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A A Gill

Andrew Swanston read law at Cambridge, but was inspired to write by his lifelong interest in early modern history. His Thomas Hill novels – The King’s Spy, The King’s Exile and The King’s Return – are set against the backdrops of the English Civil War, Cromwell’s Commonwealth and the early Restoration respectively. He is also the author of Waterloo: The Bravest Man and Beautiful Star and Other Stories. His first historical thriller set during the reign of Elizabeth I – Incendium (published in paperback as The Incendium Plot) – introduced readers to the academic, lawyer and intelligencer Dr Christopher Radcliff, whose adventures continue in Chaos. Andrew Swanston lives in Surrey.

A D Swanston

A E Langsford

A G Hopkins

A. J. BAIME is the New York Times best-selling author of The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an Epic Quest to Arm an America at War and Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. Both books are in development for major motion pictures. Baime is a longtime regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Popular Science, and Men’s Journal. He lives in Granite Bay, California. Visit him at facebook.com/ajbaime and trumanbook.com.

A J Baime

A J Jacobs

A J P Taylor

Anthony James Pollard is a British medieval historian, specialising in the fifteenth century and in particular the Wars of the Roses. A leading authority in the field, he is profesor emeritus of Teesside University. His books include North-Eastern England during the Wars of the Roses, Richard III and the Princes in theTower, Imagining Robin Hood: the Late Medieval Stories in Historical Context and Warwick the kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame.

A J Pollard

A J Rochester

A K Benjamin is a clinical neuropsychologist and the author of Let Me Not Be Mad: A Story of Unravelling Minds.

A K Benjamin

A. L. Berridge read English at Oxford, and taught for ten years before moving into television, where her production credits range from period drama and thrillers to long-running soaps. She has written two previous novels, Top Ten besteller Honour and the Sword and In the Name of the King. Into the Valley of Death is her third novel.

A L Berridge

Alison Gaylin's first job was as a reporter for a celebrity tabloid, which sparked a lifelong interest in writing about people committing despicable acts. More than a decade later, she wrote and published her Edgar-nominated first novel, HIDE YOUR EYES. 
 
She's since published nine more books, including the USA Today and international bestselling Brenna Spector suspense series, which has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony and Thriller awards and won the Shamus award. 
 
She lives in upstate New York with her husband, daughter, cat and dog.

A L Gaylin

A Maxwell-Hyslop

A McArthur

A P Wavell

A.S. Webb is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Daughter of Chaos, the first instalment of The Dark Pantheon Trilogy. She is inspired by stories rooted in history and mythology, that push the boundaries of imagination and urge us to reflect on what it means to be human.

A S Webb

A. A. Dhand is the author of six previous novels, and has been shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger Award. His DI Harry Virdee novels are currently being adapted for TV by the BBC. He was raised in Bradford and spent his youth observing the city from behind the counter of a small convenience store. After qualifying as a pharmacist, he worked in London and travelled extensively before returning to Bradford to start his own business and begin writing. The history, diversity and darkness of the city have inspired all his novels. For more information about A. A. Dhand and his books, follow him on X @aadhand, and on Instagram @aa_dhand.

A. A. Dhand

A. A. Gill

A. A. Milne

A. Anatoli

A. B. Poranek grew up sharing her time between Ontario, Canada and rural Poland, and eventually completed a veterinary degree at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences. A lover of mythology and history, she enjoys exploring both in her writing. Her debut novel, Where the Dark Stands Still, an instant New York Times bestseller, is an ode to Poland's folktales, while A Treachery of Swans transports readers to a world inspired by 17th century France.

A. B. Poranek

A. Bradley

Professor A. C. Grayling is Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford. He has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy, history, science and current affairs. For several years he wrote columns for the Guardian newspaper and The Times and was the chairman of the 2014 Man Booker Prize.

