What makes this book far more than a Googled list of watery factoids is Ms Sherr's energetic focus on the newest swimming research and her articulate devotion to swimming as a way of life.

ECONOMIST: Lynn Sherr��s new book offers all the skinny on dipping

But what is only now coming to be understood, thanks to new scientific research, is the terrible price that men pay for their devotion, and the shocking biological advantage that women derive from indulging it.

ECONOMIST: Why men should stay at home and look after their babies