What are your favorite swimming books?

Hi Randy: Thanks for sharing your list. I think Deep Water by Don Schollander and Duke Savage is one of the all time great books about swimming. It wasn't just a great biography about Don Schollander but it kinda of reflected the times in the 1960's and how swimming changed with those times. I have 3 copies of the book and was lucky to get Don to sign one through masters swimmer Robert Smith, the great backstroker from Oregon who grew up in swimming in Michigan. About 12 years ago Robert used to workout with Don in Lake Oswego and Don swam in Masters that year in Relays that made the Top Ten and I believe some of them made All American. The book was kinda of controversial because it was like a tell all about swimming. He talks about the NCAA, AAU, Olympic movement and how he changed as a person from 1964 Olympics to the 1968 Olympics. There is a section that talks about how he was going to retire the day before the 1968 Olympics. I won't say anymore because I don't want to spoil it for anyone wanting to read it in the future. This book was published in 1971. You can still find this pretty easily. Another book that I still believe is the greatest biography book written about swimming is "The 50 Meter Jungle" How Olympic Gold Medal Swimmers Are Made by Sherm Chavoor with Bill Davidson. This is kinda of a biography of Mark Spitz but goes beyond that and talks about all of the great swimmers from the Arden Hills. On the first page is a description about what's inside. "I call our sport the fifty meter jungle. The actual arena of competition is just an ordinary rectangle of water, exactly 50 meters long and 25 yards wide. But it is the focus of more scratching and clawing, more struggling for power, and more parasitism than almost anywhere in the world of sports". He then goes into how swimming changed from the 50's to the 60's to the early 70's. People don't realize it but it was Sherm Chavoor, not Doc Counsiliman, who prepared Mark Spitz for the 1972 Olympics in the spring of 1972. In fact when the college seasons was over, Mark would go back to train at Arden Hills in the summer and on college breaks. It also tells the story of how Mike Burton and Debbie Meyer got there starts and became 1968 Olympic Champions. Other swimmers in the book are John Ferris, who is Carolyn Boak's brother, Sue Pederson, Vicky King, David Fairbank, and Jeff Float just to name a few. The book talks about injustices in swimming, why swimming was so contoversal with prejedices. How it when from a private and country club sport to a more professional sport where swimmers trained 5 hours a day. He talks about parent infractions at the club, how girls/women were perceived in the sport and how sad it was when Debbie Meyer retired from swimming 8 months before the 1972 Olympics. This book is so good that every time I lend to someone they want to buy it. In fact, its the most expensive sought after book in swimming right now. I think if you can get a copy of the book for $50.00 you are lucky. That alone will attest to the greatness of this book. It was published back in 1973. Both Deep Water and the 50 Meter Jungle were not advertised much in the Swimming publications at the time because they were considered very controversial. Other Great books I would recommend are: Swimming the American Crawl by Johnny Weismuller, published 1930. Below the Surface by Dawn Fraser with Harry Gordon, published 1965. Competitive Swimming As I See It by Steve Clark, published 1967. Donna de Varona Gold Medal Swimmer by Donna de Varona and Bob Thomas, published 1968. Six Days to Swim A Biography of Jeff Farrell by Jan Henning, published in 1970. David Wilkie by Pat Besford and Tommy Long, published in 1976. Champions The Making of Olympic Swimmers by Donald F. Chambliss, published in 1988. This book is the like a 1980's version of Gold in the Water by PH Mullen.

Hi Randy: Thanks for sharing your list. I think Deep Water by Don Schollander and Duke Savage is one of the all time great books about swimming. It wasn't just a great biography about Don Schollander but it kinda of reflected the times in the 1960's and how swimming changed with those times. I have 3 copies of the book and was lucky to get Don to sign one through masters swimmer Robert Smith, the great backstroker from Oregon who grew up in swimming in Michigan. About 12 years ago Robert used to workout with Don in Lake Oswego and Don swam in Masters that year in Relays that made the Top Ten and I believe some of them made All American. The book was kinda of controversial because it was like a tell all about swimming. He talks about the NCAA, AAU, Olympic movement and how he changed as a person from 1964 Olympics to the 1968 Olympics. There is a section that talks about how he was going to retire the day before the 1968 Olympics. I won't say anymore because I don't want to spoil it for anyone wanting to read it in the future. This book was published in 1971. You can still find this pretty easily. Another book that I still believe is the greatest biography book written about swimming is "The 50 Meter Jungle" How Olympic Gold Medal Swimmers Are Made by Sherm Chavoor with Bill Davidson. This is kinda of a biography of Mark Spitz but goes beyond that and talks about all of the great swimmers from the Arden Hills. On the first page is a description about what's inside. "I call our sport the fifty meter jungle. The actual arena of competition is just an ordinary rectangle of water, exactly 50 meters long and 25 yards wide. But it is the focus of more scratching and clawing, more struggling for power, and more parasitism than almost anywhere in the world of sports". He then goes into how swimming changed from the 50's to the 60's to the early 70's. People don't realize it but it was Sherm Chavoor, not Doc Counsiliman, who prepared Mark Spitz for the 1972 Olympics in the spring of 1972. In fact when the college seasons was over, Mark would go back to train at Arden Hills in the summer and on college breaks. It also tells the story of how Mike Burton and Debbie Meyer got there starts and became 1968 Olympic Champions. Other swimmers in the book are John Ferris, who is Carolyn Boak's brother, Sue Pederson, Vicky King, David Fairbank, and Jeff Float just to name a few. The book talks about injustices in swimming, why swimming was so contoversal with prejedices. How it when from a private and country club sport to a more professional sport where swimmers trained 5 hours a day. He talks about parent infractions at the club, how girls/women were perceived in the sport and how sad it was when Debbie Meyer retired from swimming 8 months before the 1972 Olympics. This book is so good that every time I lend to someone they want to buy it. In fact, its the most expensive sought after book in swimming right now. I think if you can get a copy of the book for $50.00 you are lucky. That alone will attest to the greatness of this book. It was published back in 1973. Both Deep Water and the 50 Meter Jungle were not advertised much in the Swimming publications at the time because they were considered very controversial. Other Great books I would recommend are: Swimming the American Crawl by Johnny Weismuller, published 1930. Below the Surface by Dawn Fraser with Harry Gordon, published 1965. Competitive Swimming As I See It by Steve Clark, published 1967. Donna de Varona Gold Medal Swimmer by Donna de Varona and Bob Thomas, published 1968. Six Days to Swim A Biography of Jeff Farrell by Jan Henning, published in 1970. David Wilkie by Pat Besford and Tommy Long, published in 1976. Champions The Making of Olympic Swimmers by Donald F. Chambliss, published in 1988. This book is the like a 1980's version of Gold in the Water by PH Mullen.