A. C. Grayling

A.D. Miller is the author of Snowdrops, The Earl of Petticoat Lane and The Faithful Couple. Snowdrops was a bestseller and was shortlisted for many prizes including the Man Booker and the CWA Gold Dagger. It was translated into 25 languages. As Moscow Correspondent of The Economist A.D. Miller has travelled across the former Soviet Union and covered the Orange Revolution in Ukraine; he is now the magazine’s Culture Editor based in London. 
 
admillerbooks.com

A. D. Miller

A. E. Ellis

A. E. W. Mason

A. Humphreys

A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979 and lives in Lagos. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short story collection, Love is Power, or Something Like That, was published in 2013. In 2014 he was named on the Africa39 list of sub-Saharan African writers under 40. Blackass is his first novel.

A. Igoni Barrett

The short life of A.J.A. Symons (1900-41) was described by his biographer as an intricate and largely harmless confidence trick. His many interests included the collection of musical boxes and rare books as well as the study and practice of forgery; they left him time to edit an anthology of Edwardian verse and compose studies of H.M. Stanley and other notable figures. He is remembered for The Quest for Corvo, one of the most remarkable biographies ever written, and for co-founding the Wine and Food Society.

A. J. A. Symons

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Steve Williams

One of the most successful caddies of the modern era, having amassed 150 wins, Kiwi Steve Williams has worked with some of the golfing world's best, including 13 years on the bag of Tiger Woods. Together, Woods and Williams won more than 80 tournaments – with 13 major championships among them. 
 
In this candid reflection on his years caddying for Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Raymond Floyd, Terry Gale, Ian Baker-Finch and Adam Scott, Williams shares the highs and lows of their careers, explains the critical role of a caddy and offers a rare insider's view of the professional golfing world.

Out of the Rough

The Caddy's Story

Neil Squires

Acclaimed world champions in 2003, the England rugby union team came home from the World Cup in New Zealand eight years later to the sound of silence. Their rugby was uninspiring and their reputation in tatters. Stuart Lancaster - former burger-flipper, PE teacher and the novice Saxons coach - was tasked with turning a failing team around. 
 
The transformation was astounding. Now Lancaster's side has the work ethic, humility and resolve to compare with that World Cup-winning team. Much of this is down to their coach, but with so little international experience, how did he bring about this renewal? 
 
Part biography, part examination of leadership, The House of Lancaster pulls apart the England rugby machine and looks at how it has been put together. Filled with exclusive interviews from the leading protagonists, players and coaches, as well as containing unprecedented access to Lancaster's methods, The House of Lancaster shows how the vision, personality and leaderships skills of one driven man can turn a team into genuine world-beaters. 
 
With a foreword from Sir Ian McGeechan OBE

The House of Lancaster

How England Rugby was Reinvented

William Fotheringham

Bernard Hinault is one of the greatest cyclists of all time. He is a five-time winner of the Tour de France and the only man to have won each of the Grand Tours on more than one occasion. 
 
Hinault is the last ‘old-school’ champion: a larger-than-life character from a working-class background, capable of winning on all terrains, in major Tours and one-day Classics. Nicknamed the ‘Badger’ for his combative style, he led a cyclists’ strike in his first Tour and instigated a legendary punch-up with demonstrators in 1982 while in the middle of a race. His battles with teammates Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond in the 1986 Tour resulted in one of the greatest races of all time. 
 
Three decades on from his retirement, Hinault remains the last French winner of the Tour de France. Here, William Fotheringham shows that while France may one day find a new champion, there will never be another Bernard Hinault.

Bernard Hinault and the Fall and Rise of French Cycling

Guido Mina di Sospiro

LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK AWARD 2013 
 
To spin or not to spin? – that is the metaphysical question. 
 
When a mortifying defeat to his teenage son rekindles his lifelong passion for table tennis, keen philosopher Guido Mina di Sospiro sets out to learn the game properly. 
 
Guido’s love for spinning a feather-weight ball takes him from his local ping-pong club, populated by idiosyncratic players with extraordinary stories to tell, to training drills with a world-class coach. This seemingly harmless game also leads him into sticky situations in the CIA headquarters and the ganglands of Washington, D.C. Woven throughout his ping-pong epiphany are philosophical ruminations on Plato and Aristotle, metaphysicians and empiricists, Jung’s dark shadow, Sun Tzu’s war tactics, the I Ching, and much more. 
 
