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This collection of studies by the remarkable Russian chess composer Alexey Seleznev (1888-1967) will not only wrap you in the amazing world of beautiful and memorable ideas, developed here to perfection. It is also an indispensable chess study aid - Seleznev's problems are closely integrated into practical play and most of them are self-contained lessons. The accuracy of these compositions is backed up by modern computer analysis.
Edited and with a foreword by Oleg Pervakov, World Chess Composing Champion.

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In 1999, Manchester United completed a unique Treble, winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League - but more remarkable than that was how they did it, and the stories behind the historic achievement. Matt Dickinson covered the whole story at the time, and now in 99 compelling chapters brings it all vividly to life.
When the season began, Manchester United were up for sale, the club's iconic talisman Eric Cantona had gone, rivals Arsenal were the reigning Double winners, David Beckham was a national hate figure after being sent off during the World Cup, and even manager Alex Ferguson's position was being questioned. Early signs weren't promising, despite record spending to bring in new stars, among them Jaap Stam and Dwight Yorke, but soon things began to change.
Driven by the indomitable will of skipper Roy Keane, supported by a nucleus from the Class of 92 - Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, the Nevilles and Paul Scholes - who had grown up at the club, they went on a long unbeaten and unbeatable run, featuring some of the most dramatic games in English football history.
Acclaimed football writer Matt Dickinson goes behind the scenes of the legendary Manchester United treble of 1999: a tale full of comebacks, drama and record-breaking feats.
So much more than a book for United fans; it is an insight into team building, the will to succeed, a tale of local pride and of history-makers.

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Get ready! Prepare for the 2018 World Cup in Russia with the most authoritative and comprehensive preview of soccer's greatest tournament!
Officially licensed by FIFA-world soccer's governing body.
Packed with stunning photography and expert analysis of each of the 32 teams, its star players, and its prospects in the finals, this official book is essential for soccer fans everywhere. It features a guide to all 12 stadiums and 11 host cities, a history of the FIFA World Cup, and a tournament progress chart to complete as competition progresses. Whether you're watching the games live in Russia, in front of a television at home, or with friends at a club, bar, or FIFA World Cup Fan Zone, this is the tournament preview for you.

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**THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER**
The future is here. Learn to live in it.
In twenty-one bite-sized lessons, Yuval Noah Harari explores what it means to be human in an age of bewilderment.
How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children?
Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a thrilling journey through today's most urgent issues. The golden thread running through his exhilarating new book is the challenge of maintaining our collective and individual focus in the face of constant and disorienting change. Are we still capable of understanding the world we have created?
'Fascinating... compelling... [Harari] has teed up a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the 21st century' Bill Gates, New York Times
'Truly mind-expanding... Ultra-topical' Guardian
'21 Lessons is, simply put, a crucial book' Adam Kay

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Walking strengthens our bodies, calms our minds and lifts our spirits. But it does so much more than this. Our vision, hearing, respiration, sleep, cognition, memory, blood pressure, sense of smell and balance are all enhanced by how we walk. For instance:

Walking in cold weather burns extra fat and builds more muscle.
Walking alone strengthens our memories.
Walking in woodland helps us sleep.
And there's nothing more restorative than a romantic nighthike.

Our choice of location, time, direction, duration, walking companion and gait, as well as the weather we opt to walk in, can transform our daily stroll. Here, Annabel Streets shares the thrill of 52 different ways to walk, explaining the latest science behind each one, and providing practical tips for making the most of your daily steps.

52 Ways to Walk is a revelatory and informative handbook for anyone stuck in a walking rut, curious about the lesser-known benefits of walking or merely in need of some on-foot novelty and adventure.

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Walking had become, once again, the great adventure of my life. But this time science could explain how and why

Walking strengthens our bodies, calms our minds and lifts our spirits. But it does so much more than this. Our vision, hearing, respiration, sleep, cognition, memory, blood pressure, sense of smell and balance (to name a few) are all enhanced by how we walk. For instance:

Walking in cold weather burns extra fat and builds more muscle.
Walking alone strengthens our memories.
Walking in woodland helps us sleep.
And there's nothing more restorative than a romantic nighthike.

Our choice of location, time, direction, duration, walking companion and gait, as well as the weather we opt to walk in, can transform our daily stroll. Here, Annabel Streets shares the thrill of 52 different ways to walk, explaining the latest science behind each one, and providing practical tips for making the most of your daily steps.

52 Ways to Walk is a revelatory and informative handbook for anyone stuck in a walking rut, curious about the lesser-known benefits of walking or merely in need of some on-foot novelty and adventure.

Серия: Bloomsbury Publishing

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Rugby union has undergone immense change in the past two decades - introducing a World Cup, accepting professionalism and creating a global market in players - yet no authoritative English-language general history of the game has been published in that time. Until now.

A Game for Hooligans brings the game's colourful story up to date to include the 2007 World Cup. It covers all of the great matches, teams and players but also explores the social, political and economic changes that have affected the course of rugby's development. It is an international history, covering not only Britain and France but also the great rugby powers of the southern hemisphere and other successful rugby nations, including Argentina, Fiji and Japan.

Contained within are the answers to many intriguing questions concerning the game, such as why 1895 is the most important date in both rugby-union and rugby-league history and how New Zealand became so good and have remained so good for so long. There is also a wealth of anecdotes, including allegations of devil-worship at a Welsh rugby club and an account of the game's contribution to the Cuban Revolution.

This is a must-read for any fan of the oval ball.

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Readers as well as listeners can now embark on a journey through the cycling year with The Cycling Podcast, which has been entertaining and informing fans since 2013.

Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe share their diaries from three incident-filled Grand Tours, the Giro d Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana. These take readers behind the scenes and explore the culture and landscape as well as the racing, while the Lionel of Flanders , complete with beer recommendations, does the same for the Classics in Belgium.

