Man Vs Ocean: A Toaster Salesman Who Sets Out to Swim the World’s Deadliest Oceans and Change His Life For Ever

Adam Walker is not your everyday record-breaking sportsman. He took on arguably the toughest extreme sport on the planetto swim non-stop across seven of the worlds deadliest oceans wearing only swim trunks cap and goggles. It is not a test for the faint-hearted: swimmers face freezing temperatures huge swells and treacherous currents potentially deadly marine life (from sharks to Portuguese men o war) vomiting and burning off a weeks calories in a single swim. In 2007 Adam then a toaster salesman saw a film about a man attempting to swim the English Channel and change his life in doing so. Inspired by this he decided to try to emulate the feat. After a year of rigorous training without a coachhis first open-water swim was in 9 degrees and he nearly died from hypothermiaAdam achieved his goal in 11 hours 35 minutes despite a ruptured bicep tendon leading to medical advice to give up long-distance swimming. In 2011 after two operations and a change to his swimming style to take pressure off his injured shoulder he became the first Briton to achieve a two-way crossing from Spain to Morocco and back. In the process he broke the British record one way. Shortly afterwards the Oceans Seven challenge was born a grueling equivalent to the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge. At first it seemed that injury would prevent Adam from participating but ignoring medical advice he developed an innovative techniquethe Ocean Walker strokethat would enable him to continue with the ultimate aim of completing this seemingly impossible feat. Whether man would triumph over ocean or fail in the attempt forms the core of this extraordinary autobiography. Always intriguing sometimes terrifying and occasionally very funny Adams story is about sport in its truest form: rather than competitions between teams and individuals it is about man against natureand against his own failings and demons. In that it is truly inspirational.