Other books that might interest you

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  Double Play

  Ben Zobrist, Julianna Zobrist,...

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  All-Star player Ben Zobrist (Tampa Bay Rays), considered one of the best all-around players in baseball, writes about the importance of his faith, life, and athletic career in Double Play. Written with his wife, Christian singer Julianna Zobrist, and MikeYorkey, best-selling author of Every Man's Battle and Linspired: The Remarkable Rise of Jeremy Lin, the book gives fans a first look into the heart of an athlete whose talent and devotion to God, family, and baseball make him one of the most loveable figures in the Major League today.

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  Born to Climb - From rock...

  Zofia Reych

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  Climbing is one of the world's fastest-growing sports – exciting, addictive and, arguably, much more fun than going to the gym. In 2021 it made its long-awaited Olympic debut, but its journey to Tokyo has been anything but traditional. And the traditionalists would argue that it's not even a sport at all …
  In Born to Climb, anthropologist and climber Zofia Reych shares with us the fascinating cultural history of rock and competition climbing. Zofia offers a fresh perspective on some of the pivotal moments and outstanding individuals of the sport, from eighteenth-century exploratory forays on rock, via the rise of climbing legends such as Emilio Comici, Wolfgang Güllich and Lynn Hill, to the limelight of the Olympic arena for the stars of today – Janja Garnbret, Adam Ondra, Shauna Coxsey and more.
  But Born to Climb is much more than a celebration of the sport's famous people and places: it is an examination of modern sporting participation and culture, interwoven with the author's own climbing journey. While the writing is engaging and often funny, Zofia is not afraid to broach sensitive and often overlooked topics, including gender divide, capitalism and the tension between aesthetic and athletic approaches to climbing, in what is a must-read for all climbers.

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  Simply The Best - Rugby World...

  Ian Robertson

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  Press and rugby fans around the world were agreed that Richie McCaw's All Blacks were the best team in the world and that Rugby World Cup 2015 itself had been an enormous success and the best to date. While the All Blacks paraded around the ground with the Webb Ellis Cup after a thrilling final between the two best teams in the world, there was time to reflect on so many memories of the past six weeks. Simply The Best: Rugby World Cup 2015 tells the full story of a remarkable tournament that ended in a classic final played by some of the world's greatest players. The book provides a lasting memory of a feast of rugby that was enjoyed by millions at grounds around the country, at fanzones, in pubs and clubs and on television throughout the rugby world. BBC rugby correspondent Ian Robertson has assembled a team of top rugby writers and commentators to describe the tournament as it unfolded. BBC colleagues Alastair Eykyn and Chris Jones are joined by ITV's Jill Douglas, Mick Cleary (Daily Telegraph), Chris Hewett (Independent) and former BBC commentator and England rugby interantional Alastair Hignell. John Inverdale, ITV's lead presenter through the tournament, completes the line-up with his report on the final.

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  A Mountain to Climb - The...

  Hakan Bulgurlu

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  On the 23rd of May 2019, Hakan Bulgurlu became one of the fortunate few to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. To stand on top of the world’s highest mountain is a humbling experience, to bear witness to nature at its most awe-inspiring and powerful is even more humbling. Bulgurlu’s quest to climb Everest came with a purpose: making the environment the centre of his ambition to highlight the catastrophic effect climate change is having on our planet, to lead by example and to seek out practical solutions. He wanted to use the expedition as a wake-up call to what we are doing to the natural world. 
  
  In his powerful new book, Bulgurlu tells the fascinating story of this adventure of a lifetime, harrowing and exhilarating in equal measure. He delves into the roots of the environmental crisis we find ourselves in, speaking to climate activists and campaigners, biologists, scientists, filmmakers, academics, economists, entrepreneurs, global leaders and innovators. They help shed light on the issues that we face and the solutions that will help secure a better future for generations to come. In this gripping account of his journey, Bulgurlu describes the challenges he faced in reaching the summit, and the challenges we all face in protecting the planet and the future of humanity.

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  The Greatest Weirdest Most...

  Andrew Podnieks

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  Hit the ice in the NHL for the first time with over 300 hockey stars
  		 
  From Hall of Famers to lesser-known players, every one of the more than 7,700 NHLers skated in a first game. Many of these debuts are noteworthy because of a record that is plain amazing (Al Hill’s five points), a record most dubious (David Koci’s 42 penalty minutes), or an achievement never likely to be replicated (Larry Hillman gets his name on the Stanley Cup after just one shift). Prolific sports writer Andrew Podnieks’s comprehensive new book features more than 300 spectacular debuts, from 1917 to 2019, and hones in on great achievements and amazing exploits culled from each player’s first night of NHL stardom.

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  Fishing from the Rock of the Bay...

  James Batty

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  I hardly remember life without a rod in my hand, writes James Batty in the opening sentence of his autobiography in fishing. When his American wife moved with him to Cornwall, she saw his family photo album and commented that there was hardly a single picture of him in which he wasn't fishing.
  
  This witty, wacky account is James' tale of his obsession with his hobby of fishing, wherever his work took him around the world, seeking out lemon sharks in the Gambia, Striped Bass in New York and salmon in British Columbia. James' genre of writing is a mixture of John Gierach and Bill Bryson: his style is wry, witty and incisive.
  The end result is an entertaining insight into the mind of a dedicated angler, full of fishing anecdotes, tips and thought-provoking ideas.
  Extracts from the book
  
  - The great thing about anglers – especially when we meet fellow anglers – is that we don't try to hide our nuttiness. Pointless, I'm holding a rod, so are you, game over. We both know we're talking to a person who's a few bananas short of a bunch.
  
  - When you reckon you're going to catch something, you make more effort. If you think the session's a lost cause, 'one last cast' translates into, well, one last cast. Unthinkable. If you feel you're in with a chance it reverts to its normal meaning: half a dozen chucks with the diving plug, then a few with the slider just in case, and ten minutes on the sandeel shad because you really never know.
  
  - Guiding is not a job I'd do again, not as long as there's alternative employment cleaning out the grease traps at fast food restaurants or hand sorting the output of sewage farms.
  
  - They'll take jelly-fry under an inch long when the water's full of plump sandeels, and I don't know why. But it's the mysteries that keep us fishing.
  - The fish can't see my modest reel or my battered rod until it's too late to say, 'I have my pride, I refuse to be landed on that old shite'.
  
  - My financial situation was as tight as a toreador's Y-fronts.
  
  - Wave and weather are a mystery, like who's going to win next year's Grand National, where the stock market's going, or why people watch television shows about forgotten minor celebrities eating baboons' foreskins. Long range forecasts are as reliable as horoscopes, just less entertaining. Maybe the Met Office should juice them up, 'The month will be marked by deep Atlantic lows, even deeper discounts at your local supermarket. Don't be too proud to pick up some sausages.' Or they could tell the truth: 'Expect a combination of sunshine, rain, freezing fog, calm days, violent storms, blizzards, and perhaps a plague of frogs. Dress warmly but don't forget to pack a swimsuit.'

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