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How Slow Can you Waterski?
How Slow Can you Waterski?
Sep 21, 2024 5:37 PM

Author:Guardian News and Media Ltd

How Slow Can you Waterski?

When the powers that be reduced the speed limit on Lake Windermere to 10 knots, waterskiers complained that their sport was now completely scuppered. So just how slow can you waterski before you start to sink beneath the waves?

And, while we're about it, how long can you survive in a freezer? What are the chances of being struck by lightning in bed? And why is it so esay to raed wrods eevn wehn the lteetrs are mdduled up?

Everyday life can pose some mind-boggling questions - but where do you find the answers? The Guardian's popular 'This Week' column has been looking into the science behind the news for three years, and How Slow Can You Waterski? draws together a selection of the most imaginative questions and the most surprising answers. If you've ever wondered what makes a planet a planet, why submarines keep bumping into things or even if it's safe to eat mud, How Slow Can You Waterski? will prove irresistible - and enlightening - reading.

Reviews

Excellent. One of the clearest and most sobering analyses I've ever seen of the environmental, social, and economic damage done by tourism...This is a necessary book.

—— Philip Pullman

Well written, entertaining and hugely important.

—— Zac Goldsmith

Hickman is very persuasive and travels with heart and brain fully engaged to reveal the environmental havoc wreaked by the exponential growth in international travel.

—— Barbara Gunnell , New Statesman

Persuasive and sobering . . . a page-turner unlikely to be found poolside.

—— Financial Times

A project [Hickman] pursues intelligently and thoroughly . . . Other writers might have contented themselves with aloof tut-tutting. What makes The Final Call absorbing as well as persuasive is that Hickman illuminatingly talks to people ranging from fishermen and bar girls to developers and activists.

—— Guardian

Hickman has hit on an important subject and it deserves to be taken seriously.

—— John Humphrys

We have got to find a way to shift to a slow-travel culture. Our very survival as a species could well hinge on it. I very much hope this important book helps to awaken people, and make them want to join the debate.

—— Jeremy Leggett

Dazzling. There is nothing else quite like it and yet it addresses such an important aspect of our lives today.

—— Chris Stewart, author of DRIVING OVER LEMONS

Timely and well-researched . . . this book makes for uncomfortable, yet necessary, reading for anyone who enjoys travel.

—— Sunday Telegraph

An elegantly written, well-researched, investigative travelogue that provides a valuable eye-witness account of the way holidays can impact - positively and negatively - on their destinations: environmentally, socially and economically . . . it arms the reader with a greater understanding of how to make more informed choices about where and how to holiday.

—— Richard Hammond , Resurgence

Despite the polemic, there is plenty of interest here, not least in [the book's] accessible description of how the travel industry works and the structures in place around the globe . . . Hickman acknowledges the increasing acceptance of environmental standards . . . But the argument he presents is a stark one - travel is damaging the world, and if we don't act soon, it may be too late. Sobering stuff.

—— Travel Weekly

A major new exposé . . . This is not yet another doomsday read about the perils of flying, or debating the pros and cons of carbon off-setting, it's an honest account of the huge impact we have on the destinations we frequent . . . Rather than throwing reams of statistics at us, Hickman paints a more graphic picture of the impact our travelling makes by telling the story through the eyes of locals he meets on his way round the globe. His discoveries of what lies behind the glossy veneer of a resort hotel make for sober reading.

—— Scotsman

A fascinating and harrowing read. I doubt anyone has spelt out the inherent dangers of tourism so clearly before. The publication of this could well prove to be a 'tipping point'.

—— Jason Webster, author of GUERRA

Leo Hickman's enthralling book should be read by politicians, students and, most of all, by every would-be tourist.

—— Tahir Shah, author of THE CALIPH'S HOUSE

This is a really excellent critique of the travel industry . . . If you are interested in the tourist industry this book is highly recommended, being easy to read, while being very thorough and searching in the questions it asks.

—— Fiona Archer , www.ecozine.co.uk

Excellent and thoroughly compelling . . . The Final Call deserves to be read by those of us lucky enough to be able to fly on a regular basis . . . Hickman's book is a sobering, thoughtful and intelligent reminder that it is a privilege we need to be forcefully reminded not to take for granted.

—— Irish Times

Thoughtful and thought-provoking.

—— Mick Herron , GEOGRAPHICAL magazine

Well written and engaging without being too gloomy and prescriptive, this book makes for uncomfortable, yet necessary, reading for anyone who enjoys travel.

—— Telegraph

This much appreciated book should be a must-read for everyone who likes to travel, and should be translated into the languages of the world's tourism champions. It should also be a must-read for politicians and decision makers in development agencies to finally understand that tourism has lost the 'virginity' of a harmless leisure sector to develop into a dangerous global driving force which needs to be regulated and restricted.

—— Contours magazine
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