As Guido’s journey takes him from Big Sur to a nail-biting showdown in China against a string of elite players, he finds ping-pong can teach us a surprising amount about life.

The Metaphysics of Ping-Pong

Charlie Gladstone

Getting outdoors brings the whole family together. You’ll learn skills, have a run-around, share laughs, and make enduring memories. 
 
This book is the perfect companion to any outdoor family adventure. From countryside camping holidays to weekends roaming fields and parks, it will inspire you to enjoy the outdoors whatever the weather. It covers everything for kids (and big kids) to do outdoors, including: 
 
- Cloud identification 
- Great British walks 
- Building dams and dens 
- Campfires and woods 
- Camping recipes 
- Common British trees

The Family Guide to the Great Outdoors

Bill Edgar

Roddy Murray

Whether it be from a surprise free kick or a never-ending dribble, a nonchalant lob or a volley on the run, the goal can be a thing of beauty and jaw-dropping skill. From Diego Maradona's weaving dribble against England to Wayne Rooney's astonishing bicycle kick against Man City, Back of the Net shows exactly what made these goals so great. 
 
Graphic illustrations break down each goal into its component parts, showing the angles of play plus the movements of all the key players and their positions on the pitch. Meanwhile commentary explains the background to the goals, the players and just what makes each goal so special. 
 
With sensational skills, football's biggest legends and the most exciting teams from around the world, Back of the Net shoots and scores as essential reading for every football fan.

Back of the Net

100 Golden Goals

David Godwin

Forget the Ryder Cup, forget Rory McIlroy, forget keeping your head still and correcting your putting stance. Forget eagles and albatrosses and definitely forget holes-in-one. David Godwin has a dream, the same dream held by millions of amateur golfers. He's not aiming to break on to the pro circuit, he's not aiming to break par. David Godwin is going to break 80. Or it's going to break him. 
 
Written with humour and charm, Breaking 80 is a book for those who recognise all too well the pleasure of a sweetly struck seven iron to within a few feet of the pin, followed by the agonizing fury of a three-putt back and forth across the cup.

Breaking 80

Stan Hey

Ever wondered what it might be like to own a horse, not just back it with a pony on the nose - own it? Stan Hey did.  A veteran of the windswept racecourses of National Hunt he finally decided to stop betting on other people's horses and join the inner circle.  With the growth of partnerships and syndicates this has become increasingly possible so four horses, two trainers, and a few thousand pounds later Stan Hey had this story to tell.  An Arm and Four Legs is his honest account of the pitfalls of racehorse ownership. Its fierce disappointments, escalating costs, skulduggery and deceit are set alongside the intense pleasure offered by an afternoon spent at the track, drinking, betting and chatting to your trainer while the rest of the world has its feet tucked under a desk.

An Arm And Four Legs

A Journey into Racehorse Ownership

John D. Barrow

What can maths tell us about sports? 
 
100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know About Sport sheds light on the mysteries of running, jumping, swimming and points scoring across the whole sporting spectrum. Whether you are a competitor striving to go faster or higher, or an armchair enthusiast wanting to understand more, this is a fascinating read with one hundred short pieces that range across a wide number of sports. Find out: 
 
* Why high-jumpers use the Fosbury Flop, 
 
* How fast Usain Bolt can ultimately run and how he could break his records without running any faster, 
 
* Whether there is a limit to human performance, 
 
* Who the strongest man or woman is, pound for pound, 
 
* Why there are so many different scoring systems in sport, 
 
* If a 100-kilogram mass weighs more in London than it does in Singapore, 
 
* What the best strategy for taking football penalties is, 
 
* What the effect of those banned skin-tight swimsuits are, 
 
* Why golf balls are dimpled, 
 
* And last, but not least, why does the bounce of a Superball seem to defy Newton's laws of motion. 
 
Written for anyone interested in sport or simple maths, this book will enrich your understanding of sport and enliven your appreciation of maths.

