Lynne Cox started swimming almost as soon as she could walk. By age 16, she had broken all records for swimming the English Channel. Her daring eventually led her to the Bering Strait, where she swam five miles in 38-degree water in just a swimsuit, cap and goggles. In between those accomplishments, she became the first to swim the Strait of Magellan, narrowly escaped a shark attack off the Cape of Good Hope, and was cheered across the 20-mile Cook Strait of New Zealand by dolphins. She even swam a mile in the Antarctic.

Lynne writes the same way she swims, with indefatigable spirit and joy, and shares the beauty of her time in the water with a poet's eye for detail. She has accomplished yet another feat --- writing a new classic of sports memoir.