Since I never know what to ask for when XMAS time comes around my folks are 
always pressed for ideas, so I thought maybe some books on cycling or running. Problem is, I don't know if the book is worth it or not. For example, I just finished A RACE LIKE NO OTHER by Liz Robbins about the 2007 NY Marathon which I just ran which was great. Another good one for new and old Boston Marathon runners is called 26.2 MILES TO BOSTON by Michael Connelly. I have FIRST TRIATHLONS by Gail Waesche Kislevitz which is always 
great and a pleasant and interesting read to me was BOWERMAN and THE MEN OF OREGON by Kenny Moore 
(a biography about the legendary coach). I'm not looking for "TRAINING" books, but books about individuals and the sport of Triathlon, Cycling and Running.I think there's a book about the quest to break the 4:00 mile barrier, but not sure if it's worth it. And I'm sure there are some nice books about the Tour de France which are great reads.
SO..........
What are YOUR recommendations???? Leave a comment.
(I'll be sure to let you know what my picks are.)
Posts
16 comments:
ok, so it's not a novel and you will read it very quickly, but i find, "I Can't Accept Not Trying" by Michael Jordan to be highly motivational. I have read it a couple of times and it is great.
The 4 minute mile book is good (I can't remember the name of it right now). Also good to read is George Sheehan on Running. And for fun Bobke II. Not great but good and you have to appreciate Bob Roll to like it. (Bobke I is also probably interesting but it's out of print and about $450 used the last time I checked.)
What about the other sport in triathlon- swimming? I found Swimming to Antartica a great read and highly motivational.
Swimming to Antartica, yes.
It's Not About the Bike, by Lance.
Ultramarathon Man, by Dean Karnanes.
Lance Armstrong's War, by Daniel Coyle, about team strategies and intrigues in the Tour.
Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains, by Jon Krakauer
Carlisle vs. Army Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner, and the Forgotten Story of Football's Greatest Battle, by Lars Anderson
"Paula Bunyon, Lumberjane", in the PC Guide to American History, by EM.
See Dane Run. By Dane Rauschenberg, on running a certified marathon every weekend during 2006. http://danerunsalot.blogspot.com/
The Marine Corps Marathon: A Running Tradition, by George Banker, of Potomac Runners.
I haven't read it yet, but I have been planning to read What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami, the Japanese novelist. The New Yorker published an excerpt earlier this year.
Here's a few suggestions:
Sub 4:00 Alan Webb and the Quest for the Fastest Mile
by Chris Lear
Running in Literature by Roger Robinson
PRE: America's Greatest Running Legend by Tom Jordan
The Ultimate Guide to Marathons by Craythorn and Hanna
Kip, each of these books I own so if you would rather borrow them, let me know. -Hugh
For A story few people know about:
Major Taylor: The Extraordinary Career of a Champion Bicycle Racer
And a good telling of the original sub 4:00 miler:
The Perfect Mile : Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It
I try to not admit that I can read, but in addition to the great titles already mentioned:
Running with the Buffaloes
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
A Walk In the Woods
A Life on the Edge
On Celtic Tides
The Long Walk
Gold In the Water
Although it's not exactly focused on running and cycling, Outside Magazine has compiled a "Best Adventure Books of the Last 100 Years". It's been my experience that the list does tend to appeal to the multisport community:
http://www.ronwatters.com/BkOMList.htm
If you look on the left side of the linked web page, you'll see that Nat Geo and a few others have also compiled lists that you may be interested in.
...And a KINDLE to read it all on. Paper sux
Kind of off the beaten track, but
The Runner by Cynthia Voigt
She has written a number of novels about the Eastern Shore (the Tillerman series, of which the Runner is a sort-of-prelude, are the most well known). It's an examination of class and race during Vietnam times and how running was central to the main character's identity. Growing up in Maryland, I always loved her books.