100 Essential Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know About Sport

Ned Boulting

This is not a 100,000-word, minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow account of the 2011 Tour de France. 
This is not the story of Cadel Evans. 
This is not the story of Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck, or Bradley Wiggins. 
And it's not even the story of Mark Cavendish. 
(Although he is in it quite a lot.) 
This is the story of the lesser-known heroes; the Johnny Hoogerlands, the Thomas Voecklers, the hitchhikers, the maniac press drivers, Norbert Dentressangle and the greatest ever Tour de France*. 
I was there. And this is what I saw. That is all. 
 
In this 20,000-word digital short, ITV's Ned Boulting, author of How I Won the Yellow Jumper, takes an honest and idiosyncratic look at the unforgettable 2011 Tour de France, when Mark Cavendish won the Green Jersey. 
 
*probably

How Cav Won the Green Jersey

Short Dispatches from the 2011 Tour de France

Chris Jones

365 days, 7 fights, 4 Kos, 3 decisions, 2 scandals, 1 missing ear, 1 wild yearChris Jones did not know what he was getting himself into.  He looked for a sport to call his own when he was hired as a rookie reporter.  He found boxing.  Over the course of the year that followed, the dark trade would creep deeply inside him, set his heart pumping one minute and break it the next.  Make him stare at violence and dare him not to flinch. In Falling Hard, Jones proves himself to the latest in a line of lyricists to be drawn into boxing's storied corruption plagued world.  He gets dressed down by Don King, meets the troubled guy who found Evander Holyfield's ear, goes to Muhammed Ali's birthday party, and witnesses Naseem Hamed explode while Mike Tyson implodes.  Falling Hard is in equal measure victory and defeat - an intoxicating mix that leaves Jones addicted to boxing's special brand of pain. Humorous, infuriating and suspenseful, this is boxing distilled to its essence by sports writing's brightest star.

Falling Hard

Julie Myerson

P.E. You either loved it or hated it, looked forward to it or dreaded it, but we've all been forced to do it. Sometimes a note could get you out of it, but the following week there you'd be again, writhing on a cold and dusty gym floor in your underwear. 
 
Skinny, timid, knock-kneed Julie Myerson was 'not a games person', according to her teachers. In this touching, funny and occasionally devastating exploration of her childhood, she now asks the question: why not?

Not A Games Person

Andrew Baker

To the armchair fan, the life of the sports writer is one of unalloyed joy: all-expenses-paid trips to the most exciting events in the world, the best seats in the house, and one-on-one interviews with Anna Kournikova... Well, up to a point. 
 
Where Am I And Who's Winning? describes what it's really like to make your way through the world of sport, always on deadline, always between time zones, on a frantic, chaotic and hilarious tour of the planet's most famous and most bizarre sporting venues. There's football to be watched. And Formula One. And tennis. And two Olympics, two Commonwealth Games, ocean racing, curling, and of course the queen of sports - synchronised swimming. 
 
Permanently handicapped by jet-lag and ignorance, Andrew Baker travels by bullet train, bobsled, go-kart, and (most dangerous of all) bus in his constant quest to arrive at the match/race-meeting/mountain-top on time. Between soul-enhancing visits to the Dead Goat Saloon and the Arnold Schwarzenegger Museum, he breakfasts with Steve Redgrave, dines with Sebastian Coe and even takes in a game or two. 
 
Because nothing - not Brazilian muggers, nor Chinese security services - shall stand between him and his noble calling: to bring the great British public its daily sporting fix. 
 
Andrew Baker's brilliant comic debut will appeal to the armchair traveller and the armchair sports fan alike. But most of all to anyone who enjoys the misfortunes of others...

Where Am I And Who's Winning?

Jason Fagone

Bill 'EL Wingador' Simmons, Sonya 'The Black Widow' Thomas, David 'Coondog' O'Karma, Bill 'EL Wingador' Simmons, Sonya 'The Black Widow' Thomas, David 'Coondog' O'Karma, Eric 'Badlands' Booker, Timothy 'Eater X' Janus - just a few of the stars of one of America's fastest growing sports: competitive eating. In a country in which a third of the population is clinically obese, competitive eating has made the leap from trestle tables and paper napkins to stadium arenas - in the past two years, more than 1.4 million households have tuned in to Nathan's hot dog contest on ESPN. 
 
