Fans pick 42 books like The Long Win

By Cath Bishop,

Here are 42 books that The Long Win fans have personally recommended if you like The Long Win. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

Kara Alaimo Author Of Over The Influence: Why Social Media is Toxic for Women and Girls - And How We Can Take it Back

From my list on what it’s like to be a woman in this sexist, misogynistic world.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a communication professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, a social media user, and a mom. After Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, I wrote an op-ed for CNN arguing that he’d won the election on social media, and I just never stopped writing. A few hundred op-eds and a book later, I’m still interested in what social media is doing to us all and the issues women are up against in our society. My book allowed me to explore how social media is impacting every single aspect of the lives of women and girls and exactly what we can do about it. I wrote it as a call to arms.

Kara's book list on what it’s like to be a woman in this sexist, misogynistic world

Kara Alaimo Why did Kara love this book?

The opening of this book about how public transport systems have been designed to get men where they need to go (to the city center for work) but not women where we often go (all over neighborhoods caring for people) just blew my mind.

I loved how Criado Perez challenges so many things we take for granted – like why you can go out with a client after work and expense your steak and drinks but not the babysitter you have to hire. Her explanations of how the world is basically designed for men helped me understand why the voice control system in my car never seems to understand me and why there’s always a line for the ladies’ room.

By Caroline Criado Perez,

Why should I read it?

13 authors picked Invisible Women as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of the 2019 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award
Winner of the 2019 Royal Society Science Book Prize

Data is fundamental to the modern world. From economic development, to healthcare, to education and public policy, we rely on numbers to allocate resources and make crucial decisions. But because so much data fails to take into account gender, because it treats men as the default and women as atypical, bias and discrimination are baked into our systems. And women pay tremendous costs for this bias, in time, money, and often with their lives.

Celebrated feminist advocate…


Book cover of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Margot Machol Bisnow Author Of Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams - 99 Stories from Families Who Did

From my list on learn how to raise confident children.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve become passionate about telling parents how to raise happy, resilient, creative, confident, entrepreneurial children who are doing something that gives them joy. So many young people are unhappy; parents don’t understand how to help. They think their children should follow their path, but that no longer works for many. For the last 10 years, I’ve been speaking to parent groups; I was an Advisor to EQ Generation, an after-school program that gives children the skills to succeed; on the Advisory Board of MUSE School, preparing young people with passion-based learning; and on the Board of Spark the Journey, mentoring low-income high school students to achieve college and career success. 

Margot's book list on learn how to raise confident children

Margot Machol Bisnow Why did Margot love this book?

I loved reading about grit–that “passion plus perseverance toward long-term goals” is the key to success–by Angela Duckworth, who pioneered the concept. I particularly loved reading the section in her book, Parenting for Grit, which supports the parenting style of every parent I interviewed who raised entrepreneurial children.

Rather than Permissive Parenting or Authoritarian Parenting, she supports what she calls Wise Parenting, when there’s a “carefully struck balance between affection and respect on the one hand and firmly enforced expectations on the other.”

By Angela Duckworth,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked Grit as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

UNLOCK THE KEY TO SUCCESS

In this must-read for anyone seeking to succeed, pioneering psychologist Angela Duckworth takes us on an eye-opening journey to discover the true qualities that lead to outstanding achievement. Winningly personal, insightful and powerful, Grit is a book about what goes through your head when you fall down, and how that - not talent or luck - makes all the difference.

'Impressively fresh and original' Susan Cain


Book cover of The Worst Journey in the World

Ben Hunt-Davis Author Of Will It Make the Boat Go Faster?

From my list on helping you achieve your goals.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an Olympic Gold Medallist rower, performance coach, facilitator, and keynote speaker passionate about high performance, teamwork, and the parallels between sport and business. In 1998 I was part of a consistently underachieving Team GB rowing eight, often placing 7th or 8th. We weren’t the strongest or most talented crew. By changing the way we worked as a team, we managed to turn it around to win Olympic Gold on the waters of Sydney in 2000. Since then, I've specialized in translating Olympic-winning strategies into business success. Specifically focusing on leadership and team development, I work with individuals, teams, and organizations to help them define their gold medal goals and supporting them in achieving them.

Ben's book list on helping you achieve your goals

Ben Hunt-Davis Why did Ben love this book?

