Publication date: 2004-12-15
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £18.99
Price: £3.95
Review A Lifetime in a Race / Ebury Press:
Publication date: 2004-09-13
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £20.00
Price: £2.00
Review Winning!: The Story of England's Rise to Rugby World Cup Glory / Hodder & Stoughton Ltd:Clive Woodward was at the helm when English rugby union triumphantly heaved itself from the boozy, pot-bellied mire of amateurism to the top of the professional game at the 2003 World Cup in Australia. And in Winning he makes a robust, cogent and at times brilliant argument for taking the lion's share of the credit. As sports autobiographies go this is an extraordinary book, part personal memoir and part historical revision, of course - Woodward is not backward in correcting his critics or laying bare the politics that shroud top-level sports managers. But what sets it apart is that the former England coach presents a detailed analysis of the man-management and coaching theories that underpinned the success, in what is effectively a case study in winning. To this end there is an abundance of diagrams, flow charts and 'key rules' which at first glance will have a worryingly familiar look to anyone who's ever sat through a motivational business seminar. They formed the day-to-day intellectual touchstones that were the foundation of the Woodward era, covering the 75 matches between November 1997 and that famous victory in the Telstra Stadium. And in a sporting turn-up akin to Jonny Wilkinson's last-ditch drop-goal that felled the Aussies in Sidney, Woodward takes these unpromising raw ingredients and delivers a genuinely engrossing read: a how-to manual for aspiring coaches and an unique insight for fans. The tone is occasionally bombastic - whatever the veracity of their substance, one or two of the recounted conversations ring about as true as an episode of Acorn Antiques, but somehow it doesn't get in the way. Midway through the book, there's a rather peculiar "Author's note about confidentiality" in which Woodward claims that he will never: "show any player or member of the management in any sort of bad light". Not fashionable and frankly not much fun, but arguably entirely in keeping with the Winning philosophy. [+]And you can't argue with results, can you?-Alex Hankin.
Edition: New Ed
Publication date: 2005-04-07
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £8.99
Price: £4.09
Review Stan Bowles: The Autobiography / Orion:
Publication date: 2006-01-14
Dewey code: 910
RRP: £20.00
Price: £9.59
Review Living Dangerously / Long Riders' Guild Press US:
Publication date: 2008-05-19
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £22.50
Price: £12.77
Review From the Fells to Ferrari: The Official Biography of Cliff Allison / Veloce Publishing PLC:
Publication date: 2008-09-04
RRP: £16.99
Price: £11.19
Review Big Mal: The High Life and Hard Times of Malcolm Allison, Football Legend / Mainstream Publishing:
Edition: New Ed
Publication date: 2008-08-21
Dewey code: 798
RRP: £8.99
Price: £6.29
Review What Will Be: William Fox-Pitt Autobiography: The Autobiography / Orion:
Edition: New Ed
Publication date: 2002-11-07
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £7.99
Price: £3.47
Review The Real McRae: The Autobiography of Britain's Most Exciting Rally Driver / Ebury Press:
Publication date: 1981-03
Dewey code: 796.426
Price: £3.95
Review The Flying Scotsman: Biography of Eric Liddell / Quartet Books:
Publication date: 2008-01-10
RRP: £10.99
Price: £5.00
Review The Driver: My Dangerous Pursuit of Speed and Truth in the Outlaw Racing World / Ebury Press:
Authors
- Delme Parfitt
- Gareth Thomas
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £17.99
Price: £8.42
Review Alfie!: The Gareth Thomas Story / Mainstream Publishing:
Edition: Reprint
Publication date: 2008-06-04
Dewey code: 796.42092
RRP: £9.99
Price: £4.75
Review Silent Gesture: The Autobiography of Tommie Smith (Sporting): The Autobiography of Tommie Smith (Sporting) / Temple University Press,U.S.:
Edition: Reprint
Publication date: 2007-06-01
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £8.99
Price: £2.69
Review Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring: A Son's Struggle to Become a Man: From the Streets to the Ring - A Son's Struggle to Become a Man / HarperCollins:
Edition: New Ed
Publication date: 1997-01-16
RRP: £6.99
Price: £2.85
Review It's Much More Important Than That : Bill Shankly, The biography. / Virgin Books:
Publication date: 2007-08-01
RRP: £8.99
Price: £4.30
Review A Strange Kind of Glory: Sir Matt Busby and Manchester United / Aurum Press Ltd:
Edition: 2nd Ed
Publication date: 1998-10-01
Dewey code: 921
RRP: £14.95
Price: £3.43
Review Pre: Story of America's Greatest Running Legend Steve Prefontaine / Rodale Press:
Publication date: 2006-10-23
Dewey code: 796.42092
RRP: £14.99
Price: £2.35
Review The Extra Mile: One Woman's Personal Journey to Ultra-Running Greatness / Rodale Press:
Publication date: 2004-11-15
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £17.99
Price: £13.50
Review Paula: My Story So Far / Simon & Schuster Ltd:
Publication date: 2005-07-27
RRP: £18.99