 
Beginning with a trip to Japan in search of the elusive (and surprising slim-line) champion Takeru Kobayashi and ending up at the sport's annual grand finale in Coney Island, Jason Fagone spends a year with the stars of the scene, watching as they eat their way into (or out of) oblivion, and finding out just what compels a 'gurgitator' to force down forty-six dozen oysters in ten minutes. 
 
Wickedly funny and devastatingly insightful, Jason Fagone uses this weirdest of sports as a lens through which to examine the dark side of the American Dream - the never-ending quest for wealth, celebrity, possessions and food. And along the way, he uncovers the wonderfully human stories at the heart of this seemingly unnourished corner of American culture. Bigger, better, richer, fatter, Insatiable unlocks a world we all need to face up to. Dig In.

Insatiable

Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream

Simon Inglis

Simon Inglis is a fan with a mission. Fed up with being labelled an anorak, yet repeatedly led astray by the glimpse of a grandstand accross a crowded city, he searches the world for a deeper meaning behind his fascination with stadiums. 
 
What is it, he asks en route from ancient Olympia to Sydney 2000, about men and neatly-edged turf? Why are there more football grounds in Buenos Aires than public libraries? Why do Auckland residents resent their local stadium while those in Chicago celebrate theirs? And what can we learn from the Indians, the Irish and a huckster from Huston? 
 
The perfect companion volume to his bestselling books on football grounds, Sightlines is full of insight, wit, anecdotes and characters from a world beyond that every sports fan will recognise. It is proof that he is not alone.

Sightlines

A Stadium Odyssey

Jon Henderson

Best of British is a celebration of the nation's greatest 100 sporting heroes, from Henry VIII to Red Rum, Roy of the Rovers to Torvill and Dean. Jon Henderson has combed through the annals of our glorious and not so glorious past to bring us the geniuses and the eccentrics, the national treasures and the villains who together have shaped our present. 
 
Trueman and W. G., Best and Edwards, racing drivers, jockeys, rowers - just what does it take to make a sporting superhero? Hendo's 100 reveals all. Opinionated and provocative, his witty character studies - accompanied by stylish illustrations - capture the essence of his subjects' greatness, re-evaluating the famous and rescuing the forgotten. But when there's a cast of thousands to choose from, and hundreds of years of history to explore, who will make the cut for the most heroic of the heroic? Find out, in Best of British.

Best of British

Hendo's Sporting Heroes

Soumya Bhattacharya

The great C L R James once asked: 'What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?' For some of us answering that can keep you awake at night. 
 
Soumya Bhattacharya knows this: he has a steady job, a loving wife, a daughter he dotes on. But most of all he has cricket. Or perhaps more accurately: cricket has him. Ever since he can remember, he's loved the game. From his first knockabouts on the living-room carpet - with his mother's paper bats and balls - he progressed to Test Match Special on short-wave, then to the whole panoply of obsession: one-dayers, Test matches, TV highlights, re-runs of TV highlights, always following one team - India. When you come from a country where the game is more than a religion, you must like cricket, right? 
 
In this sparkling memoir of a lifetime spent in the company of eleven men, a green field and a billion other worshippers, Soumya Bhattacharya gives us a guided tour of the soul of a cricket obsessive. Part reportage, part travelogue, part cultural politics, You Must Like Cricket? takes us from his home in Kolkata to Lord's and back again as Bhattacharya explores the joys and the lows (mostly the lows) of a thirty-year love affair, how one game has become so closely tied to a nation's identity, and the troubling hold cricket has over him. But if your home ground was called Eden Gardens, where else would you rather be?

You Must Like Cricket?

Memoirs of an Indian Cricket Fan

Andrew Anthony

'Score and few will remember; miss and no one will forget' 
 
Talking to some of the game's most successful players and managers, the question the book seeks to address is simple: can England overcome their fear of the penalty? 
 
The penalty shoot-out is the greatest set piece of sporting drama ever conceived. 
 
