{"product_id":"pondlife-a-swimmers-journal-9781408841020","title":"Pondlife: A Swimmer's Journal","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe ponds of Hampstead Heath are small oases; fragments of wild nature nestled in the heart of north-west London. For the best part of his life Al Alvarez--poet, critic, novelist, rock-climber and poker player--has swum in them almost daily. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn athlete in his youth, Alvarez, now in his eighties, chronicles what it is to grow old with humor and fierce honesty--from his relentlessly nagging ankle which makes daily life a struggle, to infuriating bureaucratic battles with the council to keep his disabled person's Blue Badge, the devastating effects of a stroke, and the salvation he finds in the three Ss--Swimming, Sex and Sleep. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs Alvarez swims in the ponds he considers how it feels when you begin to miss that person you used to be--to miss yourself. Swimming is his own private form of protest against the onslaught of time; proof to others, and himself, that he's not yet beaten. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBy turns funny, poetic and indignant, \u003ci\u003ePondlife\u003c\/i\u003e is a meditation on love, the importance of life's small pleasures and, above all, a lesson in not going gently in to that good night.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Bloomsbury Paperbacks\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/16\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781408841020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.40lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.80h x 5.00w x 0.70d","brand":"Al Alvarez","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45038162903221,"sku":"9781408841020","price":14.45,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_6b5105d6-96b7-4164-b306-9df1376631dd.jpg?v=1737474886","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/pondlife-a-swimmers-journal-9781408841020","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}