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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Sport
"I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can." -- Babe Ruth Babe Ruth is without a doubt the most famous character ever produced by the sport of baseball. A legendary player, world-famous for his hitting prowess, he transcended the sport to enter the mainstream of American life as an authentic folk hero.
In this extraordinary biography, noted sportswriter Robert W. Creamer reveals the complex man behind the sports legend. From Ruth's early days in a Baltimore orphanage, to the glory days with the Yankees, to his later years, Creamer has drawn a classic portrait of an American original.
For 125 years the British & Irish Lions have stood out as a
peerless emblem in world sport. This unique account of the best
from the four Home Nations examines every tour in the Lions'
history, including the victorious 2013 tour to Hong Kong and
Australia, told in the players' words. Behind the Lions sees rugby
writers from across the Home Nations delve to the heart of what it
means to be a Lion, interviewing a vast array of former and current
players to uncover the passion, pride and exhilaration experienced
when wearing the famous red jersey. It is a tale of heartbreak and
ecstasy, humour and poignancy that is at once inspirational, moving
and utterly compelling. This is the story of the British &
Irish Lions in their own words.
This is not a book about how to train for an Ironman, the kit you
need or anything that could actually prove to be useful. If there
is anything useful in this book then that's purely by accident. If
you are looking for some genuine training tips on Ironman then
please get one of the decent training books - not the 55,000 words
of illiterate drivel this represents. This is a simply a story
about someone (fat northerner in the shape of Darren) deciding to
do something as stupid as Ironman and the things you encounter on
the way. Such as the psychotic geese, paperless portaloos, the mind
games and the doomsday feeling that no matter how much training you
do it's never enough. Darren is fat, bald, ugly and lives in the
North West of England with his wife Amy and daughter Lilly-Mae
where he continues to try to be a triathlete.
Dottir is two-time consecutive CrossFit Games Champion Katrin
Davidsdottir's inspiring and poignant memoir. As one of only two
women in history to have won the title of "Fittest Woman on Earth"
twice, Davidsdottir knows all about the importance of mental and
physical strength. She won the title in 2015, backing it up with a
second win in 2016, after starting CrossFit in just 2011. A gymnast
as a youth, Davidsdottir wanted to try new challenges and found a
love of CrossFit. But it hasn't been a smooth rise to the top. In
2014, just one year before taking home the gold, she didn't qualify
for the Games. She used that loss as motivation and fuel for
training harder and smarter for the 2015 Games. She pushed herself
and refocused her mental game. Her hard work and perseverance paid
off with her return to the Games and subsequent victories in 2015
and 2016. In Dottir, Davidsdottir shares her journey with readers.
She details her focus on training, goal setting, nutrition, and
mental toughness.
Fasten your seatbelts as Formula 1's favourite underdog, Guenther
Steiner, takes you on a wild ride through his ten years at Team Haas.
From the first seeds of his idea to establish a new F1 team to the
challenges of funding and building that team from the ground up,
Guenther shares the real story of the origins of Team Haas, immerses
readers in the high and lows of its first decade on the grid, and opens
up about his departure from the team at the end of 2023.
As Guenther recalls his proudest achievements and the many, many
disasters he has faced, he takes readers behind the scenes, into the
pit lanes and garages, and out on to the circuits of the world's
greatest race tracks. We spend time with drivers, mechanics,
executives, sponsors, commentators and fans, and take in many personal
moments too, all the while grappling with the big challenges and small
details that keep the wheels of a Formula 1 team turning.
Told in his inimitable style, packed with hugely entertaining stories,
outspoken opinions and unvarnished truths, this is Guenther at his very
best – insightful, opinionated and completely unfiltered.
Having made the daring decision to set off around the world by
bicycle, Pam Goodall left the comfortable surroundings of her home
in West Sussex one spring morning, and went on to pedal her way
through Europe, Asia and America. She was approaching her sixtieth
birthday and travelled alone. Riding It Out is a record of this
remarkable journey, giving a vivid and lighthearted account. This
includes the trials of finding a place to sleep each night, the
reality of owning a Brooks saddle and choosing to ignore persistent
warnings from well meaning strangers of the dangers lurking ahead
for a lone female cyclist. The challenge of obtaining visas
throughout Asia proves nerve-wracking and costly. This one woman
tale of adventure encapsulates the spirit of freedom of the open
road (or bumpy track) so that you can enjoy the experience without
the discomforts.
