The Perfect Turn promises us tales of skiing and skiers-but what gripping tales these are: ski history meets ski adventure. The story of great ski races and great ski racers, the pursuit of the World Speed Record on skis, memoirs of colorful, important, and simply remarkable skiers, winter backcountry expeditions through the remotest of snowy ranges ... Author Dick Dorworth weaves an engaging blend of action and reflection in the most thoughtful and literary ski writing to come along in ages. This is a book by a skier who has lived it all, skied it all, and then thought about his sport in fresh and surprising terms. This collection contains brings together 19 essays that probe and reveal the very soul of skiing, and ends with a poetic piece of short fiction that gives this collection its title.

Dick Dorworth is a skier's skier, a writer's writer. As a young man he pushed his limits on skis; he is still putting himself on the line in honest, telling, unsparing prose. This is a story of life and death at high speeds on snow, of world records and world-class skiers, of ambitions realized and frustrated, of fear and fearlessness at over 100 miles per hour. Dorworth takes us with him down the straight courses of his pursuit of pure speed. It is an exhilarating non-stop ride.