Swimming Made Easy - The Total Immersion Way for Any Swimmer to Achieve Fluency- Ease- and Speed in Description:

Swimming Made Easy : The Total Immersion Way for Any Swimmer to Achieve Fluency, Ease, and Speed in Any Stroke review:
5 stars (Extremely valuable item) - Somehow TI was my first introduction into the swimming world and in the beginnning I got a slightly biased view on what is to be done in the water.

Still.. once I acquired some more experience and had a chance to get familiar with other approaches I could fully appreciate Terry's work.

With all my reservations Terry's done a great job by building a consistent system approach to swimming skills and it really, really works.

Absolutely great for beginners.
5 stars (Outstanding book and awesome learning tool!) - Once you get past the feeling that Terry is trying to sell you the book after you've already bought it, you'll realize what a valuable tool this book can be. (I'm sorry, he may be good and know his stuff, but his arrogance is somewhat of a put-off.)Regardless, this book is for anyone who feels that swimming is either their weak-point or for people who avoid it all together due to frustration experienced when actually trying to swim.Terry is the foremost expert in swimming efficiency and knows what he's talking about.
5 stars (Slowly but absolutely Changed swimming for me!) - Terry spends many pages hyping his technique, but after about 6 months with the book and videos and doing the drills, I can justify the hype. I have never swum competitively, going to the water only for fitness, but it always irritated me that some pudgy guys could easily cruise through the water as I frenetically splashed to keep up, exhausted after only 15-20 minutes. I read the first book which only covered freestyle, but jumped when this book came out. When I first got this book, I rushed through all the drills hoping to swim faster in less than a week, but accomplished very little. Not quite the results as the reviewer who dropped his 50 yd time by 7 seconds in his first session. Over the last 5 months, I have spent at least 70% of my pool time practicing the drills, learning balance, breathing on both sides, gliding and streamlining my body. Before the book/videos, I couldn't keep interested for 20 minutes in the water. Now, as I drill my way to each goal & concentrate on form, I still have energy after 45-60 minutes. I swim some laps and feel much faster, smoother and quieter. I swam a 50 freestyle in about 43 secs, but in June 2003 did it in about 34.5 (push start from the wall with flip turn)--and in July 2003 in 30 secs. The drills helped me by improving my form and increasing my level of fitness. By the measure of other swimmers here, I still move like a barge, but personal goals override all such comparisons.The book definitely helped me and I think I underpaid when I compare the cost of the book/video package to the expense of going to one of Terry Laughlin's weekend clinics. I doubt I would get out of a weekend what it took 6 months to accomplish. If you can't buy the book at Amazon, Terry has his own website.