Explores Jackie Robinson's compelling and complicated legacy Before
the United States Supreme Court ruled against segregation in public
schools, and before Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat in
Montgomery, Alabama, Jackie Robinson walked onto the diamond on
April 15, 1947, as first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, making
history as the first African American to integrate Major League
Baseball in the twentieth century. Today a national icon, Robinson
was a complicated man who navigated an even more complicated world
that both celebrated and despised him. Many are familiar with
Robinson as a baseball hero. Few, however, know of the inner
turmoil that came with his historic status. Featuring piercing
essays from a range of distinguished sportswriters, cultural
critics, and scholars, this book explores Robinson's perspectives
and legacies on civil rights, sports, faith, youth, and
nonviolence, while providing rare glimpses into the struggles and
strength of one of the nation's most athletically gifted and
politically significant citizens. Featuring a foreword by
celebrated directors and producers Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and
David McMahon, this volume recasts Jackie Robinson's legacy and
establishes how he set a precedent for future civil rights
activism, from Black Lives Matter to Colin Kaepernick.
Winner of the Telegraph Sports Book Awards Rugby Book of the Year
Among the best stories in modern British team sport has been the
rise of Exeter Chiefs. How, exactly, did an unfashionable rugby
team from Devon emerge from obscurity to become the double
champions of England and Europe? What makes them tick? What are
their secrets? Exe Men is a compelling story of regional pride,
fierce rural identity, larger-than-life local heroes, remarkable
characters, epic resilience, big city snobbery, geographical
separation, steepling ambition and personal sacrifice which will
strike a chord with anyone who enjoys a classic underdog story.
This is not any old rugby book, it is the inside story of Exeter's
incredible journey from the edge of nowhere to the summit of the
English and European club game.
The explosive new book from Britain’s leading investigative biographer,
Tom Bower
As one of the most famous and influential couples in the world, David
and Victoria Beckham have attained iconic status. The ultimate power
couple have together built a multi-billion-dollar global brand. For
decades, adoring fans have been captivated by the glamorous world they
have created, while their unrivalled fusion of showbiz, fashion,
football and celebrity has been cultivated alongside the image of a
strong marriage.
When the much-trailed Netflix documentary Beckham aired in 2023,
viewers were offered an even more intimate insight into their private
lives. Produced by the Beckhams themselves, the series raised many
questions, not only about their success and personal relationship, but
also about the ruthlessly successful management of their image in the
media. Are their lives really as perfect as the Beckhams would like the
world to believe?
Through extensive research, expert sourcing and interviews with
insiders, Britain’s most celebrated investigative biographer, Tom
Bower, has unearthed a succession of revelations that give surprising
insight into the reality of ‘Brand Beckham’. Exploring the couple’s
relationship, and the truth about their football and fashion careers,
their finances and their new life in Miami, The House of Beckham
unravels the extraordinary reality of the business-savvy cultural icons
to tell an engrossing, often astonishing story of money, sex and power.
""It's not so surprising that on the day of my fifth wedding
anniversary I would be crouched in the open door of an airplane,
thirteen thousand feet above the Colorado plains, about to jump
out. That coincidence of timing really wasn't.""
Steph Davis is a superstar in the climbing community and has
ascended some of the world's most awe-inspiring peaks. But when her
husband makes a controversial climb in a national park, the media
fallout--and the toll it takes on her marriage--suddenly leaves her
without a partner, a career, a source of income . . . or a purpose.
In the company of only her beloved dog, Fletch, Davis sets off on a
search for a new identity and discovers skydiving. Though falling
out of an airplane is completely antithetical to the climber's
control she'd practiced for so long, she turns each daring jump
into an opportunity to fly, first as a skydiver, then as a base
jumper, and finds herself indelibly changed. As she opens herself
to falling, she also finds the strength to open herself to love
again, even in the wake of heartbreak. And before too long, she
fortuitously meets someone who shares her passions.
"Learning to Fly "is Davis's fascinating account of her
transformation. From her early tentative skydives, to zipping into
her first wingsuit, to surviving devastating accidents against the
background of breathtaking cliffs, to soaring beyond her past
limits, she discovers new hope and joy in letting go. "Learning to
Fly "isn't just an adventure but a woman's story of risk-taking and
self-discovery, with love at its heart.
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Alex
(Hardcover)
David Lyons
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R636
Discovery Miles 6 360
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Ships in 18 - 22 working days
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Leading cycling writer William Fotheringham presents the biography
of the greatest cyclist in history, Eddy Merckx--the extraordinary
man who is to cycling what Muhammad Ali is to boxing. This
definitive history chronicles his life, examining both the ups and
the downs. Throughout his professional career Merckx amassed an
astonishing 445 victories and exhibited a remorseless sense of
domination that created his legend. But his triumphs only tell half
of a story that includes horrific injury, a doping controversy, and
tragedy. To discover the background of the Belgian cyclist's former
invincibility, the author spoke with those who were there at the
time and those who knew Merckx best. This is the singular tale of a
man whose fear of failure would drive him to reach the highest
pinnacles before ultimately destroying himself.
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