There are appearances, too, by leading journalists and podcast favourites Francois Thomazeau, who takes responsiblity for the French Tour de France jinx, Ciro Scognamiglio, with a heartfelt love letter to cult favourite Filippo Pozzato, Fran Reyes, who pens a farewell to El Pistolero, Alberto Contador, and Orla Chennaoui, who hits the road to cover La Course in a one-woman karaoke-booth-on-wheels.

Further contributions from professional riders Ashleigh Moolman Pasio and Joe Dombrowski and the voice of the Tour de France, Sebastien Piquet, as well as stunning galleries from the podcast world s first and only dedicated photographer, Simon Gill, make this the perfect celebration of a year in cycling.

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Harry's tales and insight into the game he's lived and breathed for 50 years.

'When a man walks on to a pitch there's always a chance something magic can happen, that's what keeps us coming back.'

In A Man Walks On To a Pitch, Harry shares a lifetime's experience of obsessing over football, during which he has seen it all first hand - the good, the bad and the unbelievable. Harry started in an age where players were ordinary blokes who might live on the same street as you and earn a similar wage. Now he manages in an era of player power, multi-million pound wages and teams assembled from around the globe.

As he shares stories of some of the legends and journeymen he played, coached, argued and drank with, Harry picks a team for each decade from the 1950s to the present. He gets to the heart of what was right and wrong with each era and explores the changes in the game from lifestyle to tactics. He weaves his choices together with unforgettable tales from the training pitches, boot rooms and card schools.

There are tales of the untutored genius of Duncan Edwards and Tom Finney, legendary tough Scots like Bobby Collins, Dave Mackay and Billy Bremner, the world-beaters of 1966, unpredictable one-off wizards from Sir Stanley Matthews to Matt Le Tissier, natural-born goalscorers from Greaves to Dalglish and the greatest foreign players to grace our game from Trautmann to Bergkamp. It is one of the best informal histories of the British game you'll ever read.

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A New Formation is an exploration of the unique role that Black British footballers have played in shaping the beautiful game both on and off the pitch, an inventive and highly original analysis of the intersections between football and wider Black British culture.

A New Formation is not a book about football and racism. Jacobs and his co-contributors - including authors Musa Okwonga and Aniefiok Ekpoudom and sports broadcaster Jeanette Kwakye MBE - eschew the standard frameworks of trauma and oppression that are foisted upon Black narratives and seek to move beyond discussions of diversity, identity and representation. Featuring interviews with legendary players such as Ian Wright, Anita Asante and Andy Cole, they draw upon broader social and cultural history to examine Black footballers in contexts larger than themselves. By engaging with these subtler connections between football and Black cultural expression, A New Formation reveals the vibrancy and nuance of contemporary Black life in Britain.

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Dean Karnazes has pushed his body and mind to inconceivable limits, from running in the shoe-melting heat of Death Valley to the lung-freezing cold of the South Pole. He s raced and competed across the globe and once ran 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 consecutive days.

In A Runner s High, Karnazes chronicles his return to the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run in his mid-fifties after first completing the race decades ago. The Western States, infamous for its rugged terrain and extreme temperatures, becomes the most demanding competition of his life, a physical and emotional reckoning and a battle to stay true to one s purpose. Confronting his age, wearying body, career path and life choices, we see Karnazes as we never have before, raw and exposed. A Runner s High is both an endorphin-fuelled page-turner and a love letter to the sport from one of its most celebrated ambassadors.

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Alekhine Defense is a bold choice for Black, challenging the classical chess rules from the very beginning of the game yet proving itself to be a flexible system. Black can choose to head for mind-boggling complications or carefully manoeuvre within the 6th to 8th ranks, waiting for the right time to strike out at the center. Although once a favorite of Bobby Fischer and occasionally played by Magnus Carlsen, the lack of Alekhine Defense games at the level of elite Grandmasters today means that many lines and ideas remain untested in practice. As a result, this opening leads to lively, often open positions with chances for both sides. With l...Nf6 Black signals that he is playing to win.
This book, consisting of 16 parts and 87 chapters, not only covers the traditional Alekhine lines but also takes a comprehensive look at variations rooted firmly in the 21st century. Moreover, thanks to the use of modern technology and the authors' deep analysis the evaluations of many well-known lines have been revised.
The authors have strived to write a lively work which is useful for both players with high ELO ratings and club players.

Серия: Шахматный университет

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The most comprehensive and definitive biography of Muhammad Ali that has ever been published, based on more than 500 interviews with those who knew him best, with many dramatic new discoveries about his life and career.

When the frail, trembling figure of Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic flame in Atlanta in 1996, a TV audience of up to 3 billion people was once again gripped by the story of the world's most famous sporting icon. The man who had once been reviled for his refusal to fight for his country and for his fast-talking denunciation of his opponents was now almost universally adored, the true cost of his astonishing boxing career clear to see.

In Jonathan Eig's ground-breaking biography, backed up with much detailed new research specially commissioned for this book, we get a stunning portrait of one of the most significant personalities of the second half of the twentieth century. We are not only taken inside the ring for some of the most famous bouts in boxing history, we also learn about his personal life, his finances, his faith and the moments when the first signs of his physical decline began to show. Ali was a symbol of freedom and courage, a hero to many, but this is also a very personal story of a warrior who vanquished every opponent but was finally brought down by his own stubborn refusal to quit.

An epic tale of a fighter who became the world's most famous pacifist, Ali: A Life does full justice to an extraordinary man.

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Allez Allez Allez is the inside account of Liverpool FC during the Klopp era, including the 2018/19 campaign which saw the club compete in the most gripping Premier League title race in history and become Champions of Europe for the sixth time.

Featuring access to management, players and staff, Allez Allez Allez explains how Liverpool have emerged from what Jurgen Klopp described as the depression of 2015 to achieve feats that have eluded an entire generation of supporters.

