Thoroughness and depth are hallmarks of Howard Means's long writing career. In Splash!, he delivers a fascinating, compulsively readable history of swimming, dating back to the dawn of humankind.
All "life began with water," Means states, launching his immersive narrative in remote Egypt where, in 1933, a Hungarian explorer discovered a small, ancient cave and multiple painted figures "floating effortlessly on the rock wall... caught midstroke doing some highly relaxed version of the old-fashioned doggy paddle." These mysterious images of swimmers, estimated to be approximately 8,000 years old, gave birth to new ideas about the Earth and its prior gravitational shifts, orbits and bodies of water.
Means probes the relationship of wildlife and humans to water over centuries. He weaves in biblical passages, religious doctrine and Darwin's theory of evolution, among others. Swimming has held different meanings over time. The Greeks, while more interested in the humanities and the arts, took their swimming seriously, as a "civic virtue," while the Romans, a more practical people, treasured swimming and let it drive engineering and architecture.
Along the way of this meticulously documented and comprehensive history, Means cites examples of notable thinkers and their relationships to swimming--from Lord Byron to Ben Franklin--along with aquatic themes in literature penned by greats from William Shakespeare to Michael Ondaatje. The reach of the narrative is vast, and the research impeccable. The passion and enthusiasm of Means (67 Shots: Kent State and the End of American Innocence; Instructions for a Funeral), a life-long swimmer himself, shines on every page of this exceptional aquatic exploration. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines