"Reflections on the Pool" spotlights forty stellar examples of pool design, ranging from the nature-inspired designs of Isabelle Greene to the vanguard mid-century pools of Thomas Church and the brilliant Mexican-style architecture of Ricardo Legorreta, plus popular tourist sites. An engaging text details the swimming pool's spread to America in the 19th century and California's influence on its popularity, while 100 luminous photos showcase the pools themselves in all their splendor.

The pool is seen as architecture, as sculpture, as gathering place, and as art--seductive, dreamlike, romantic--in a unique collection of photographs taken from the '20s through the '50s by the great photographers--Latrigue, Stieglitz, Munkacsi, Weston, Mapplethorpe, Weber, and others. 189 photographs, many in full color.

"Inspired to capture evolving tastes in art, architecture, design, fashion, and photography, Kelly Klein has sought out for this spectacular volume the most evocative images of extraordinary swimming pools from around the world"--Jacket.

As long as already five thousand years ago, the allure of the sea inspired humans to recreate its essence in miniature, artistic forms, as public baths where ancient rituals would take place. Since then, it has become quite normal to immerse ourselves in cooling waters, in the privacy of our homes and without religious incentives. Swimming pools have rapidly become status symbols and the source for many diverse experiences: leisure-time athletics, relaxation, or the simple pleasure of just being in water. It is no wonder then that filmmakers and photographers constantly return to the swimming pool as a subject and setting. Reflections of water and light are captured in countless, unique ways in the more than two hundred compelling images that comprise this catalogue. Also included of course are the images of those who animate it. With works by: Abbas Attar, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Peter Marlow, Martin Parr, Alec Scoth, Alex Webb, and others.

Debbi DiMaggio has created a splash with her first book, contained beauty: photography, reflections & swimming pools. Inspiring, breathtaking and honest -- contained beauty is much more than a beautiful collection of photographs. It is a visual journey that begins with "who you are in order to know where you are going." By weaving her DiMaggio writer's flare throughout the chapters in this book, Debbi takes readers through a photographic excursion to some of the world's most stunning swimming pools. By honestly seeing in her own reflection as to who she has become, Debbi reaches out to help others living "contained and without joy." Following the Taoist Proverb, No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see, Debbi encourages all to take time with this artful collection of retro, luxury, and modern swimming pools and come away inspired. Printed by Four Colour Print Group, the 168-pages in this coffee table book are filled with exploding colors and dramatic images by photographers from around the world. Debbi's definition of art: Architecture+Landscape+Swimming Pool=Inspired Beauty.

Smell the chlorine, taste the hot chips and feel the burning concrete underfoot as you read these stories of Australian childhoods at the pool. Swimming is a central part of most Australian childhoods. We idealise beaches and surf, but for many kids the local pool – whether it’s an ocean, tidal or a chlorinated pool – is where they pass summer days. Pools are places of imagination, daring, belonging, freedom, friendship and romance. For some they are places of hard-core swimming training. This delightful, nostalgic anthology brings together reflections and recollections about the swimming pools of childhood from a range of Australians of diverse ages and backgrounds, well known and not-so-famous, including Trent Dalton, Leah Purcell, Shane Gould, Bryan Brown and Merrick Watts. Evocative, funny and sometimes bittersweet, 28 people remember the pools that shaped their childhoods. Everyone who has ever dived into their local Olympic pool, bush waterhole or saltwater baths will want to submerge themselves in this beautiful book.

Drawing upon twenty-five years of professional work as a water engineer, negotiator, and commentator, Mark Zeitoun provides a unique insider's account of our complex relationship with water. He explains how un-checked assumptions about water mix with political and economic systems to create an insatiable and ruinous thirst for ever more water. He shows how we use water to lethal effect in wars, and demolish drinking-water systems with wanton disregard. He questions why we transform the most majestic of rivers into canals which spark international conflict and challenge our capacity for preventative diplomacy. The answers reflect more about our society than we might care to admit. If we are to restore water's inner grace, Zeitoun argues, we should worry not so much about 'saving' water, but about what we do with it when it's in our hands. Reflections draws upon the author's decades of experience teaching and communicating complex water issues, and replaces widely held myths with new concepts from around the globe. He brings attention to the dissonance between how we see and feel about water and what we do with it, calling upon readers to develop an informed ethos of water that reflects the restorative nature of this essential resource.