A review by wtb_michael
Waterlog by Roger Deakin

3.0

This has some lovely moments - Deakin's love of wild swimming is infectious and his descriptive prose often beautiful - but I found myself frustrated by the overwhelming, almost reactionary, nostalgia of the book. Deakin is constantly pointing backwards to better times - freer, braver, simpler times - with a kind of simplicity that bothered me by the end. At one point he waxes lyrical about the way that mains water has ruined our connection to nature, which tipped me over the edge. Having clean water on tap seems like a pretty decent option to me. The whole book felt like it was yearning for a time that never really existed, or at least only existed for certain people.