James E. Counsilman

This book is a comprehensive treatment of competitive pool swimming. It can be divided into a part covering swimming technique (chapters 1-6) and a second part (chapters 7-11) which covers various topics such as workout planning and physiology. The many photos (and also the book in general) are of very poor print quality. The book is written in a technical tone.

Although the book is geared towards professional coaches at world-class level, I believe that I was nevertheless able to understand most of the material. The second part I found rather boring/dull; this may at least partly be caused by the fact that this part is not so relevant to my situation.

I appreciate the first part much more. It covers each competitive style in great detail. It is very scientific, i.e., it states uncertainty clearly, e.g., (p.81, caption at Figure 3-7) "If the stroke pictured here is indeed a more effective one, the authors are unable to determine why." A lot of photos of elite swimmers are shown. Also, for each stroke a sequence of drawings of a whole stroke cycle is provided; these drawings (as well as the other drawings in the book) are of high anatomical quality.… (plus d'informations)