Price: £3.00
Review Bobby Robson: My Autobiography - Farewell but not Goodbye / Hodder & Stoughton Ltd:Bobby Robson is a legend in British football, and his autobiography, Farewell but not Goodbye, is a lively and dramatic picture of a life lived in and for the Beautiful Game. While Robson has been granted almost godlike status in Newcastle and the North East, his career has touched on every aspect of the national sport. The book describes his days as a player for Fulham and West Brom in the 50s and 60s, the 20 England caps he collected over the years and (of course) his spectacularly successful career in management (all 40 years of it); there is no career quite like this in English football. We all know, of course, that sportsmen's autobiographies are customarily written with a little 'hidden assistance', and Paul Hayward's contribution here should not be overlooked. With the latter's subtle help, the opening chapters detailing Robson's childhood and early years in the North-East have a vividness and texture worthy of such writers as John Braine. But most readers will be keen to get to Robson's sporting career, and if they do a little judicious skipping of these early chapters, they can be forgiven. Soon, we're presented with some of the historic sporting achievements which have been part of Robson's stellar career. There is the `Hand of God' story, the ill-starred Paul Gascoigne's emotional breakdowns (which so endeared him to the nation) and the high tension of Robson's squiring the England team through two dramatic World Cups. Too many autobiographies have cheated the reader by drawing a discreet veil over the very things that we most wish to read about - but Robson will have no truck with such mealy-mouthed evasion; for the first time he describes the real story behind his sacking as Newcastle manager in 2004, and his five turbulent years at St James's Park is treated with similar frankness. -Barry Forshaw.
Publication date: 2000-01-28
Dewey code: 796.812092
Price: £16.99
Review The Rock Says / HarperCollins:Hot on the bleeding heels of Mankind's Have a Nice Day!, here's another memoir edited by the same prose coach, the clever Jeremie Ruby-Strauss (and co-authored by Joe Layden). Dwayne Johnson, aka the Rock, gives you plenty of colourful, jumbled action photos and the growling accounts of staged mayhem that made Mankind a bestseller. But actually, his story is more interesting than that of Mankind, his occasional ring rival. The noisy action chapters alternate with passages of more reflective conventional autobiography. The Rock is a third-generation pro wrestler and his book amounts to a history of the sport. His grandpa, High Chief Peter Maivia, was a Samoan important enough to be buried in Diamond Head's crater, and his dad, Rocky Johnson, was George Foreman's sparring partner and the first black American World Wrestling Federation Intercontinental champ. The Rock is candid about the battles his family faced outside the ring: the marriage-testing road lifestyle, his dad's most important win (over the bottle) and the author's own dangerous temper. There's something touching about the Rock's unpromising debut in his Uncle Tonga's old trunks, in his reverence for his elders-and something scary about his reaction when he thinks people lack such respect. What, you say? You'd rather hear about the Rock's "schmozz" (free-for-all) with Mankind, or Faarooq and the interracial Nation of Domination, or that Budweiser-popping piece of trailer trash Stone Cold Steve Austin, or the Undertaker, whose skin is "the colour of bad meat"? You want to hear how he started out sleeping on a pungent mattress retrieved from a garbage dump and wound up wearing Versace shirts and chatting up Gennifer Flowers on TV at Wrestle Mania XIV? You crave the secrets of the Frankenstein, the Gorilla Position and Jake the Snake? That's all here too. Just hop in the ring-The Rock will show you around. [+]-Tim Appelo.
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A Lifetime in a Race, Winning!: The Story of England's Rise to Rugby World Cup Glory, Stan Bowles: The Autobiography, Living Dangerously, From the Fells to Ferrari: The Official Biography of Cliff Allison, Big Mal: The High Life and Hard Times of Malcolm Allison, Football Legend, What Will Be: William Fox-Pitt Autobiography: The Autobiography, The Real McRae: The Autobiography of Britain's Most Exciting Rally Driver, The Flying Scotsman: Biography of Eric Liddell, The Driver: My Dangerous Pursuit of Speed and Truth in the Outlaw Racing World, Alfie!: The Gareth Thomas Story, Silent Gesture: The Autobiography of Tommie Smith (Sporting): The Autobiography of Tommie Smith (Sporting), Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring: A Son's Struggle to Become a Man: From the Streets to the Ring - A Son's Struggle to Become a Man, It's Much More Important Than That : Bill Shankly, The biography., A Strange Kind of Glory: Sir Matt Busby and Manchester United, Pre: Story of America's Greatest Running Legend Steve Prefontaine, The Extra Mile: One Woman's Personal Journey to Ultra-Running Greatness, Paula: My Story So Far, Bobby Robson: My Autobiography - Farewell but not Goodbye, The Rock Says |
