As you will know if you have followed my blog for very long, I try to read a book every week. It actually works out as a few more than that, as I always read a couple extra when I go on holiday and I went away for six weeks this year.
This year, I’ve focused on trying to read as much as I can in just a few areas, rather than flitting about from one topic to another, which is my normal operating method. So rather than give a chronological list, here’s a thematic list.
I hope you enjoy them.
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Track and field – Track
Because my research interests have centered around sprinters and how weight training improves sprinting, I have been highly motivated to read autobiographies of track athletes this year. And I was not disappointed. There were some great stories of big egos, serious scrapes and hard training.
To be honest with you, by Linford Christie, is the autobiography of the greatest ever British sprinter and one of the greatest ever British athletes, who overcame the doubt of the establishment to carve out one of the most successful track careers of anyone anywhere
The Autobiography of Colin Jackson is about the unassuming boy from Wales who became the world’s greatest 110m hurdler and holder of the world record for over 13 years
The Autobiography of Roger Black, is all about triumph in the 400m running race over adversity, injury and success in the shadow of superhuman athletes like Michael Johnson
Ovett: an autobiography, is the story of the reclusive character who challenged Seb Coe for the mantle of the world’s greatest middle-distance runner in the late 1970′s and early 1980′s and set world records in the process
Paula: my story so far, by Paula Radcliffe, is the story of how Paula Radcliffe started out as a track and cross-country runner and morphed into the current women’s world record holder for the marathon
Running Tall, by Sally Gunnell, is about the Olympic gold-medal winning hurdler from Essex who stole the show at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games
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Track and Field – Field
The UK is not famous for its field athletes but there have been one or two stars in the midst of the track athletes. Here are the ones I read about:
Big Shot, by Geoff Capes, is the revealing autobiography of Britain’s most capped athlete of all time, who then went on to become the World’s Strongest Man twice, beating the legend that was Jan Pal Sigmarsson. I hear that he is now a very successful budgerigar breeder as well…
A Time to Jump, a biography of Jonathan Edwards, by Malcolm Folley, is the amazing story of how a slightly-built, eccentric Englishman destroyed the world record in the triple jump with a technique that everyone else tried to copy
The Autobiography of Fatima Whitbread, is the sort of story that you could not make up. Left for dead in an abandoned appartment in London at birth, raped as a teenager and put up for adoption, Fatima nevertheless became the only British throwing athlete ever to set a world record
Tessa Sanderson: my life in athletics, is the tale of Fatima’s greatest rival and the athlete who beat her to a gold medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
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Bodybuilding
Just after Christmas last year, I read a couple of books on bodybuilding. I have a couple more planned for next year as I wanted to spend most of this year on Olympic athletes instead.
Muscle: a writer’s journey through a sport with no boundaries, by Jon Hotten, is an account of bodybuilding in its various forms, along with a discussion of the dangers that come with contest shape and competing
Muscle: confessions of an unlikely bodybuilder, by Sam Fussell, is the ultimate bodybuilding memoir, the full story of one man’s journey from skinny weakling to stage-stomping mass monster covered in fake tan
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Swimming
I didn’t read a lot about swimming this year. I mainly just picked up a textbook to fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge but I ended up reading a short autobiography as well.
The Science of Swimming is the definitive manual on training for swimming, including stroke analysis, periodisation and detailed weight training guidance.
In at the deep end, by David Davies is the story of the remarkable young swimmer from Cardiff who won the bronze in Athens at the 1,500m and followed it up with silver in Beijing in the first ever open water contest.
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Other sports
I always feel guilty about putting rowing into “other sports” but I can never think of a better place to classify it. Anyway, Steve’s autobiography is one of the best athletic autobiographies I have ever read.
A Golden Age, by Steve Redgrave, is about one of Britain’s greatest ever Olympians and one of the most talented and successful rowers ever to step into a boat
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Cycling
I did a longer than normal series on cycling earlier this year, which I am sure bored the socks off most of you meatheads out there. But the Tour was on, so I was excited and I like reading cycling books.
The Rider, by Tim Krabbé, is a truly amazing description of an amateur cycle race and the desperate need to win
It’s Not About the Bike, by Lance Armstrong is the most remarkable book ever written by a sportsman, and describes his battle win cancer and first Tour de France win
Every Second Counts, by Lance Armstrong is the follow-on from It’s Not About the Bike, and describes the following four Tour de France wins that took Lance from a winner to a great champion
Flying Scotsman, by Graeme Obree is the harrowing autobiography of the Scottish 1993 world individual pursuit champion, time triallist extraordinaire, genius bicycle engineer and legendary world hour record holder (can you tell I am a fan?)
Chris Hoy: the Autobiography Four-time Olympic champion and another cycling Scot, Hoy was at the forefront of the rising British dominance over track cycling that started in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics and rose to a peak in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he took an amazing three golds, something no British cyclist had done since Tommy Simpson…
Serious Cycling If any of the above has inspired you to have a bash at racing cycling, then this manual is possibly the best tome on the subject, covering the key training issues, nutrition for recovery, planning your year and racing tactics and strategies
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Stress
I think that stress is really, really important for health, fitness and longevity so I dedicated a big chunk of time to reading about it earlier this year.