Through original research and exclusive interviews, Simon Hughes takes readers into Melwood, the club s training ground, and behind the dressing room door. He takes them to Chapel Street, where the club s business is determined, and to America, where it is owned. He takes them into Anfield, where many of the most important moments are defined, and he takes them on to the pitches of the Premier League and the Champions League, as we revisit how Liverpool stormed their way to the top of the Premier League this season.

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This updated edition contains the account of Alex's El Capitan climb, which is the subject of the Oscar and BAFTA winning documentary, Free Solo.

Alex Honnold is one of the world's best 'free solo' climbers, he scales impossible rock faces without ropes, pitons or any support of any kind. Exhilarating, brilliant and dangerous, there is a purity to Alex's climbs that is easy to comprehend, but also impossible to fathom; in the last forty years, only a handful of climbers have pushed themselves as far, 'free soloing' to the absolute limit of human capabilities.

Half of them are dead.

From Yosemite's famous Half Dome to the frighteningly difficult El Sendero Luminoso in Mexico, Alone on the Wall explores Alex's seven most extraordinary climbing achievements so far. These are tales to make your palms sweat and your feet curl with vertigo. Together, they get to the heart of how - and why - Alex does what he does. Exciting, uplifting and truly awe-inspiring, Alone on the Wall is a book about the essential truth of being free to pursue your passions and the ability to maintain a singular focus, even in the face of mortal danger.

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The autobiography of the greatest living English football manager of his generation

The Sunday Times no.1 bestselling memoir from Harry Redknapp
From kicking a ball as a kid under the street lamps of Poplar and standing on Highbury's North Bank with my dad, to my first game at West Ham, I was born head over heels in love with football. It saved me, and 50 years on that hasn't changed one bit - I'd be lost without it

Harry is the manager who has seen it all - from a dismal 70s Portakabin at Oxford City and training pitches with trees in the middle to the unbeatable highs of the Premiership, lifting the FA Cup and taking on Real Madrid in the Champions League. With his much loved, no-nonsense delivery, Harry brings us a story filled with passion and humour that takes you right inside every drama of his career.

Harry finally tells the full story of all the controversial ups and downs - the pain and heartache of his court case, the England job, his love for Bobby Moore, his adventures at Portsmouth with Milan Mandaric, the Southampton debacle, Tottenham and Daniel Levy, and not forgetting his years at West Ham or the challenges at his current club QPR.

It s the epic journey of one of the great managers and, along the way, the story of the British game itself over the last five decades. In an era now dominated by foreign coaches Harry is the last of an old-fashioned breed of English football man - one who has managed to move with the times and always come out fighting.

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Cricket defines Englishness like no other national pastime. From its earliest origins in the sixteenth century (or an early version played by shepherds called creag in the 1300s), through the formation of the MCC and the opening of Lord's cricket ground in 1787, to the spread of county cricket in the next century, when the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was first published and the Ashes series was born, this simple sport of bat and ball has captured the imagination of the masses.

Throughout its 500-year history, cricket has been a mirror for society as a whole, reflecting the changes that have brought us from the quintessential village green to Freddie Flintoff's pedalo, from W G Grace to Monty Panesar, via a fair number of eccentrics, heroes and downright villains.

William Hill Award-winning writer Simon Hughes, no mean player himself, has lived and breathed cricket his whole life and now takes his analytical skills and typically irreverent eye to charting the history of English cricket. But this is no dry, dusty tome. It is the story of the mad characters who inhabit the game, the extraordinary lengths people will go to to watch and play it, the tale of a national obsession. It debunks the myth of cricket sportsmanship, showing the origins of sledging and match-fixing in centuries of subterfuge, corruption and violence. And it takes us beyond sport, to the heart of what it really means to be English.

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Alfredo Di Stefano, Diego Maradona, Gabriel Batistua, Juan Roman Riquelme, Lionel Messi... Argentina has produced some of the greatest footballers of all time. But the rich, volatile history of Argentinian football is made up of both the sublime and the ruthlessly pragmatic. Jonathan Wilson, having lived in Buenos Aires, is ideally placed to chart the sport's development in a country that, perhaps more than any other, lives and breathes football, its theories and its myths.
Fully revised and updated, this new edition looks at the contrasting evolution of Argentinian football over the last ten years; from the chaos and violence of the abandoned 2018 Copa Libertadores final between River Plate and Boca Juniors to the revitalised national side under manager Lionel Scaloni, which triumphed at the 2019 Copa America and the 2022 World Cup.
Angels with Dirty Faces is the definitive history of a great footballing nation and its many paradoxes.

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The most comprehensive biography of Arsene Wenger ever published, now fully revised and updated to the end of his Arsenal career.

When Arsene Wenger arrived at Arsenal in 1996, he was little known to fans at the club and many doubted he could bring back the glory days of George Graham. But soon he was transforming the way the team played, melding the famous English defensive spine of Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn and David Seaman with a hugely creative foreign attacking spirit, epitomised by Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Robert Pires, that could both outplay and outmuscle their rivals. At the same time, he introduced new ideas on diet, exercise, training and tactics, which many players believe extended their careers.

Having won numerous trophies, and led the Invincibles to an unprecedented unbeaten league season in 2003-04, Wenger then had to help the Gunners through the next stage of their development when they moved from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium, a move that was followed by a nine-year trophy drought. Despite the financial constraints he faced, he still managed to keep the club playing in the Champions League year after year while remaining true to his philosophy of how the game should be played. Some began to question whether he had been left behind, despite picking up back-to-back FA Cups in 2014 and 2015, and in the end in April 2018 he decided the time was right to step away.

Now, in this updated edition of John Cross's acclaimed biography, the author provides a compelling account of the man and his methods across 22 years in charge. He assesses the scale of Wenger's achievements and whether the criticism he faced towards the end was justified. Arsene Wenger builds into the most complete portrait of the Frenchman yet written.