This is a gripping account of expeditioner Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole. Apsley Cherry-Garrard, one of the youngest members of Scott's team, recorded the experience of this adventure gone disastrously wrong. Despite the horrors that Scott and his men faced along the way, Cherry's account is filled with stories of resilience, belief in the human spirit, and to persevere in the face of adversity, no matter the cost. Through frostbitten flesh, teeth chattering so hard they spontaneously shatter in the cold of the air, to sweat freezing the instant it emerges from the pores – this is not for the faint-hearted. Nonetheless it is certainly one of the most inspiring accounts of developing self-belief and pushing on in the face of brutal setbacks. 

By Apsley Cherry-Garrard,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Worst Journey in the World as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A firsthand account of Scott's disastrous Antarctic expedition

The Worst Journey in the World recounts Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole. Apsley Cherry-Garrard—the youngest member of Scott’s team and one of three men to make and survive the notorious Winter Journey—draws on his firsthand experiences as well as the diaries of his compatriots to create a stirring and detailed account of Scott’s legendary expedition. Cherry himself would be among the search party that discovered the corpses of Scott and his men, who had long since perished from starvation and brutal cold. It is through Cherry’s insightful narrative…


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Book cover of The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

The Coaching Habit By Michael Bungay Stanier,

The coaching book that's for all of us, not just coaches.

It's the best-selling book on coaching this century, with 15k+ online reviews. Brené Brown calls it "a classic". Dan Pink said it was "essential".

It is practical, funny, and short, and "unweirds" coaching. Whether you're a parent, a teacher,…

Book cover of Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations

Ben Hunt-Davis Author Of Will It Make the Boat Go Faster?

From my list on helping you achieve your goals.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an Olympic Gold Medallist rower, performance coach, facilitator, and keynote speaker passionate about high performance, teamwork, and the parallels between sport and business. In 1998 I was part of a consistently underachieving Team GB rowing eight, often placing 7th or 8th. We weren’t the strongest or most talented crew. By changing the way we worked as a team, we managed to turn it around to win Olympic Gold on the waters of Sydney in 2000. Since then, I've specialized in translating Olympic-winning strategies into business success. Specifically focusing on leadership and team development, I work with individuals, teams, and organizations to help them define their gold medal goals and supporting them in achieving them.

Ben's book list on helping you achieve your goals

Ben Hunt-Davis Why did Ben love this book?

By exploring today’s rapidly changing world, Friedman helps you take a step back and consider how we might be able to live life at a reasonable pace. Thank You For Being Late serves as a guide for how to respond to the speed of change around us. By understanding how the world is changing through the possibilities and dangers of Moore’s Law (technology and the internet), the Market (globalization), and Mother Nature (climate change), Friedman encourages us to consider our own adaptability. Rather than complaining and being static as individuals, Friedman suggests we need to embrace change and look at what is in our control to adapt, learn, look forward and still achieve what we want to.

By Thomas L. Friedman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Thank You for Being Late as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE NEW INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE WORLD IS FLAT

We all sense it: something big is going on. Life is speeding up, and it is dizzying. Here Thomas L. Friedman reveals the tectonic movements that are reshaping our world, how to adapt to this new age and why, sometimes, we all need to be late.

'A master class ... As a guide for perplexed Westerners, this book is very hard to beat ... an honest, cohesive explanation for why the world is the way it is, without miracle cures or scapegoats' John Micklethwait, The New York Times…


Book cover of The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

Bill Lynch Author Of Mekong Belle: Love's Impossible Choice

From my list on time travel on lonely roads.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in a family of journalists. My great-grandfather, grand-aunt, and father were newspaper editors and master raconteurs. I followed in their footsteps, spending 50 years as a small-town newspaper editor. Among family, friends, and neighbors, I was expected to know the stories behind the headlines, and in so doing, I became a raconteur. In a good story, there is a fine line between fact and fiction. The novels I chose for a long road trip are as believable as the true stories I was told and ended up telling when it was my turn. It only takes asking “What if?” to cross the line from fact to fiction.

Bill's book list on time travel on lonely roads

Bill Lynch Why did Bill love this book?

I’d already bought the book when we decided to drive from our home in Sonoma, California, to visit friends who live in the San Juan Islands off the Washington Coast. I packed the book but also downloaded the Audible version. We started listening as we got on the road. I never opened the book.

It’s just a great story set in the time my parents were in high school and college. It was a world with which I was made familiar by their stories. The main character’s difficult early life resonates with anyone who has listened to the greatest generation talk about what it was like growing up during the Depression.

Yes, the action during the rowing was exciting, but I enjoyed the development of the characters, especially Joe Rantz, and his personal challenges and victories, more than all competition scenes.

By Daniel James Brown,

Why should I read it?

16 authors picked The Boys in the Boat as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The #1 New York Times-bestselling story about the American Olympic rowing triumph in Nazi Germany-from the author of Facing the Mountain.