The Stress of Life, by Hans Seyle – Hans Selye is the grandfather of stress studies and this book is both approachable and detailed, providing summaries for those who like to skate over the complicated bits and plenty of technical information for the geeks like me who like to get stuck in to the detail.
The Status Syndrome, by Michael Marmot – Michael Marmot is the man behind the famous UK Whitehall study, which subjected a number of civil servants to all manner of tests and questions. He has written eloquently on the importance of status as a stressor above all others for human beings, in its ability to dictate the control and autonomy we have over our lives
Why Zebras don’t get Ulcers, by Robert Sapolsky – Robert Sapolsky writes authoritatively and extensively about all kinds of things that stress does, not just make us get ulcers. This book is a great reference work for all things stress-related and covers everything from why you remember things better when you’ve been stressed to how your brain changes when you’re depressed.
The Cortisol Connection, by Shawn Talbott – Shawn Talbott covers all the key issues about stress and its effects and also proposes a whole range of possible solutions, ranging from the time-honoured to the new and radical
The Western Way of Death, by Malcolm Carruthers – Malcolm Carruthers has been talking about why stress is the key cause of cardiac disease since before I was born and he is still just as relevant now as he was then
How to be Idle, by Tom Hodgkinson is a tongue-in-cheek look at why sleep and contemplation are better than stress and constant action. Tom takes a hard look at English history and comes up with some sharp observations of how we managed to get into the mess we are in
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Nutrition
This year I completely changed my ideas about nutrition, largely because of the books I read. The most radical change was completely dropping the idea that saturated fat and cholesterol are in any way bad for you, which happened when I read Malcolm Kendrick’s book.
The Great Cholesterol Con, by Malcolm Kendrick, is the most amazing debunking of the idea that saturated fat causes heart disease you will ever read
The Paleo Solution, by Robb Wolf, is a hugely entertaining guide to why the modern diet is killing us and why we need to eat like cavemen to get healthy again
Blue Zones, by Dan Buettner, is the definitive guide to the places in the world where more people live to be centenarians than anywhere else
Food is Your Best Medicine, by Henry Bieler, is the story of a radical approach to medicine that lead to hundreds seeking his guidance to cure illness with food
The Metabolic Typing Diet, by William Wolcott, is an approach to determining which diet suits your body best, so that you can enjoy better health and longer life
One Answer to Cancer, by William Donald Kelley, is the startling account of a doctor who cured himself of pancreatic cancer and then used his skills to help other people
The Natural Fat Loss Pharmacy, by Harry Preuss, is a catalogue of a dozen or so different naturally-occurring substances that can help us lose fat or gain muscle
The Western Way of Death, by Malcolm Carruthers, is a short, well-written explanation of why cholesterol has nothing to do with heart disease and why stress is much more important instead
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Strength training
Surprisingly, I didn’t read a lot about strength training this year. I have a whole bunch of training books lined up for next year, though, so don’t go away (unless you’ve gone away already, I suppose).
Kelso’s Shrug Book, by Paul Kelso, is about all the different kinds of shrugs you can do and why you might choose to do them
Starting Strength, by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore, is the most basic and best guide to getting bigger and stronger quickly
A Manual of Sensible Physical Culture, by Craig Staufenberg, is about the lessons we can learn from the great old-time strongmen of the last century, including Eugen Sandow and Don Athaldo
Under the Bar, by Dave Tate, is the assembled thoughts of one of the most influential figures in the strength and conditioning community, and inspirational to boot
Training theory, by Frank Dick, is a complete pocket guide to the fundamentals of how to train athletes to be bigger, faster, stronger and more injury resistant
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Motivation
Sometimes, you just need something to grab you by the scruff of the neck. Motivational books aren’t always what they are cracked up to be but these are good to go.
Winning, by Frank Dick, is the collected thoughts of a head coach to the British Olympic team about how to coach athletes so they achieve their full potential
Fit for life, by Ranulph Feinnes, is the collected wisdom on how to maximise health, longevity and performance by the most celebrated explorer of his generation
Beyond the limits, by Ranulph Feinnes, is the summarised lessons that life has taught the world’s greatest living explorer about how to succeed and win against the odds
In Pursuit of Excellence, by Ted Engstrom, is the definitive guide to getting a positive mental attitude, making things happen and being the best you can be
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Scientific books
I did allow myself a little bit of deviation from the straight and narrow this year. I ventured out on a limb to investigate our evolutionary origins a bit more. It’s not really the place on this blog to write about them but it is important to get our heads around our origins if we want to prioritise our health.
The Link, by Colin Tudge, is about Ida, or Darwinius masillae, the small, lemur-like creature that may or may not be one of our ancient ancestors
Big Brain, by Gary Lynch, is a fascinating look at the possibility that humans may not have been the most intelligent ape to walk the earth
The Naked Ape, by Desmond Morris, is perhaps the most important work in all of human biology and evolutionary studies and very few people talk about it. It looks at the human animal from a zoologist’s perspective, as if we were a new species just discovered. He comes to some startling conclusions.
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Summing up
I like the thematic way of approaching reading books. I think it’s much more effective at keeping the information in my head than jumping from one subject to another. It also helps join the dots.
For example, in the British athletic autobiographies, characters like Frank Dick and Andy Norman keep popping up all over the place. And different people have different opinions about them.
I have plans for my reading list for next year but it’s only about 25% full. Any and all recommendations are gratefully received…
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