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Ever wondered what it's Really like to be a Premier League footballer?
My name is James Milner and I'm not a Ribena-holic.
Let me share insights into what it's like being a professional footballer, across my different experiences with Newcastle, Aston Villa, Manchester City and now Liverpool (not forgetting a six-match loan spell at Swindon). Plus my highs - and a few too many lows - playing for England.
There isn't a current player who's been playing Premier League football as long as I have, and that gives me a pretty rare perspective into how the top-flight game has changed over the past seventeen years.
In this book, I explain how a footballer's working week unfolds - what we eat and how we prepare for matches technically, tactically, mentally and physically - and talk you through the ups and downs of a matchday. I reveal my penalty-taking techniques, half-time team talks and the differences between playing against Lionel Messi, Wilfried Zaha and Jimmy Bullard.
I've played for managers ranging from Terry Venables, Peter Reid and Sir Bobby Robson to Martin O'Neill, Fabio Capello and Jurgen Klopp. I tell you what it's like sharing a training ground and a dressing-room with team-mates such as Lee Bowyer, Mario Balotelli and Mo Salah. I also reveal the behind-the-scenes work that went into Liverpool's Champions League success - and the celebrations that followed.
So this isn't an autobiography. The whole point of Ask A Footballer is that you, the fans, asked me questions and I have used my own experiences to answer them. I hope you like it, and don't find it too boring.

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The hotly anticipated cycling autobiography of the year from the world's best sprinter

The hottest sprinter in the world - Telegraph

Mark Cavendish is the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France's green jersey, the first to wear the iconic rainbow jersey in almost 50 years and our only ever rider to capture the Giro d'Italia points title. He is the most prolific sprinter in the Tour's history, and - according to L'Equipe - the best sprinter of all time. But smashing records and racking up victories means whole new levels of fame: and this has come at a price.

Living in the goldfish bowl, he has come under fire for his bombastic riding style and been portrayed as everything from an outlaw to a psychopath. Joining Sky in 2012, Cav soon found his own sprint interests to be incompatible with the team's other goals, while the expectations of a nation made his London Olympic failure hard to take.

In At Speed Cav takes you through the highs and lows of it all in intimate detail. This is a take-no-prisoners account of life at the pinnacle of his sport, and learning how to survive in the fast lane, both on and off the bike.

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Paul McGrath is Ireland's best loved sportsman and also its least understood. An iconic football presence during a professional career stretching over 14 years, he played for his country in the European Championship finals of 1988 and the World Cup finals of 1990 and 1994. But, behind the implied glamour of life in the employ of great English clubs like Manchester United and Aston Villa, McGrath wrestled with a range of destructive emotions that made his success in the game little short of miraculous.

That story has until now never been told. It is a story that runs from a hard, hidden childhood spent in Dublin's orphanages all the way to the pain of two marriage break-ups and the struggle to cope with life after football. Quite apart from his all too public struggle with alcoholism, the story runs through the surreal highs and calamitous lows of a life lived habitually on the edge of chaos.

It is not just a football story. It is an extraordinary human story that is certain to surprise with its candour.

Here, for the first time, read about the father he never met; the mother whose love never died; the routine loneliness and ritual bullying endured by a black kid growing up behind closed doors in 1960s Dublin; the emotional breakdown suffered on leaving that institution; the recovery that - remarkably - brought him all the way to Old Trafford; the rollercoaster ride that followed. Here, the guilt, fear, self-loathing are all laid bare in a story fired with hope and determination for the future.

It may well be the most candid sports book ever written.

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"Neil's book has some of the greatest photos you'll ever see, even if you've seen them before." - Yogi Berra
This superb collection of 60s and 70s baseball images commemorates the sport's finest moments via the lens of legendary sports photographer Neil Leifer
Professional baseball of the 1960s and 1970s belongs to Neil Leifer, the premier sports photographer of his generation. In 1960, at age 17, Neil had the human drive to match his new Nikon motor drive and he was on his way. With gumption and an eye for the decisive moment, the baby-faced kid from Manhattan's lower east side was soon selling his photos to Sports Illustrated. This superb collection of images reflects the total access Neil had to the players on the ball field, in the dugout, and in the locker room. All the pathos, elation, disappointment, and celebration are etched upon the faces of the players and their mercurial fans.
From the 1960 World Series between the Yankees and the Pirates-decided in the 9th inning of the 7th game by a Bill Mazeroski home run-to the 1977 Series between the Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Neil Leifer never stopped shooting. He was up in the nosebleed section of the grandstands in Yankee Stadium, in the rafters of the Astrodome in Houston, or a helicopter high above.Who won the games wasn't important-only how the game was played. The blood, sweat, and grace. It's all about the game, and Leifer's photographs create a topographical map to the very heart and soul of baseball.
Featuring over 300 photos, the book is divided into four chapters: The Game; the Heroes-like Roberto Clemente, Mickey Mantle, and pitcher Sandy Koufax; the Rivalry (infamously, between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox and the Giants and Dodgers); and the World Series championship.
Limited to 1, 000 copies, each numbered and signed by the photographer.
About the artist:
Native New Yorker Neil Leifer began photographing sports events as a teenager. He has shot over 150 covers for Sports Illustrated, published 13 books of his photographs, and held the position of staff photographer for Time magazine. His Muhammad Ali boxing images played prominently in TASCHEN's GOAT- Greatest Of All Time.
About the editor:
Eric Kroll edited several titles for TASCHEN including Natacha Merritt's Digital Diaries and The Wonderful World of Bill Ward. His photography was the subject of TASCHEN's Fetish Girls and Beauty Parade.
About the contributing authors:
Gabriel Schechter, a lifelong sports fanatic who idolized Willie Mays, Johnny Unitas, and Oscar Robertson, is a research associate at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He is the author of four books, including This Bad Day in Yankees History.
Writer/director Ron Shelton played second base in the Baltimore farm system for five years before making films including Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump, and Cobb. He is currently working on Our Lady of the Ballpark, a film about the Mexican Leagues.
Издание на английском, французском и немецком языках.

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From the bestselling co-author of Soccernomics comes the story of how FC Barcelona became the most successful football club in the world - and how that envied position now hangs in the balance.
Bar a is not just the world's most popular sports club, it is simply one of the most influential organisations on the planet. With almost 250 million followers on social media and 4 million visitors to its Camp Nou stadium each year, there's little wonder its motto is 'More than a club'. But it was not always so. In the past three decades, Barcelona has transformed from regional team to global powerhouse, becoming a model of sporting excellence and a consistent winner of silverware.
Simon Kuper unravels exactly how these transformations took place. He outlines the organisational structure behind the club's business decisions, and details the work of its coaches, medics, data analysts and nutritionists who have revolutionised the sporting world. And, of course, he studies the towering influence of the club's two greatest legends, Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi.
Like many leading global businesses, FC Barcelona closely guards its secrets, granting few outsiders a view behind the scenes. But, after decades of writing about the sport and the club, Kuper was given unprecedented access to the inner sanctum and to the people who strive daily to keep Barcelona at the top.
Erudite, personal, and capturing all the latest successes and upheavals, his portrait of this incredible institution goes beyond football to understand Bar a as a unique social, cultural, and political phenomenon.
"I began my research thinking I was going to be explaining Barca's rise to greatness, and I have, but I've also ended up charting the decline and fall."

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Bat, Ball and Field is a wonderful foray into the history and culture of cricket.

Chronicling the evolution of the sport since its earliest years, highlighting transcendent moments as well as tragedies, Jon Hotten lifts the seemingly impregnable veil from the Laws, batting strokes, types of bowling and the sometimes absurd names given to where fielders stand, allowing anyone a pathway into enjoying the sport, and an introductory immersion into its long history.

This book is divided into the three parts that make up the fundamental elements of cricket: bat, ball and field. Their harmony produces cricket s unique environment; their centuries long conflict provides its innovation, adaptability and vast psychological hinterland. These sections unite to map out in a completely original way the story of the sport that began as a country pursuit and is now followed by billions across the world.

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Becoming Forrest is the incredible story of Englishman Rob Pope, a veterinarian who left his job in pursuit of a dream - to become the first person ever to complete the epic run undertaken by one of Hollywood's most beloved characters, Forrest Gump. After his momma urged him "to do one thing in life that made a difference", he flew to Alabama, put on his running shoes, and sped off into the wilderness.

His remarkable journey covered 15, 600 miles, the distance from the North to the South Pole and a third of the way back. Over a grueling 18 months, braving injuries, blizzards, forest fires and deadly wildlife, he crossed the United States five times. During one of the most turbulent periods in recent American history, Rob immersed himself in American life. His time on the open road saw him forever changed, trying to make that difference, in the process of Becoming Forrest.

This is a tale of one man who just wanted to make a difference.

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Liverpool Football Club's stunning Premier League title victory deserves a place in the official record of great sporting achievements. Talismanic manager Jurgen Klopp delivered a first title in 30 years as the Reds became the only team in British history to hold the European Cup, Super Cup, World Club Cup and domestic league title simultaneously.

A difficult title defence followed, derailed by an unrivalled injury crisis during a thankless, Covid-shaped season. Still Klopp's Liverpool weathered this storm to secure Champions League football again, surmounting personal tragedy and endless professional setbacks. But what makes the club tick? Can the lessons of its success be replicated by others?

Melissa Reddy reveals the inside story of Jurgen Klopp's astonishing revival of the Liverpool FC, weaving together the great highs and lowest points with incisive and insightful reporting. Believe Us offers unparalleled access behind the scenes, featuring interviews with everyone from fans and key backroom staff to players including captain Jordan Henderson, and of course Klopp himself.

The perfect gift for any fan of the club or its inimitable leader, this is a story unlike any other: this means more.

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Ben Hogan, one of the greatest golfers in the history of the sport, believed that any golfer with average coordination can learn to break 80 - if they apply themselves patiently and intelligently. With the techniques revealed in this classic book, you can learn how to make your game work from tee to green, step-by-step and stroke-by-stroke.

In each chapter a different tested fundamental is explained and demonstrated with clear illustrations, as though Hogan were giving you a personal lesson with the same skill and precision that made him a legend. Whether you're a novice player or an experienced pro, Ben Hogan's Five Lessons is a must-have reference for anyone who knows that fundamentals are where champions begin. This book has helped thousands of golfers to improve their game, and continues to one one of the bestselling golf manuals 60 years since it was first published.

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David Byrne, co-founder of the group Talking Heads, has been riding a bicycle as his principal means of transportation since the 1980 s. When he tours, Byrne travels with a folding bicycle, bringing it to cities like London, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Manila, New York, Detroit and San Francisco. The view from his bike seat has given Byrne a panoramic window on urban life all over the world.

An enchanting celebration of bike riding and of the rewards of seeing the world at bike level, this book gives the reader an incredible insight into what Byrne is seeing and thinking as he pedals around these cities.

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Ross Edgley has spent decades perfecting the principles and practice of extreme fitness to achieve the impossible. Following a career-threatening injury in 2018, Ross was forced to reassess his training and take the next steps in a lifelong journey of redefining what the human body is capable of. In Blueprint, Ross shares the cutting-edge training program that empowered him to rebuild his body from surgery and a doctor s gloomy prognosis in just 365 days to complete a world record swim.

Whether it s climbing a mountain, swimming the English Channel, or a gruelling triathlon, Blueprint will teach you the tried and tested principles of sports science that have been used for decades by Olympians, explorers and adventurers at the limits of peak physical endurance.

Blueprint is Ross Edgley's complete training journey that shows you how to:
Divide a 365-day training plan into seasons (winter, spring, summer and autumn)
Rebuild your body using evolutionary medicine
Build a superhuman work capacity with forgotten Spartan-style training
Gain bulletproof resilience through Soviet-inspired strength training
Boost your aerobic base with Olympian techniques.

Blueprint applies the exact same principles that enabled Ross to complete extreme feats such as the World's Longest Sea Swim, World's Longest Rope Climb, World's Heaviest Triathlon and World's Strongest Marathon.

Ross is your elite guide to achieving the impossible in the gym and beyond. Featuring almost 30 tailored workouts for different phases of training, packed with digestible sports science to help you optimise your workouts, and interspersed with Ross' own daring adventures across the world, Blueprint is the ultimate guide to optimising your time and training to make the impossible possible.

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For football fans who hungrily feed on gossip and rumour, Christmas comes twice a year once in August and again in January. These are the months when the transfer window dominates thoughts, when the prospect of a new signing or two reinvigorates the hopes and dreams of the hopelessly devoted.

Nige Tassell goes behind the scenes to observe the workings of the transfer window and to examine why it continues to hold such fascination for a nation of football lovers. He speaks to players, managers, chairmen, agents, scouts, analysts, fans, journalists, broadcasters and even bookmakers to hear how they survive and possibly prosper from these red-letter months in the football calendar. Completely up to date to include key action from the 2018/19 transfer window.

Nobody writes about football like Nige Tassell: poignant, funny, nostalgic and reminds us why we love the game.

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As a teenager, Cox dreamed of sporting immortality. For four years he devoted himself to the game of golf. And then, one day, he walked away. But as he got older, those dreams kept coming back. Perhaps it was turning thirty, perhaps it was having his first hole in one, but he decided it was time to start again, to live the dream for real.
So he switched off his computer, grabbed his checked trouser and headed for the golf course. To turn pro. The Open Championship was only five of the best rounds of his life away, and given a few warm-up tournaments, how hard could it be?

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Then I was there myself, just another face in the crowd, watching the bikes fly by. The smells, the noise and the speed were all there for me to experience. It was like a massive injection in my head and it just blew my mind. I knew within seconds that I was going to be a TT racer. I didn t know how or what I was going to have to do to achieve this, and my dad wasn t going to be keen. Everyone around me was aware of the dangers, but from that moment I knew I had to do it.

John McGuinness is one of the all-time giants of road racing, with a huge host of victories to his name. But his easy humour and down-to-earth attitude off the bike have always kept people guessing: what s the truth about the man inside the helmet, that has kept him at the top of such a sport for over 20 years?

His autobiography tells the whole story, from his humble beginnings in Morecambe and getting his first bike at the age of 3, to working as a bricklayer and cockle fisherman before deciding to follow his dream, and finally to his many victories in the most dangerous sporting event on the planet. He tells of what it takes to be a champion in such an exacting sport, and to keep winning even though all logic tells you to stop and when so many of your fellow racers are paying the ultimate price for doing it. This thrilling autobiography gets into the head of the man who stares death in the face, and doesn t even flinch.

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Boxing is Steve Bunce's game. He has filed thousands and thousands of fight reports from ringside. He has written millions and millions of words for national newspapers previewing boxing, profiling boxers and proselytising on the business. He has been the voice of British boxing on the airwaves, both radio and television, with an army of loyal fans. And now it's time to put those many years of experience into penning his history of the sport of kings on these isles. It's Bunce's Big Fat Short History of British Boxing.

Starting in 1970, the beginning of modern boxing in Britain, Bunce takes us from Joe Bugner beating Henry Cooper to an explosion then in the sport's exposure to the wider British public, with 22 million watching Barry McGuigan win his world title on the BBC. All boxing royalty is here - Frank Bruno taking on Mike Tyson in Las Vegas; Benn, Watson, Eubank and Naseem; Ricky Hatton, Lennox Lewis and Calzaghe; Froch and Haye - through to a modern day situation where with fighters as diverse as Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, we have more world champions than ever before. And besides the fighters, there are the fixers, the managers, the trainers, the duckers and divers...

Bunce's Big Fat Short History of British Boxing will have every high and impossible low, tragic deaths and fairy tales. It is a record of British boxing, British boxing people and fifty years of glory, heartache and drama.

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The first history of Italian football to be written in English, Calcio is a mix of serious analysis and comic storytelling, with vivid descriptions of games, goals, dives, missed penalties, riots and scandals in the richest and toughest league in the world.

Calcio tells the story of Italian football from its origins in the 1890 s to the present day. It takes us through a history of great players and teams, of style, passion and success, but also of violence, cynicism, catenaccio tactics and corruption.

We meet the personalities that have shaped this history from the Italian heroes to the foreigners that failed, the model professionals to the mavericks. Calcio evokes the triumphs (the 1982 World Cup victory) and the tragedies (Meroni, the 'Italian George Best', killed by his number one fan), set against a backdrop of paranoia and intrigue, in a country where the referee is seen as corrupt until proven otherwise.

Calcio is no longer a game. It is sometimes difficult to define it as a sport. It is certainly big business and a fanatical civic religion. There is no moral code here. Winners are always right, losers always wrong. This history of Italian football reveals all about the richest and toughest league in the world.

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The long-awaited memoir from international football ambassador, former co-owner of Arsenal FC and legend of the game: David Dein.

There's no doubt that Dein has been one of the most significant and influential figures in British football for over three decades - operating at club and international level. He was a prime mover in the creation of the Premier League, hugely influential within the England set-up and, of course, was the mastermind - along with Arsene Wenger - in creating the glory days of Arsenal Football Club, leading the team for almost a quarter of a century. Connected to the most senior figures across the global game as a friend, rival, advisor, and collaborator, Dein has been central to major turning points in the game.

Calling the Shots is part memoir, part inspirational meditation on leadership, teamwork and how to invest in people. It tracks the full story of David's remarkable life and career to date, recounting never-before-told stories from the inside, intriguing characters met along the way, and discussing the past, present and future of football. An entertaining and motivational read for football and non-football fans alike, Calling the Shots is a dynamic masterclass in how to succeed in business and life.