Soon to be a major motion picture directed by George Clooney

For readers of Unbroken, out of the depths of the Depression comes an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times-the improbable, intimate account of how nine working-class boys from the American West showed the world at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin what true grit really meant.

It was an unlikely quest from the start. With a team composed of the…


Book cover of The Red Rose Crew: A True Story Of Women, Winning, And The Water

Maura K. Deering Author Of The Handyman

From my list on rowing.

Why am I passionate about this?

I didn’t row in college; I started rowing at age 48 and quickly became addicted. I started racing and soon became obsessed. I row 4-6 days a week. I lift weights. I train on an indoor rowing machine (Concept 2 “erg”). I travel to Boston, Canada, and throughout the Pacific Northwest to compete. I devour books about rowing and couldn’t help but work it into my novel.

Maura's book list on rowing

Maura K. Deering Why did Maura love this book?

I’ve read this several times. The book chronicles the beginning of U.S. women’s rowing at the international competitive level.

It illustrates how women had to fight to get coaching, equipment, and even a locker room. It also shows that women athletes are every bit as tough and competitive as their male counterparts.

As a female competitive rower myself, I am indebted to them for opening the door.

By Daniel Boyne,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Red Rose Crew as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In 1975, a group of amazing women rowed their way to international success and glory, battling sexual prejudice, bureaucracy, and male domination in one of the most grueling and competitive sports around. Among the members of the first international women's crew team--and one of the first women's teams anywhere--were Gail Pearson, the soft-spoken MIT professor who fought equally hard off the water to win the political battles neccessary for her team to succeed; lead rower Carie Graves, a statuesque bohemian from rural Wisconsin who dropped out of college and later became the most intense rower of the crew; and Lynn…


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Book cover of I Am Taurus

I Am Taurus By Stephen Palmer,

The constellation we know as Taurus goes all the way back to cave paintings of aurochs at Lascaux. This book traces the story of the bull in the sky, a journey through the history of what has become known as the sacred bull.

Each of the sections is written from…

Book cover of Wanted: Rowing Coach

Maura K. Deering Author Of The Handyman

From my list on rowing.

Why am I passionate about this?

I didn’t row in college; I started rowing at age 48 and quickly became addicted. I started racing and soon became obsessed. I row 4-6 days a week. I lift weights. I train on an indoor rowing machine (Concept 2 “erg”). I travel to Boston, Canada, and throughout the Pacific Northwest to compete. I devour books about rowing and couldn’t help but work it into my novel.

Maura's book list on rowing

Maura K. Deering Why did Maura love this book?

Another favorite from Lewis, this book tells a fictionalized tale of an Olympic gold medalist hired to turn a hapless group of UC Santa Barbara rowers into a competitive collegiate team.

What ensues is a funny, but inspiring, tale of transformation, offbeat coaching methods, and camaraderie.

As a sometime rowing coach, I found it thoroughly engrossing and entertaining.

By Brad Alan Lewis,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Wanted as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Taking on the challenge of coaching the poor-but-humble mens' varsity crew at UC Santa Barbara requires a special sort of person - Olympic gold medalist Brad Alan Lewis is the man for the job. Or is he? Yes, he'd won the gold at the Olympics, but he'd never coached a college crew - not even a novice team. Mountain lions, rattlesnakes, icy roads, crazed bass fishermen - they all conspired to make Lewis's challenge even more... challenging. Read 'Wanted: Rowing Coach' and find out if he survived. Actually, since it's an autobiography of sorts (thinly veiled fiction) you can pretty…


Book cover of Assault on Lake Casitas

Maura K. Deering Author Of The Handyman

From my list on rowing.

Why am I passionate about this?

I didn’t row in college; I started rowing at age 48 and quickly became addicted. I started racing and soon became obsessed. I row 4-6 days a week. I lift weights. I train on an indoor rowing machine (Concept 2 “erg”). I travel to Boston, Canada, and throughout the Pacific Northwest to compete. I devour books about rowing and couldn’t help but work it into my novel.

Maura's book list on rowing

Maura K. Deering Why did Maura love this book?

Lewis is one of my favorite writers. He’s funny, observant, and a nonconformist. In this book, Lewis describes in great, and often hilarious, detail his attempt to become the U.S. single sculler on the 1984 Olympic team.

Failing that, he attends the Olympic team selection camp for the double and suffers the indignity of not being selected. So, he strikes out on his own, finds a partner, comes up with a grueling and innovative training plan, and wins the Olympic gold medal.

I appreciate this book as someone who often forgets how old they are, obsesses, and overtrains.