Cruel, arbitrary, tortuous and unfair, it has also presented the England football team with a new and infinitely more punishing manner in which to lose. Three times in the past decade the nation has sat on the edge of its collective sofa and watched the seemingly inevitable unfold as Stuart Pearce, Chris Waddle, Gareth Southgate, Paul Ince and David Batty have selected the wrong shots in the lottery of international championship shoot-outs. 
 
Except it's not a lottery. There is an art to scoring penalties, which calls upon a unique combination of physical prowess and psychological strength. In the corridor of truth that leads from the penalty spot to the goal-line, a succession of English footballers have had to confront not only the opposing goalkeeper but the hopes and dreams of fans and fellow countrymen and, of course, themselves. 
 
'A tour de force of narrative journalism' Observer

On Penalties

Catherine Fox

Catherine Fox is not your typical martial artist. Her initiation into the sacred rites of judo began not in a dojo in Tokyo but in the Tunnel Cement Works in Pitstone, Buckinghamshire. And her dedication to the sport has been questionable: a thirty-year sabbatical, two children and a life spent writing books does not necessarily prepare one for enlightenment. Determined not to let these details stand in her way, Catherine has set herself a challenge: before she turns forty-five she will become a black belt. After all, how many other opportunities do vicars' wives get to roll around the floor with sweaty blokes? 
 
Fight the Good Fight asks what lessons judo can teach you about life. It's touching surprising, gripping (in every sense) - and the funniest take on spiritual struggle since the last Lions vs. Christians fixture.

Fight the Good Fight

From Vicar's Wife to Killing Machine

David Adams Richards

'A poetic account of the dialogue Richards has conducted with the river during half a century of listening to the whisper and gurgle of its myriad voices - a lyrical evocation of the sights, sounds and scents of a great Canadian waterway' - The Sunday HeraldLines on the Water is the story of a town, its river and the community of people who fish in it.  David Adams Richards is a prize-winning author but when he's not writing, he's mostly fishing and when he's fishing it's always along the banks of the Miramichi river.  This great river and the poachers, guides, visiting city suits and friends who share it with him have woven themselves into the fabric of his life and in Lines on the Water he pays tribute to them all.  Spinning fishy tale after glorious fishy tale we join him and his companions on the endless search for the next great fishing pool and along the way remember why we love to read, and why we have to fish.

Lines On The Water

Iain Carter

'I am the Ryder Cup, I suppose' Colin Montgomerie 
 
For twenty years Colin Montgomerie has been Europe's go-to guy in the Ryder Cup. He has been the catalyst, the leader, the closer. The man they call on to take down America's big guns, the man they turn to when a win is desperately needed to steady the nerves. Now in the twilight of his career he has one last role to play: In 2010 he is Captain of Team Europe in their quest to regain their trophy. 
 
Montgomerie's record in golf's showpiece tournament is unparalleled. Since 1991 he has performed in eight Ryder Cups, winning five of them and has never, ever been beaten in a singles match. He is the most talked about European golfer of his generation but, agonisingly he has never managed to win one of golf's major championships. 
 
Monty's Manor gets right inside Colin Montgomerie's history with the Ryder Cup from his debut in 1991 right up to and including the drama and excitement of this years contest in Wales. Iain Carter has had unprecedented access to key players on both sides of the pond, caddies, coaches, friends, foes, rivals and reporters. Through their eyes we look back on two decades of successes and near misses. It is through them that we get to see the real 'Monty'.

Monty's Manor

Colin Montgomerie and the Ryder Cup

Ferdinand Mount

The man who rode Ampersand was in fact, an amateur jockey named Harry Cotton. Harry is a compulsive gambler. The resulting decline in his fortunes takes him through three decades of adventures, melancholy, heroic, and comic by turn, which cut a broad swathe of disorder through provincial race meetings, 'one -night cheap hotels' and three luxurious redoubts of the fabulously rich. The inhabitants and frequenters of these places are every bit as bizarre as their surroundings.

