taken up in this book. It describes the achievements of some of the well-known male divers and swimmers who successfully competed in these sports. The book has 64 pages.

6. "The Complete Book of Swimming," by Phillip Whitten - This book, with 400 pages, is a comprehensive guide to the sport of swimming.

7. "Mastering Swimming," by Jim Montgomery and Mo Chambers - A great book to help polish your stroke (whether backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, or freestyle). It also offers training lessons on open water swimming and triathlon.

8. "Complete Conditioning for Swimming," by Dave Salo and Scott Riewald - This book offers training programs on how to perform any of the swimming strokes more powerfully. It also provides exercises and drills for each of the strokes, plus some guides on split-second turns.

9. "Swimming Anatomy," by Ian McLeod - A great book for those who want to improve on their starts and turns. It includes 74 highly effective training exercises with step-by-step descriptions and full-color illustrations.

10. "The Swim Coaching Bible," by Dick Hannula and Nort Thornton - This is a very good swim coaching resource that imparts knowledge on the proper techniques for every stroke as well as effective training programs for any swim event. The book also offers principles on swim coaching.

11. "The Fit Swimmer: 120 Workouts & Training Tips," by Marianne Brems - This book provides useful lessons on how one can become a faster swimmer with programs designed for this purpose. It challenges a swimmer to work harder at practice and provides him/her the opportunity for change from routine.

12. "Extraordinary Swimming For Every Body," by Terry Laughlin - This is an instructional book on Total Immersion, the method of swimming instruction which the author himself developed. It provides techniques on how one can move more efficiently and naturally in the water.

You may need to consider the specific swimming interests of your friend when choosing any of these books to give him/her.