Sports Biographies

A classic of mountaineering literature, this is the story of the harrowing first ascent of the North Face of the Eiger, the most legendary and terrifying climb in history.Heinrich Harrer, author of 'Seven Years in Tibet' and one of the twentieth century's greatest mountaineers, was part of the team that finally conquered the Eiger's fearsome North Face in 1938. It was a landmark expedition that pitted the explorers against treacherous conditions and the limits of human endurance, and which many have since tried - and failed - to emulate.Armed with an intimate knowledge that comes only from first-hand experience of climbing the Eiger, Harrer gives a gripping account of physical daring and mental resilience. A new introduction by Joe Simpson, author of 'Touching the Void', confirms the lasting relevance of this true adventure classic.

The fascinating, insightful and at times hilarious memoirs of one of the most gifted and enigmatic British footballers of the last 25 years.Nicknamed "e;Le God"e; by the Southampton faithful, Matt Le Tissier was not cast from the same mould as 99% of other professional footballers. A real "e;one-off"e; if ever there was one, he was a one-club man in a 16-year career that brought little in the way of trophies but countless plaudits from footballs fans and commentators alike.To the old school brigade he was a "e;luxury player"e;, someone with a less than ideal work rate and waistline who simply wouldn't conform to the blueprint of a typically hard-working, unsophisticated British player. Terry Venables and Glenn Hoddle found it all too easy to leave him out of their England squads.But to the vast majority Le Tissier was a maverick to be treasured, a flair player who lit up every match he played in and delighted fans with his sumptuous technique and elan for the beautiful game. In fact, the kind of skilful, inventive player and scorer of wonderful goals this country produces all too rarely.Did he simply enjoy the comfort zone of being a big fish in a small pond? Or did he display commendable loyalty in staying with Southampton for his entire career? Did he shun opportunities to move on? Were England managers right not to pick him so many times? Would Fabio Capello pick him for England now? Does the British game discourage his style of play? And how much would he be worth in today's transfer market?Taking Le Tiss is the great man's first chance to answer all these questions and many more. It is also a delightfully self-deprecating and witty story from a player who was more of a Big-Mac-and-fries than a chicken-and-beans man.

Following the 1956-57 NBA season the Fort Wayne Pistons relocated to Detroit and the Rochester Royals were moved to Cincinnati. The relocations of the Fort Wayne and Rochester franchises left Syracuse as the last small market team in the NBA.As the 1960s began the NBA entered the crossroads of its existence featuring such mega stars as Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Hal Greer, the Boston Celtics became the most dominating team in the league. Led by Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, and John Havlicek, the Celtics would win eleven NBA championships between 1957 and 1969. But during the 1960s the Cincinnati Royals were a team also loaded with All-Stars and former Olympic players like Oscar Robertson, Jerry Lucas, Wayne Embry, and Adrian Smith. But the Royals would never win a championship in Cincinnati and in 1973 relocated to Kansas City. Today the franchise is the Sacramento Kings.So what went wrong in Cincy? While the Royals received only marginal support from their fans and absentee owner Louie Jacobs, the Buffalo concessionaire king and Godfather of sports, the answer to the downfall of the Royals seems to lie somewhere in the basketball stories of Bob Cousy and Oscar Robertson whose brilliant careers collided in an unharmonious relationship when the retired Cousy became coach of the Royals.While Bob Cousy had been credited for saving professional basketball in Boston as a player, he is also credited with destroying professional basketball in Cincinnati as a coach. The uneasy relationship in Cincinnati between Cousy the coach and Robertson the player fueled by leftover competitive conflict from their days as players on the hardwood would become a collision of will between them and render the Royals franchise dysfunctional.

John Gill: Master of Rock is a captivating look into the life, achievements and ethos of boulderer John Gill, written by friend and climber Pat Ament. This new edition is complete with photographs, personal impressions of Gill from climbers such as Yvon Chouinard, and an enlightening interview with Gill himself.

The surprising story of how wrestling superstar Glenn "Kane" Jacobs beat all the odds to become the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee.

Steve Perryman was the heart and soul of Tottenham Hotspur for over two decades and played 854 times for the north London club. Honest and uncompromising as a player and a writer, Steve looks back over his life in football in this entertaining autobiography.

The King of White Hart Lane is the authorised life story of Alan Gilzean, the legendary, world-class Tottenham Hotspur, Dundee and Scotland footballer. Exclusive insights provided by his family, closest friends and colleagues add to the author's own experience to reveal Gilzean the man and the player, dubbed 'Nureyev in Boots'.

In 1965 Tony Howard made the first British ascent of Norway's Troll Wall. He went on to found Troll Climbing Equipment but never stopped exploring. Quest into the Unknown, his autobiography, covers his extensive travels in North Africa, the Middle East, Scandinavia, Canada and much more.

Michael Schumacher: the greatest of all time. A champion with a reputation founded on records, the man who has brought most glory to Ferrari in the modern era. With a dramatic coda to the story that we like to think of as a pit stop before a return to the race, to normality.