By Brad Alan Lewis,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Assault on Lake Casitas as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Brad Alan Lewis’ determination to win an Olympic medal had taken over his life by 1984. He would be too old for the 1988 Games and his spot on the 1980 team had been lost to world politics. Only 1984 remained. But Lewis had a problem. Emotionally crushed after losing a guaranteed spot on the team by nine-tenths of a second in the single scull trials, Lewis went to the dreaded Olympic selection camp, where he hoped to earn a place in a national team boat. Again he failed. Lewis refused to be denied. He teamed up with Paul Enquist,…


Book cover of Grandad's Secret Giant

Jami Gigot Author Of Seb and the Sun

From my list on with a bit of magic and a lot of heart.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an author and illustrator of several picture books including My Daddy Can Fly, Starboy - Inspired by the Life and Lyrics of David Bowie, Imagination Vacation, Seb and the Sun and Mae and the Moon. I’ve always been a curious person filled with wonder at our amazing world, and I love letting my imagination get taken away by a good book. I find picture books to be the perfect format to blend my love of illustration and story, and some of the stories I love the most are those that are imaginative and magical, but also give a little tug at the heartstrings, fill us with warmth and make us want to read them again and again. 

Jami's book list on with a bit of magic and a lot of heart

Jami Gigot Why did Jami love this book?

Grandad has always said that the giant in town is real and a helpful and kind friend, but Billie doesn’t believe in Grandad’s tall tales. When Billie himself discovers the giant, and runs from fright and panic at this huge creature, he comes to understand why the giant has kept himself hidden. Feeling awful about his overreaction, Billie makes it his mission to make it up to the giant by making him a very special gift. Full of humour and heart, Grandad’s Secret Giant shows us that acceptance and kindness towards all people, big or small, is important, and David Litchfield’s stunning illustrations glow on the pages in this beautiful book. 

By David Litchfield,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Grandad's Secret Giant as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

'Funny, touching and visually stunning, this really is a book to treasure'-Daily Mail

A GIANT story of belonging and friendship from David Litchfield, author ofThe Bear and the Piano. "He has hands the size of tables," Grandad said, "legs as long as drainpipes and feet as big as rowing boats. Do you know who I mean?" "Yes," sighed Billy. "The Secret Giant. But he's not real!" Billy doesn't believe his Grandad when he tells him there's a giant living in his town, doing good deeds for everyone. He knows that a giant is too big to keep himself hidden. And…


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Book cover of Trial, Error, and Success: 10 Insights into Realistic Knowledge, Thinking, and Emotional Intelligence

Trial, Error, and Success By Sima Dimitrijev, PhD, Maryann Karinch,

Everything in nature evolves by trial, error, and success—from fundamental physics, through evolution in biology, to how people learn, think, and decide.

This book presents a way of thinking and realistic knowledge that our formal education shuns. Stepping beyond this ignorance, the book shows how to deal with and even…

Book cover of The Secrets of the Lake

Beryl P. Brown Author Of May's Boys

From my list on emotionally moving WWII family and childhood novels.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up, my mother often shared stories of her evacuation to a small Wiltshire village during World War Two. Far from a warm welcome, the local children viewed the newcomers with suspicion, and they were made to feel unwanted. My mother did, however, form one lifelong friendship that was very important to her. Her tales inspired me to write a novel about an evacuee’s experience for my Creative Writing MA. Living in Dorset at the time, I set my story there. The research was fascinating, allowing me to weave together historical insights with my own memories and experiences of today’s rural life. 

Beryl's book list on emotionally moving WWII family and childhood novels

Beryl P. Brown Why did Beryl love this book?

I enjoyed the dual timeline of this book and the path to resolving a seventy-year-old mystery. The story is set in the Suffolk countryside, and after reading the book, I was fascinated enough to visit the location and the scene of the myth on which the story is based.

A missing child is at the core of the story, but gossip, accusation, and the unknown all combined to muddy the water of a story that captured my imagination.

By Liz Trenow,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Secrets of the Lake as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Secrets of the Lake is a gripping wartime novel, by the author of The Silk Weaver, Liz Trenow.

'Masterful storytelling, immersive locations, and characters that inhabit your heart from the first page' - Gill Paul, author of The Secret Wife.

The war may be over, but for Molly life is still in turmoil. Uprooted from London after the death of her mother, Molly, her father and younger brother Jimmy are starting again in a quiet village in the countryside of Colchester. As summer sets in, the heat is almost as oppressive as the village gossip. Molly dreams of becoming…


Book cover of Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
Book cover of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Book cover of The Worst Journey in the World

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Interested in the Olympics, World War 1, and sports?

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