{"product_id":"pondlife-a-swimmers-journal-1408841029","title":"Pondlife: A Swimmer's Journal","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1408841029\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Alvarez, Al\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e New\u003c\/p\u003e\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.An 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.As 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.By turns funny, poetic and indignant, Pondlife 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Mia Karts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51895758520608,"sku":"NEW1408841029","price":19.61,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0980\/7426\/3840\/files\/71r7I0ZWISL.jpg?v=1782038969","url":"https:\/\/miakarts.com\/products\/pondlife-a-swimmers-journal-1408841029","provider":"Miakarts Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}