Cover of Swimming with Seals

Swimming with Seals

Victoria Whitworth began swimming in the cold waters of Orkney as a means of temporary escape from a failing marriage, a stifling religious environment and a series of health problems. Over four years, her encounters with the sea and all its weathers, the friendships she made, the wild creatures she encountered, combined to transform her life. This book is a love letter, to the beach where she swims regularly and its microcosmic world, to the ever-changing cold waters where the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean meet, and to the seals, her constant companions.

Audience
adult

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Swimming with Seals? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Swimming with Seals. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Nature Cure Shares nature, nature writing, natural history
  2. Common Ground Shares nature, natural history, nature writing
  3. Otter Country: In Search of the Wild Otter Shares nature, nature writing, natural history
  4. Woodsman: Living in a Wood in the 21st Century Shares nature writing, nonfiction, nature

“If you want more of the same (science about nature), start with these.”

  1. Bloodties: Nature, Culture, and the Hunt
  2. Peterson First Guide to Insects of North America
  3. Following the Wild Bees: The Craft and Science of Bee Hunting
  4. Reptiles and Amphibians (Smithsonian Handbooks)

“If it was the natural history that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Fingers in the Sparkle Jar: A Memoir
  2. Wild Hares and Hummingbirds: The Natural History of an English Village
  3. How To Be Wild
  4. The Butterfly Isles: A Summer in Search of Our Emperors and Admirals

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. I Found My Tribe
  2. Chasing Science at Sea: Racing Hurricanes, Stalking Sharks, and Living Undersea with Ocean Experts
  3. The Secret Sea Horse
  4. The Poet and the Sailor: The Story of My Friendship with Carl Sandburg