The Man Who Rode Ampersand

Stephen Jay Gould

Among Stephen Jay Gould's many gifts was his ability to write eloquently about baseball, his great passion.  Through the years, the renowned palaeontologist published numerous essays on the sport which have now for the first time been collected in a volume alive with all the candour and insight that characterized Gould's writing.  Here are his thoughts on the complexities of childhood streetball and the joys of opening day; tributes to Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, and lesser-knowns such as deaf-mute centerfielder 'Dummy' Hoy; and a frank admission of the contradictions inherent in being a lifelong Yankees fan with Red Sox season tickets.  So, too, does Gould deftly apply the tools of evolutionary theory to the demise of the 0.400 hitter, the Abner Doubleday creation myth, and the improbability of Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. This book is a delight - an essential addition to Gould's remarkable legacy, and a fitting tribute to his love for the game.

Triumph And Tragedy In Mudville

Rosalind Belben

To George Lupus, Master of the Quarr Hounds, the fox is a 'gentleman'. The four children all hunt, and are tremendously keen. But Dorothy Lupus dislikes the sport that has been her beloved husband's passion. When a tragedy occurs, Dorothy finds she can't bear the proximity of the kennels across the park. Roguish, Rakish, Harebell, Arcady and Argot, Striver, Decorous, Fearless, Snowmaid... Dorothy wishes never to hear their hullabaloo again. She is adamant...

Hound Music

D J Taylor

In January 1929, before 20,000 spectators, Norwich City of the Third Division South went down 0-5 in the third round of the FA Cup to an amateur side composed of ex-public school boys who disdained professional tactics in favour of instinct and teamwork. Within a decade, the Corinthians, the club that for forty years had supplied the entire English national side, had all but ceased to exist. The world was changing. By the time of the last 'Gentleman vs. Players' cricket match in 1962 a whole era in English sport had come to an end. 
 
But the passing of amateur sportsmen - footballers, cricketers, golfers, tennis players - had implications beyond the playing field. A century ago 'amateur' was a compliment to someone who played a game simply for love of it. A hundred years later it is a byword for cack-handed incompetence. In this brilliant study of the patterns of sporting and cultural life, D J Taylor examines the process that led to professionalism's triumph and the long rearguard action fought by sportsmen - and literature - on amateurism's behalf. 
 
On the Corinthian Spirit has many heroes - from 'Charlie Bam', the legendary Corinthian defender, who once played a game with a broken leg, to the boys' school story hero Strickland of the Sixth, Old Etonian cricket-lover George Orwell and the 14th Norwich Cub Scout XI of the early 1970s. Drawing on his own experiences of 'amateurism', D J Taylor describes a changing moral universe with profound consequences both for sport and the world beyond it.

On The Corinthian Spirit

The Decline of Amateurism in Sport

Rick Reilly

For "caddy" read confessor, punch-bag, psychotherapist, life-coach, general dogsbody, friend. It's all in a day's work for the men who carry the bag.    And if you want to get behind the Pringle sweaters and PR there's no better place to be.   Who knows a golfer best? Who's with them every minute of every round, hears their every word, witnesses their despair and triumph?  Who knows if, when and how they cheat? The caddy, of course.  So when, Rick Reilly, America's most celebrated sportswriter decided he wanted to write a book about golf he put down his pen, picked up the phone, and hired himself out to the great, near great and the reprobates of golf.   The results were amazing - John Daly, Tom Lehman, Donald Trump, Deepak Chopra, a blind player, David Duval, a couple of high-rolling hustlers in Vegas and even Jack Nicklaus himself, put their doubts behind them and hand over the bag.  In the resulting account Reilly chronicles his experiences in the same inimitable style that makes his back-page column for Sports Illustrated a must-read for more than twenty million people every week.  Combining a wicked wit with an expert's eye Who's Your Caddy? gives us an insight into what makes the game of golf so great. So if you can't get to the course, your short game is in tatters and Big Bertha can no longer deliver on her promises, give yourself a break and sit down and read what it's like for the rest of the world's population of golfers. In Who's Your Caddy? you'll find out - you're not alone..

Who's Your Caddy?

