Total Immersion : A Revolutionary Way To Swim Better And Faster

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: I loved this book! I took off 5 seconds on my 100 freestyle after reading it. It makes each and every stroke easier and lighter. It helps you go faster and develop better technique and it gets you into better shape! I've re-read the book 3 times and every time it's better. This is a must read.

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Summary: The Best Book on Swimming that I've come across
Review: I must say this is a marvelous book to read if you want to improve your swimming, especially front crawl. This book introduces some new "scientific" techniques with very logical explanations on why such techniques are more efficient. My swimming has improve tremendously (within a few weeks) since reading this book because of the said techniques. I can now swim front crawl in a 25m pool with 14 strokes (left and right arms combined) consistently (for say 20 laps) with very little kicking. Needless to say I conserve more energy and swim faster.

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Summary: swim like a fish
Review: I started swimming in my thirties, so I've never had the benefit of a swim coach. This book is the best! In the month I've been doing the drills, I've cut 10 strokes off each length, and can swim longer. Highly recommended.

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Summary: Master swimming as an art before training for it as a sport.
Review: I've been swimming (in training and competition) for 32 years, since the age of 15, and coaching for 26 years. In particular, I've spent the last 10 years intensively teaching improvement-minded adult swimmers in weekend workshops. I've distilled all those experiences into the guidance included in this book. If I had one goal in mind in writing this it was to make Total Immersion the most immediately useful how-to book available for swimmers. My promise to my readers is that I'll provide real, practical, detailed, complete and -- most of all -- clear and simple how-to information. I've been delighted to hear from so many readers that this book has been their favorite road map to achieving greater satisfaction with their swimming than they had thought possible. Happy laps, Terry Laughlin

Rating:
Summary: It seems to work...
Review: I've read the book. I've tried some of the drills. I've cut off a few strokes for every 25 yards. The ideas in this book make a lot of sense to me. I wish the author covered fly, back, and breast, too. Now, I need to see what my "real" swimmer friends think of the book.

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Summary: For the thinking swimmer
Review: If you are a swimmer and you only read one book, this should be it. The author will make you rethink your swimming. His point is this: swimming is a technical and skill sport and not an endurance sport like running. If you want to improve - work on your technique and not on your endurance. The author explains his ideas and then gives drills to work on your form. He emphasizes "fish swimming", the way your body goes thru the water. The important part of the book is the first part and it should be read more than once. The book only deals with freestyle (although the author told me he is now working on a new book that will deal with the other strokes). I have been doing the drills and I see a real improvement in my swimming.

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Summary: Too many words, not enough pictures
Review: If you can get past the hyped, rambling, infomercial style, this book can be very helpful. (The useful portion of the book could be condensed into about 50 pages.) Too much namedropping for my taste, but the drills and mental images (painted with words, not
pictures) can improve your technique in the crawl. Did not live up to my expectations from all the PR.

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Summary: NOTICE: NEW EDITION EXISTS -- MANY CHANGES
Review: In the revised and updated edition of 2004 the drills in chapter 8 are COMPLETELY changed. Why Amazon is not selling the new edition is a mystery to me. I bought the old one here and then discovered I had to replace it.

Rating:
Summary: Too much selling, not enough info
Review: Laughlin spends almost the entire book trying to convince the reader of why his method is useful and very little actually explaining how to do it. I agree with the reviewer who said it could have been a pamphlet.

Rating:
Summary: A must for any swimmer
Review: Laughlin's book presents a simple philosophy for getting the most out of your swimming. The tactical approach to swimming better will be a help to swimmers of all levels.