I haven't read any of the following, but man, the titles alone are enough for SOMEONE in this club to read them:
Around the World in Spandex
Spandex Technology
Carbon Fiber (Third Edition)
The Zipp Name in History
The Way of Transition: Embracing Life's Difficult Moments
T1 Survival Guide
Once a Runner, John Parker Jr. - Quenton Cassidy is a college runner, a miler who has gone fast enough to know, by name, every other person in the world who can compete with him over four laps of a standard track. But ultimately he is competing against himself: the Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials. Parker couldn't find anyone to publish the original manuscript, so put out ~100,000 copies himself thirty some years ago. It became the how-to book on running, a fictional story that replaced a formal coach for many upper recreational and sub-elite racers, so much so that copies went for thousands of dollars on Ebay. It was recently reprinted and re-released, one year after the release of...
Again to Carthage, John Parker Jr. - Quenton Cassidy has grown up, moved on, but can't seem to shake the feeling he is missing something, despite the oblong box in the bank vault. A tale of athletic and vision quest so realistic the endurance athlete/reader laughs not only because it is funny (it is), but also because it is uncannily spot-on. I read both OAR and Carthage back-to-back at the end and beginning of each season, and I literally start itching to go for a long run.
Lance Armstrong's War, Daniel Coyle - A not warm and fuzzy retelling of LA's sixth assault on the TdF. If you are someone who wants to read about every uphill 1k time-trial and the finger prick immediately following it so blood lactic acid content can be tested this is the book for you. It's not just the glory, but the guts and the hours and stabs in the back; LA gave Coyle full access but had no editorial control except the final yes-or-no on the entire manuscript.
Bowermam and the Men of Oregon, Kenny Moore - A part-biography, part-autobiography, of Bill Bowerman, his running program at Oregon, and all the Olympically and epically fast people he molded, written by Kenny Moore, one of the Olympically fast people he molded who went on to write for Runner's World and the like. This thing starts with the crossing of the continent during the land rush by Bowerman's great-grandfather and traces his coaching and use of his wife's waffle iron to make the solor of the first Nike shoe, as he literally retools the sport of running in his kitchen and the back stretch of Hayward Field.
I have also read:
It's Not About the Bike, by LA and Sally Jenkins (sportswriter for the Washington Post) - It gives him a human-side...which for me is medicine best swallowed with a spoonful of sugar. The athlete and the man are very different, and thus I completely devour some sections (about the PRO lifestyle) and leave others for just a skim.
Ultramarathon Man, by Dean Karnases - The creation of a myth and legend by the man himself. Does more to push the urban stories of ordering a pizza at midnight and devouring it mid-run than tell of the why and the how; more glory than guts. I haven't yet read 50/50: The 50 Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days. I followed the blog while he was doing the 50/50 like most people followed the RAAM blog, and totally respect the ghost writer, Matt Fitzgerald (Matt's blog) so I'll eventually find it on the shelf.
Driven From Within, Michael Jordan - Not SBR, but this the type of book I want to read about every SBR athlete I admire: their philosophy, their workouts, their drive, their inner-workings. Change the word "basketball" to any sport you choose and the lessons apply. Hir Airness wasn't born, he was made, and it's heartening to know how, and why. I can only hope this is the type of (auto-)biography they write about Michael Phelps, instead of the puff piece I cringe to imagine. A little heavy on the business stuff later on in the book for my tastes, as he evolves from competing athlete to ferocious businessman.
Lamb: the Gospel of Biff= christopher moore, really funny book that is totally not about running or anything else, answers the question of "what if Jesus knew Kung Fu?"
The stupidest angel= christopher moore= about an angel that brings back zombies to a small town in an attempt to bring "xmas cheer" but obviously it goes really wrong.. hilarous
choke= chuck Palahniuk= by the guy that did fightclub, funny book in a twisted way.
none of these have anything to do with running or athletics, i'll leave that up to everyone else, these are all purely entertaining an innane books that are funny.
Kip, this one was suggested by Jim Hage in TWP on Sunday. "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" by Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami.
Bonjour, dctriguy.blogspot.com!
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