The most recommended sports books

Another dark side of sport is the position it accords women. In this accessible (but not dumbed down) work, American academic Jaime Schultz provides an overview of how women have fared over the years. Her approach is to pose a set of questions that are answered within chapters covering, for example, occupational opportunities, sex segregation (not, I would emphasise, in my bowls team), sexualities, female health, and the media. I admire Jaime for her determination to give women’s sport its rightful place not only in sports history but in contemporary society. She also deserves kudos when, though a young scholar, she challenged my views on methodology in sports history.

The carefree Lotus Huang comes into her own in this volume as she charms her way with wiles through problems and obstacles she and Guo Jing encounter as a couple, including two girls to whom Guo Jing is betrothed against his will. She is not as frivolous as she appears, and she always watches bumbling Guo Jing’s back.

This is the second English volume in Legends of the Condor Heroes, which is a popular novel by Jin Yong that I had read in Chinese as a child and which I recently re-read and still loved. I picked out this volume mainly because I adored the translation of one poetic passage describing the hallucinating “Ode to the Billowing Tide” flute melody played by Apothecary Huang. 

Gatty was a remarkable, pioneering aviator from Tasmania and the first person to bring the art of natural navigation to a wide audience. During the Second World War, he taught navigation to US military airmen, and wrote a guide to survival at sea that was standard issue and probably saved quite a few lives: The Raft Book. Finding Your Way (which first came out in the 1950s under the title Nature Is Your Guide), builds on that earlier work and is a mine of fascinating information and anecdotes on which I drew extensively in writing Incredible Journeys.

Gatty was a real expert and discusses how all our senses can help us find our way, even in very difficult circumstances. For example, he tells of an Inuit hunter who, paddling his kayak in thick fog, was able to find the entrance of his home fjord by listening out for… show more.

This was another one where people from every angle had been recommending it for years... yet I resisted, thinking it didn't sound all that amazing, and I basically knew what it would be about without any need to even read it. But I finally caved in and have to admit I was totally wrong.

This was a highly engaging and informative book. Lately, I've been less into dry scientific texts and more into something closer to essays, where the author does bring some knowledge to the table but more personality as well. And this definitely fits the bill.

Many are also interpreting it as a slam on the whole "10,000 Hours" rule about becoming a master at something, and if so, I would applaud it even more because I always thought that theory was bunkum myself. 

If you’re a Himalayan enthusiast, this book is a must. Heck, even if you’re not yet an enthusiast, you will be after you start reading Fallen Giants. Its sweep is magnificent, its story-telling superb. You’d think this book would get repetitive, so many mountains and so many climbs, but you’d be wrong.

Again, this is a book that I picked up second-hand. I missed it the first time around when preparing a paper on the commercialization of sport in Ancient Greece and Rome. An earlier reading would have improved my work.

Classicists, who study ancient Greece and Rome, actually come from a branch of history that embraced sport as a subject long before sports history became an accepted academic sub-discipline.

Here Neil Faulkner presents a synoptic history of Ancient Greece within a discussion of the first Olympics in the form of a travelogue. The scholarship is sound, the knowledge imparted often an eye-opener, and the presentation unique.

Over the years, I’ve met many young people who are more interested in sports than social studies. I was so excited to find this book—because it helps sports-minded kids see the tremendous contribution young women have made to both sports and social change. You’ll read about how these women overcame barriers, competed in challenging circumstances, and still broke records. You will also learn how they are still making a difference in the world. These multidimensional heroes help us want to be more like them! 

Half Mexican baseball athlete, Danny is trying to find his place between cultural identities. The writing is straight forward and the relationships and slang are real. This book deals with friendships, family, cultural identity, and dreams. An identifiable story for readers trying to find their place in a diverse world. I loved it!

I’ve always enjoyed Dick Francis’s hair-raising novels about steeplechase racing, crime, and intrigue, and it was difficult to choose only one. His inside knowledge of the sport and his connection with horses makes all his novels authentic and informative. Break In features the jockey Kit Fielding, who comes to the aid of his twin sister, Holly, when her racing stable owner husband is slandered by the newspapers. Kit has a telepathic relationship with his sister, which adds to the mystique of this fast-paced adventure.

Sunny Lancaster is an athlete and a dancer, moving through the world to the sounds of hip hop and his own thudding feet as he runs track.

Sunny has talent, but he’s running more to honor his mother’s legacy than to pursue his own dreams. I connected with this book as a teacher and a parent because it speaks so eloquently about letting young people find themselves and honoring their vision for the future.