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A shocking expose: the inside story behind the fall of the most powerful man in Irish sport

Over the course of fifteen years, John Delaney ran the Football Association of Ireland as his own personal fiefdom. He had his critics, but his power was never seriously challenged until last year, when Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan published a sequence of stories in the Sunday Times containing damaging revelations about his personal compensation and the parlous financial situation of the FAI. Delaney's reputation as a great financial manager was left in tatters. He resigned under pressure, and the FAI was left hoping for a massive bail-out from the Irish taxpayer.

In Champagne Football, Tighe and Rowan dig deep into the story of Delaney's career and of the FAI's slide into ruin. They show how he surrounded himself with people whose personal loyalty he could count on, and a board that failed to notice that the association's finances were shot. They detail Delaney's skilful cultivation of opinion-formers outside the FAI. And they document the culture of excess that Delaney presided over and benefited from, to the detriment of the organization he led.

Champagne Football is a gripping, sometimes darkly hilarious and often enraging piece of reporting by the award-winning journalists who finally pulled back the curtain on the FAI's mismanagement.

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Fully updated to include Sir Chris Hoy's incredible, record-breaking golds at London 2012 (making him his country's greatest ever Olympian), this is the story of a sporting legend in his own words.

This 33-year-old cycling fanatic from Murrayfield in the suburbs of Edinburgh defied the doubters who thought he would struggle when his specialist discipline, the 1km time trial, was dropped from the Olympics, and went on to reinvent himself as a track cycling sprinter and triple Olympic gold medallist in Beijing. His return to these shores sparked unprecedented celebrations and real admiration that here was a role model who was the epitome of all things that are good in sport.

What makes a champion in sport? In his autobiography, Hoy returns to his roots as a child fully engaged with the BMX craze of the Eighties; when, even as a seven year old his will to succeed allied to an unyielding mental strength set him apart from other youngsters of his age. A promising rower and rugby player in school, it was when he joined his first local cycling club and spent most weekends of the year competing in national events from Blackpool to Bristol that the seeds of his future career were sown.

With the devoted support of his family, Hoy drove himself to the pinnacle of his sport at the same time as British track cycling established itself as a pioneering force on the world stage.

In the wake of his unparalleled achievements at London 2012, which filled the whole country with pride, there is no sporting icon better placed to demonstrate what it takes to reach the top than Sir Chris Hoy.

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Cycling journalist Felix Lowe makes the leap from raconteur to rouleur, taking to the saddle for the first time to complete his very own grand tour of Europe.

Lowe's light-hearted and entertaining travelogue charts his progress as he cycles 2, 800 kilometres from Barcelona to Rome, crossing three countries and cycling over three mountain ranges, taking in some of cycling's most fabled climbs. As he follows in the tracks of some of the world's greatest wheelmen, Lowe puts professional cycling's three major stage races the Tour de France, Vuelta a Espaсa and Giro d'Italia under the microscope, whilst capturing the potent mix of madness, humour and human spirit that make people identify with the sport so strongly.

Powered by local delicacies and his trademark blend of self-deprecating humour and barbed wit, Lowe takes readers on an immersive journey through the Catalonian countryside, over the Pyrenean foothills and the rolling plains of Languedoc, through the flowery fields of Provence, over winding Alpine passes, between the vineyards and olive groves of Piedmont, and down the Apennine backbone of Italy. His epic quest traces the footsteps of the celebrated Carthaginian general Hannibal, who led his own pachyderm peloton of 37 elephants over the Alps and all the way to the gates of Rome.

As much about the regions traversed as the cyclists who have left their sweat in the soil, Lowe's insightful account celebrates the sport, examines the psychology of both the crazed amateur and the pedalling pro, and delves into the awesome march of a military genius who almost brought the Roman Empire to its knees.

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The fourth world champion Alexander Alekhine has gone down in history not only as the winner of numerous tournaments and matches and the creator of hundreds of chess masterpieces. He is also rightly regarded as one of the most outstanding analysts of all time. Alekhine's annotations are distinguished by their depth and objectivity, and a clear explanation of the ideas inherent in a position. In this edition for the first time ALL Alekhine's games with his own annotations have been compiled. At present many of them can be found only in old magazines, and some have not previously been published in English.
In the editorial notes the achievements of modern computer analysis have been incorporated.

Серия: Великие шахматисты мира

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Take control of your fitness and training with this easy-to-use handbook to building a stronger core.

This simple guide includes more than 150 core-strength exercises, each with clear explanations and illustrations so that you can perfect your technique. Step-by-step visuals for exercises and stretches will help you work out correctly and safely, while focused explanations and anatomical diagrams of the body will deepen your knowledge of the science behind your workout.

Customise your routine according to your goals and fitness level by using the suggested training programmes and visual exercise directories. Improve your general mobility, strength, and flexibility or focus on improving your core for a specific sport - such as football, running, and many more. Strengthen your physique pre- and post-pregnancy or simply beat the physical symptoms of desk work!

Whether you're thinking about going to the gym for the first time or looking to take your workouts up a level, Core Strength Training is an easy-to-follow guide that will help you to know your body, its muscles, and how core training can work for you.

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B.K.S. Iyengar has devoted his life to the practice and study of yoga. It was B.K.S. Iyengar s unique teaching style, bringing precision and clarity to the practice, as well as a mindset of yoga for all , which has made it into a worldwide phenomenon.

His seminal book, Light on Yoga , is widely called the bible of yoga and has served as the source book for generations of yoga students around the world. In Core of the Yoga Sutras , he applies this same clarity to the philosophical core of yoga the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are 196 aphorisms forming the foundational text of yoga philosophy. Each sutra is short and to the point each being only a line or two long. B.K.S. Iyengar has translated each one, providing an insightful commentary and explanation for modern readers, as well as linking the various themes throughout the sutras to one another.

Each sutra is presented as Sanskrit text, transliteration and English translation, followed by B.K.S. Iyengar s unique commentary and authority only he can bring to the work.

