I did; it was marvelous! I suspect several of my friends would also enjoy it; I've crossposted to GoodReads and Amazon. I am trying out crossposting book reviews to GoodReads, but that doesn't work for series books as well if I lazily just review the entire series here. And I only bother crossposting to Amazon if it's a smaller book or I feel particularly strongly about it. Most of the things I read already have 98430924893 similar reviews over there, though.
I super-appreciate the cross-posting. I don't really anticipate this book getting any traction outside of word of mouth because of its many weirdnesses. I must rely on the people who like it to get it to other people they judge will also like it. *bows*
Book 2 this year, I think. I am going to skip backwards in time to see how Always Falling met Dancer. :)
I am so pleased to hear that you liked The Boys in the Boat. I was happy to read a well-written book that tied together so many different and relevant interests. The writing quality for rowing-related books can be...so-so at times.
I don't think I've read any other books about rowing, but yeah, this one was stellar. (I have thought repeatedly since about your "all-ass or no-ass" comment about the inability to do it half-assed. I still haven't made it down to the Pocock Center.)
I would give The Shell Game, The Amateurs, and The Red Rose Crew 6 oars, 6 oars, and 4 oars, respectively, out of 8. I wish there was a women's equivalent to The Boys in the Boat. Even now, the US women's national team has been on a crazy-good roll, winning 8 consecutive world or Olympic titles (as noted at the bottom of the page here), and yet most of the media attention in the rowing world has been focused on the men's squad. For instance, row2k has a whole video series called The Training Center focused on the men's training regimen (on the right-hand sidebar). I don't mind a little eye candy, but sheesh. Male rowers are already plenty full of themselves.
A lot of this has to do with the general difference in how men's and women's athletics are perceived - it's far from unique to rowing. But it still peeves me.
It was interesting to see one rower reappear last fall, who had quit the team previously. Apparently he'd read The Boys in the Boat and it got him all fired up again. It's so rare to have that happen, but I think
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Did you have the hard version or e version of Deep? I understand that he corrected quite a bit for the e version. But yes, he's not a scientist and there were times it showed.
Not sure apnea exercises would help your swimming because your practicing 'breathing up' which is a series of breaths before diving under rather than a breathing technique you'd use for every breath like you do swimming. But, even basic freediving helps you to relax in the water and waste less energy, which would help with your swimming.
I'm not sure there's guidelines for health issues such as asthma and freediving yet. AIDA is probably the most regulated freediving program so far, I'll ask one of my instructor friends about this and get back to you. Might be that since you'd be able to quickly return to the surface on a breath hold dive that asthma isn't an issue, but I want to check before I say that to you for sure.
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Book 2 this year, I think. I am going to skip backwards in time to see how Always Falling met Dancer. :)
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I am so pleased to hear that you liked The Boys in the Boat. I was happy to read a well-written book that tied together so many different and relevant interests. The writing quality for rowing-related books can be...so-so at times.
Reply
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A lot of this has to do with the general difference in how men's and women's athletics are perceived - it's far from unique to rowing. But it still peeves me.
It was interesting to see one rower reappear last fall, who had quit the team previously. Apparently he'd read The Boys in the Boat and it got him all fired up again. It's so rare to have that happen, but I think ( ... )
Reply
Not sure apnea exercises would help your swimming because your practicing 'breathing up' which is a series of breaths before diving under rather than a breathing technique you'd use for every breath like you do swimming. But, even basic freediving helps you to relax in the water and waste less energy, which would help with your swimming.
I'm not sure there's guidelines for health issues such as asthma and freediving yet. AIDA is probably the most regulated freediving program so far, I'll ask one of my instructor friends about this and get back to you. Might be that since you'd be able to quickly return to the surface on a breath hold dive that asthma isn't an issue, but I want to check before I say that to you for sure.
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