Chasing Water

February 15, 2016
A celebrated Olympian recounts how he rose to the top of his sport, crashed, and found redemption. Swimming became Ervin's favorite childhood recreational outlet by accident. Later, it became a sport that transformed him into a prisoner of his own athletic gifts. This book, which tells his story through a narrative that interweaves the former gold medalist's memories with commentary by his friend and colleague Markides, reveals the extreme highs and lows that characterized Ervin's remarkable life and career. The "wildfire" son of a half-Jewish mother and African-American father, Ervin's swimming talent, and personal rebelliousness, manifested early on. Frequently disobedient in school, he set his first swim record at age 10. A diagnosis of Tourette's syndrome in junior high school made the already wayward Ervin even more difficult to handle. However, it also seemed to offer "cognitive advantage[s] and nervy sensitivity" that made his swimming even more brilliant. His athletic prowess garnered him a place on the University of California's swim team in the late 1990s and a gold medal in the 50-meter freestyle at the 2000 Olympics. Yet "failure after failure" in everything from personal relationships to school dogged him in the aftermath of his success. Beset by depression and lost to drinking, drug-taking, and other risky behaviors, Ervin auctioned off his gold medal, found temporary respite in Zen and Sufi mysticism, moved to New York, and learned how to play guitar. A job as a swim coach brought him back to the sport. Gradually, Ervin put the pieces of his life back together. He graduated from Berkeley a decade after he started and trained for a berth--which he won--on the 2012 U.S. swim team. The author never flinches at revealing his less-than-perfect past, and the humility he demonstrates at coming to terms with his own egotism and personal shortcomings makes the book frequently compelling. A provocative and refreshingly honest redemption memoir.

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March 1, 2016

After claiming Olympic swimming gold in Sydney (2000) at 19, Ervin shunned his sport for an alluring, albeit, less healthy life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Shortly after a decade-long hiatus spent doing almost everything a successful athlete shouldn't, Ervin was slowly drawn back to the water, first as a coach, then a master's competitor, and unbelievably made the U.S. team for the London 2012 Olympics. Here Ervin and swim trainer and journalist Markides combine talents to create a biography that is part first-hand narrative by Ervin, with Markides filling in the details and providing context. The formula works, pulling readers into Ervin's experience of the thrill of victory and search for meaning. VERDICT Featuring more depth, breadth, truth, and the effects of reckless choices than found in traditional athlete biographies, this gripping account is just in time for the gear up to the Rio 2016 Olympics. Readers will understand the psyche and life of elite athletes as never before, then cheer Ervin on in his attempt to make another Olympic team.--Zebulin Evelhoch, Central Washington Univ. Lib., Ellensburg

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2016
Ervin was a phenomenon: a half-Jewish, halfAfrican American swimmer; a multiple Olympic medal winner (gold in 2000 and, amazingly, a contender in 2012); the fastest man in the world in water. He sold the gold medal to raise money for tsunami relief after Indonesia was destroyed. Markides smartly combines his own journalistic account with a parallel narrative in which Ervin, a maverick with Tourette's syndrome, explains his life and style. Some talents simply defy explanation, however, and Ervin may be in that category. The story of his spiritual quest (which drifted into a kind of personal decline) following the 2000 Olympics is dealt with in too much detail, as Ervin works his way through drugs, motorcycles, tattoos, music, Zen, and other religions in search of that elusive something. Still, the story of his comeback at 31 (ancient for a swimmer) is rendered more amazing by the contrast with what went before. This volume introduces Akashic's new Edge of Sports imprint, which promises to offer a hip and very different take on athletes and their worlds.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)