Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer

by Lynne Cox

In her early years, Lynne Cox was just a chubby girl who liked to swim. A lot. She wasn’t particularly fast, but she showed great endurance. She could swim for hours. When a teammate’s mother told her that she would someday swim the English Channel, Lynne set a new personal goal.

The English Channel, the Strait of Magellan, and the Bering Strait are only a few of this determined distance swimmer’s accomplishments. In her memoir, you will read about many of them in great detail.

Unfortunately, humility does not appear to be one of Lynne’s accomplishments. As the book progresses, she becomes more and more self-congratulatory and self-centered.

I sprinted through the first half of this memoir and floundered through the second half. I wish that I could say better things about this book.

5/17/10