Named one of TIME magazine's 100 Greatest Men of the Century, Bruce Lee's impact and influence has only grown since his untimely death in 1973

Jeremy McGrath has been called 'the Michael Jordan of Supercross' by the Los Angeles Times, and in this revealing autobiography fans not only get his personal story, but also a detailed guide on how everyone can become a Supercross racer. The No 1 Supercross racer in the world - who has over 20 sponsors, his own film company, a toy line, Nintendo and Playstation games, and a signature shoe by Vans - talks about his life and the sport. Supercross started out as a redneck '70s sideshow, but thanks largely to Jeremy McGrath it has become a massive extreme sport. Over the last three years, AMA Supercross attendance has mushroomed from 700,000 spectators a year to 1.5 million. This book will satisfy even the most hardcore fans, as it not only gives you the life and times of Jeremy McGrath, but acts as the calling card to the entire sport by including unique sections on how to become a Supercross racer, the workout regimes, fixing common bike problems, and more.

A bestseller in both the UK and the USA on its first publication, this book was the first fully authorised life of world's greatest living footballer. With exclusive access to Pelé, award-winning sports writer Harry Harris charts his meteoric rise from humble beginnings in Brazil to his first international at the age of sixteen. Superb athleticism, speed of thought and execution, and astonishing ball control helped him become the only player to have appeared in three World Cup-winning sides, and to have scored more than 1,200 goals in his senior career, a feat that is now unlikely ever to be equalled, let alone surpassed.Pelé remains the best footballer of all time, despite the extraordinary exploits of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar, and legends such as Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff. Now revised and updated to bring the story completely up to date, this is a tribute to a world-class sporting hero, a great sportsman and, to this day, an inspiration to millions.

Englishman David Hobbs - `Hobbo' to his friends and fans - is one of motor racing's most remarkable all-rounders. In a 41-year driving career he raced in almost every imaginable category.

Legendary fighter Dan Hardy lifts the lid on his own career and breaks down all things UFC and MMA

The story of the 1972 Andes plane crash and rescue, made famous by Piers Paul Read in his book Alive, finally told by one of the heroes who saved his team-mates.

LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDSHORTLISTED FOR THE CROSS SPORTS BOOK AWARDS BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR The definitive biography of one of the greatest, most extraordinary runners and Olympic heroes of all time, from the author of running classic Feet in the Clouds.

Written by the author of "Poker and The Biggest Game in Town", this book gives a portrait of the climbing legend Mo Anthoine. It is suitable for fans of adrenaline sports.

All courageous attempts by man to reach the summit of Everest by heading up the northern side from Tibet had failed. But in 1951 Edmund Hillary joined an expedition to find a new route up Everest from the south. This memoir is illustrated with drawings, maps and photographs which capture the experience of climbing Everest.

He was a giant among men, a symbol of a different era in sports . . .The NFL in the 1970s was a ruthless league, rife with concussions, broken bones, unmatched egos, and frequent racial strife. In the midst of this madness, commanding the Oakland Raiders (perhaps the baddest team of them all) was quarterback Ken Stabler?aka Snake?an unassuming and lethal threat as a player. On the field, he was cool and con-fident, but off of it he was a legendary woman chaser and babe magnet, carrying a larger-than-life persona at odds with the performance-drenched focus that characterized the rest of the NFL. Yet the Stabler that would eventually emerge was more than a playboy. No quarterback was tougher or more uniquely talented; his accuracy, particularly with deep throws, was as good as any quarterback's the league had ever seen; he'd won 100 games faster than any quarterback in history, as well as a Super Bowl, and most of all, he helped redefine the Raiders from losers to champions. In Snake, Bleacher Report columnist Mike Freeman details Stabler's childhood in racially segregated Alabama, his emergence as a rare high school talent, his raucous college days under the legendary Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama, and his famed career as a quarterback for the Raiders and, later, the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints. Freeman expands his story by offering a rare, personal look at Stabler after his football days?including his warm affection as a husband, father, and grandfather?and even describes how Stabler's death, and subsequent Hall of Fame induction, paved the way for greater CTE awareness, as a 2016 autopsy revealed Stabler had been suffering from the disease. This work examines the complete Stabler portrait: the good, the bad, and the unbelievable. Poignant, blunt, and eye-opening, Snake is a towering biography about a man who forever left his mark on football, the quarterback who studied his playbook by the light of a jukebox.

For Edward Buckingham, a humble Cornish postman, the draw of Kilimanjaro and the high mountains of the world would change his life forever. It would also very nearly end his life during a fall from high on Cho Oyu, the world's sixth highest mountain. 7 Summits tells the story of Ed's journey to climb the highest mountain on every continent.

In his autobiography, McCaw recounts for the first time, with brutal honesty, the roots of his family life that defined his character and how it gave him the strength to emerge from the lowest moment in his career to become the most successful Captain world rugby has ever seen.

He was one of the hardest, most controversial footballers of his generation: the GBP20million man who became the first professional player to go to jail for an offence committed on the field of play.

The former professional surfer tells his own story On the surface he was Tom Carroll, dreamer, brilliant surfer, Australian sports hero, fitness fanatic, businessman, family man, and big wave charger. But inside turned the terrible wheel of drug addiction--part family curse, part legacy of the footloose surf culture he'd done so much to legitimize. Tom's family and friends struggled with him, kept his secrets, and looked on in anger and fear as the wheel began to grind him down. Then a window opened, but getting through it made charging Pipeline look like a piece of cake. This is the story of an unlikely moral education: of humility, family, damage, brotherhood, youth, stupidity, glory, single-mindedness, and surrender, and about the feeling of water moving under a surfboard, how it can bind past to present and make sense of lives.