Pick of the picture books

A book in a noble tradition of nature writing most recently kept alive by Richard Mabey, Roger Deakin and Robert MacFarlane, this celebration of outdoor swimming comes with a fine pedigree. A foreword by MacFarlane (author of The Wild Places) acknowledges its debt to his friend and mentor Deakin (who wrote Waterlogged) and decides that he would have approved. Wild Swim by Kate Rew (Guardian Books, £16.99) could ask for no greater praise. This is less of a personal journey than Deakin's classic and contains more advice on how to get started, and (despite a glossary that offers 34 words for "cold") it is enticing. From Tooting Bec Lido in London through Lumb Falls in Yorkshire to skinny dipping with seals in Scotland, photographs by Dominick Tyler make you want to plunge in.