Swimming & diving

  • Ultimate dive sites

    £22.00

    50 of the most amazing diving sites and experiences from around the world.

  • How to wild swim

    £14.99

    Whether you want to explore remote beaches and mountain lochs, improve your confidence in open water, refine your swimming technique, or have a race or long-distance swim challenge coming up, ‘How to Wild Swim’ offers the perfect practical foundation to help you find your perfect adventure and achieve your goal.

  • The ripple effect

    £20.00

    After the success of Taking the Plunge in 2019, Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan have seen wild swimming take off. From those who bathe in ice cold sunrise waters to wild swimmers under a moonlit sky, whether you like a dip in the buff, ice therapy or are on a mission to find like-minded people to share the experience of menopause, mental health issues and more, there is a community out there for everyone. As they swim their way through the country, they find a ripple effect. Swimmers changing the world and transforming their own lives together. As they spread the joy of immersion they also unearth tips and tricks from the wild swimming community, from the best spots, to safety tips and most importantly, how to find your own wild tribe.

  • Swim

    £35.00

    The Monocle team dips its toe into the world of swimming, revealing 100 beautiful and inspiring places to take the plunge. Swimming is excellent exercise of course, but it’s so much more than that: it can be a transcendental experience, offering us space to reflect and to escape. It’s an antidote to screens and all-encompassing technology. Perhaps it’s the shedding of inhibitions that come with a dip, or could it be that getting somewhere under our own steam is an act that’s health-giving, refreshing and life-affirming? Whatever it means to you, swimming – alone or with others, badly or brilliantly – is about being in the moment. This book celebrates bathing with full-colour photography, revealing the editors’ chosen spots from inner-city architectural wonders to lakes, beach clubs, and bagni.

  • Sea pools

    £25.00

    ‘Sea Pools’ begins with an introduction to sea pools within the history of outdoor swimming, their unique designs and architectural significance and commentary on the resurgent appreciation for sea swimming in the 21st century. Chris Romer-Lee selects 70 of the most beautiful and culturally significant sea pools from around the world, including the 25-metre cliffside Avalon Rock Pool in new South Wales, Australia, the sublime Pozo de las Calcosas in Spain that is shrouded in volcanic rock, and Ireland’s historic Vico Baths to name but a few. Sea Pools also includes four insightful essays. The book is illustrated throughout with beautiful colour photography, as well as fascinating archive material to give an insight into the provenance of these vital sanctuaries.

  • This beating heart

    £9.99

    At forty-three, Christina Lennox thought her future was settled: marriage to Ed, children, a house of their own. But this is not that future: her marriage has ended, fractured by the stress of five rounds of IVF and two miscarriages. Overwhelmed by grief and disappointment, Ed has relocated to San Francisco and Christina’s dream of becoming a mother rests on persuading him to let her go ahead with one final round of IVF, using the last frozen embryo they have stored at the clinic. But when Ed drops a bombshell that threatens to undo everything Christina has strived for, she is forced, once again, to realign her plans: is this the end of her dream, or an opportunity to consider a different – perhaps happier – version of her future?

  • The swimmer

    £20.00

    Roger Deakin, author of the immortal ‘Waterlog’ and ‘Wildwood,’ was a man of unusually many parts. A born writer who nonetheless took decades to write his first book, Roger was also variously – and sometimes simultaneously – maverick ad-man, seller of stripped pine furniture on the Portobello Road, cider-maker, teacher, environmentalist, music promoter, and filmmaker. But above all he was the restorer of ancient Walnut Tree Farm in Suffolk, the heartland which he shared with a host of visitors, both animal and human, and wrote about – as he wrote about all natural life – with rare attention, intimacy, precision and poetry. Roger Deakin was unique, and so too is this joyful work of creative biography, told primarily in the words of the subject himself, with support from a chorus of friends, family, colleagues, lovers and neighbours.

  • Aquanaut

    £9.99

    The enthralling autobiography of cave-diver Rick Stanton, who played a key role in the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue.

  • This Beating Heart

    £14.99

    At forty-three, Christina Lennox thought her future was settled: marriage to Ed, children, a house of their own. But this is not that future: her marriage has ended, fractured by the stress of five rounds of IVF and two miscarriages. Overwhelmed by grief and disappointment, Ed has relocated to San Francisco and Christina’s dream of becoming a mother rests on persuading him to let her go ahead with one final round of IVF, using the last frozen embryo they have stored at the clinic. But when Ed drops a bombshell that threatens to undo everything Christina has strived for, she is forced, once again, to realign her plans: is this the end of her dream, or an opportunity to consider a different – perhaps happier – version of her future?

  • The Outdoor Swimmers’ Handbook

    £22.00

    Bringing together the art, sport and science of being an outdoor swimmer, founder of The Outdoor Swimming Society Kate Rew shares everything you need to know to enjoy swims in the wild. From cold acclimatisation and localised weather to treating the ‘screaming barflies’ and finding the biggest full moon you’ll ever see, this book will take you to the shore, launch you into the water and be a lifelong handbook for your aquatic adventures.

  • Coming Up for Air

    £20.00

    Longlisted for Autobiography of the Year, Sports Book Awards 2022

    The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller

    ‘Honest and moving – everything a memoir should be’ The Sun

    ‘An illuminating look at what it takes to be an Olympian ? in this story, passion reigns supreme’ Cosmopolitan

  • Why We Swim

    £9.99

    Take a dive into the deep with writer and swimmer Bonnie Tsui and discover what it is about water that seduces us, heals us and brings us together. Our evolutionary ancestors swam for survival. Now we swim in freezing Arctic waters, wide channels, and piranha-infested rivers just because they are there. Swimming is an introspective and quiet sport in a chaotic age. It is therapeutic for those who are injured and it is one route to that elusive, ecstatic state of Flow. Propelled by stories of polar swim champions, a Baghdad swim club, Olympian athletes, modern-day samurai swimmers and even an Icelandic fisherman who improbably survived a six-hour swim in the wintry Atlantic, ‘Why We Swim’ takes us around the globe in a remarkable, all-encompassing account of the world of swimming.

Nomad Books