My Misadventures Carrying the Bag

Lance Armstrong

In 1999, Lance Armstrong made world headlines with the most stunning comeback in the history of sport after battling against life-threatening testicular cancer just eighteen months before returning to professional cycling. His first book, It's Not About the Bike, charted his journey back to life and went on to become an international bestseller. 
 
Now, in his much-anticipated follow-up, Armstrong shares more details of his extraordinary life story, including the births of his twin daughters Grace and Isabel. Never shy of controversy, Armstrong offers, with typical frankness, his thoughts on training, competing, winning and failure. He also tells of the work he did for the foundation he created following his dramatic recovery, addresses the daunting challenge of living in the aftermath of cancer and treatment, and shares further inspirational tales of survival. 
 
A fresh outlook on the spirit of survivors everywhere, Every Second Counts is an account of a man who strives every day to meet life's challenges - whether on his bike or off. 
 
 
Every Second Counts was first published in October 2003. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in January 2013, Lance Armstrong admitted to having taken performance enhancing drugs in all seven of the Tours de France in which he competed between 1999 and 2005. He was officially stripped of these wins by the UCI, the world governing body for cycling, in 2012.

Every Second Counts

Tim Harris

It may be natural to play games, but the sports we love aren't natural at all. Each and every one of them has been invented, tweaked, pushed and pulled to come up with better rules, cleverer tactics and more effective techniques. There are no prizes for guessing who invented the Cruyff Turn or the Fosbury Flop - but who invented the header or the sliding tackle? The dive pass or the scrum? The lob or the smash? The sand wedge or the tee? The googly or the flipper? 
 
This book introduces 250 men, women and animals, each of whom has transformed at least one major sport. Famous or infamous, remembered or forgotten, god-like or god-awful, the game was never the same after them. 
 
In making his selection, Tim Harris, author of Sport, has drawn on years of passion, argument and research to produce a list that is at once personal and authoritative, provocative and challenging: the rogues, rulers and revolutionaries who shaped the games we play today.

Players

250 Men, Women and Animals Who Created Modern Sport

Discover the ultimate read for any tennis fan. 
 
 'The first clear-eyed account of an extraordinary life' Independent on Sunday 
 
Wimbledon champion three times in the 1930s, Fred Perry is the finest tennis player that Britain has ever produced. Less well known is that Perry came from an unprivileged background and found himself - despite his supreme talent - an outsider in a sport that looked down on the advancement of the under-classes. 
 
Not afraid to ruffle a few establishment feathers, Perry discarded his hallowed amateur status in 1936 and turned professional. He compounded this perceived sin by taking out US citizenship when the Second World War broke out. He embraced his new country wholeheartedly. From Hollywood to Florida, Perry led a scandalous private life, marrying four times and charming himself into the beds of numerous Hollywood starlets and beautiful models along the way. 
 
The Last Champion is the first biography of Fred Perry. Through extensive research and revealing interviews, Jon Henderson, tennis correspondent of the Observer, brilliantly tells the remarkable story of this remarkable man. 
 
Longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award.

The Last Champion

The Life of Fred Perry

Sport: Almost Everything You Ever Wanted to Know tells the history of sport. All sport. Ever. From ancient times to the 21st century. 
 
In eight themed parts, Tim Harris describes the triumphs and breakthroughs - as well as the cheating and skulduggery - that have created the modern world of sport. Dip into it, or read it cover to cover - there's a 'Oh - now I get it' moment on every page. 
 
Sport: it's unique, funny, amazingly comprehensive and packed with extraordinary anecdotes to turn any reader into a sporting expert.

Sport

Almost Everything You Ever Wanted to Know

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that. But in this world, there are two moons in the sky. Discover the 1Q84 Trilogy by Haruki Murakami.

1Q84

365 Days of Art

A BBC Christmas

A Black Book Thriller

A Box Full of Murders

A Cal Leandros Novel

A Christmas Mystery

The intelligent and capable police commissioner Guido Brunetti confronts crime in and around his home town of Venice.

A Commissario Brunetti Mystery

A DC Smith / Kings Lake Investigation Series

A Daisy Story

Chronicling the lives of over three hundred characters, unrivalled for its scope and humour, this is a unique evocation of life in twentieth-century England.

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