B.K.S. Iyengar s insight on the sutras show the reader how we can transform ourselves through the practice of yoga, gradually developing the mind, body and emotions, so we can become spiritually evolved. This is a wonderful introduction to the spiritual philosophy that is the foundation of yoga practice.

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A fly-on-the-wall account of the greatest drama in modern sporting history by the New York Times cycling correspondent.

As Lance Armstrong s precipitous fall from grace continues, New York Times sports reporter Juliet Macur takes the reader behind the scenes to bring to life the astonishing twists and turns of the scandal that has rocked the world of cycling.

With unprecedented access to the key players in the drama from Armstrong s fellow cyclists and top cycling officials to doctors, trainers and wives Cycle of Lies reveals how Armstrong built a fortress of people around him to protect his image and upend the lives of anybody who stood in his way.

As America s fallen idol faces potential perjury charges, Cycle of Lies widens the focus to expose corruption at all levels of the sport in a thrilling, page-turning work of contemporary narrative history.

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A quirky collection of true stories from the stranger side of cycling, including doughty Edwardian explorers, intrepid tightrope cyclists and a long-forgotten bike growing in a tree.

Extraordinary but true stories from 200 years of cycling history.

Part of the bestselling Strangest series, Cycling s Strangest Tales is a quirky and fascinating collection of stories from cycling s history. Included are stories of Thomas Stevens, the doughty Englishman who circumnavigated the world on a penny farthing, the 1904 Tour de France winner who was disqualified for catching the train, the 1937 Japanese invasion of China spearheaded by 50, 000 bicycle-mounted troops, and the man who soared over nine circus elephants on an ordinary yellow bike. The stories come from every corner of the cycling world, whether it s the open road, the velodrome or the BMX track.

Brought bang up to date for 2017 with a selection of new stories, Cycling s Strangest Tales is the perfect gift for anyone who s in love with life on two wheels.

Серия: Strangest

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Discover the mindset that made Lawrence Okolie a champion...

'Whatever your situation, I want to help you. I'm proud of the changes I've made to my life. While flipping burgers in McDonald's, I found my ambition and now I'm a boxing champion. I've changed how I look at myself. how I look at the world. and I've improved my lifestyle.

If I can do this. I know you can too.

Perhaps you're feeling scared. a bit hopeless or unsure about where you're heading in life and what to do next? Maybe you feel stuck and you can't see a way out? I want to help you to change your life.' Lawrence Okolie

Discover:

How anything is possible
Why you don't need luck but you do need purpose and faith
When fear and risks are good things
Why positive energy and kindness are essential
How curiosity is power
That you are not defined by your past
Why you shouldn't fear failure
That you can control your future

And much more...

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In the early 1990s, Donald McRae set out to discover the truth about the intense and forbidding world of professional boxing. Travelling around the United States and Britain, he was welcomed into the inner sanctums of some of the greatest fighters of the period - men such as Mike Tyson, Chris Eubank, Oscar de la Hoya, Frank Bruno, Evander Holyfield and Naseem Hamed among them. They opened up to him, revealing unforgettable personal stories from both inside and outside the ring, and explaining why it is that some are driven to compete in this most brutal of sports, risking their health and even their lives.

The result is a classic account of boxing that remains as fresh and entertaining as when it was first published 20 years ago. McRae approaches his subjects with wit, compassion and insight, and the result was a book that was a deserved winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize.

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Guy Martin can't sit still. He has to keep pushing - both himself and whatever machine he is piloting - to the extreme. He's a doer, not a talker.

That applies whether Guy's competing in a self-supported 750-mile mountain bike race across Arizona, or trying to reach 300mph in a standing mile on the 800-horsepower motorbike he built in his shed. And during his TV adventures, travelling through Japan, winning records for the world's fastest tractor, re-creating the famous Steve McQueen Great Escape jump, discovering the toil and sacrifice of the D-Day landings and trying to cut the mustard as a Battle of Britain pilot.

Guy's become a dad now and he's hoping that one day his daughter will grow up to be a better welder than he is. Oh, and he's still getting up at 5am to work on trucks in for service or to be out on his tractor, working the Lincolnshire land he's always called home.

This is Guy Martin's latest book, in his own words, on the last four years of his life that make the rest of us look like we're in slow motion.

We're here for a good time, not a long time. To Guy, if it's worth doing, it's worth dying for.

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Within the staggeringly dangerous and high-pressure sport of professional motorcycling, Jonathan Rea's achievements are unprecedented. A legendary World Superbike Champion with
more race wins than any rider in history, Rea's trailblazing success shows no sign of slowing down.

Now, for the first time, this remarkable sportsman tracks his life and career. Seemingly destined for the racing world, Jonathan grew up in the paddocks - his grandfather was the first sponsor of five-times World Champion Joey Dunlop and his dad was a former Isle of Man TT winner. He owned his first bike before his hands were big enough to reach the brakes.

But while racing may be in his blood, it is through sheer determination and relentless perseverance that Rea has gained huge victories in this ultra-competitive world. Topping several of the most prestigious motorcycling championships, he rules the sport - so much so that regulations are being introduced to curb his dominance. The fact that Rea has endured several potentially career-ending scrapes - including smashing his femur at the age of seventeen and being told that he would never race again - makes his achievements even more incredible.

'Dream. Believe. Achieve, ' is Rea's mantra and in this gripping autobiography, we go behind the visor and into the mind of a man who has risen to the top of one of the most skilled and dangerous sports in the world.

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One of the greatest players of all time, Duncan Edwards's story is one of tragic heroism, brilliantly and movingly told in this superb biography.

From a working-class Dudley upbringing, Edwards rose to great heights at Manchester United. In only five years, he helped United to win two league championships and to reach the semi-finals of the European Cup. Among the Busby Babes - United's young, homegrown team - he was the player they all looked to, someone who could (and did) play in any position and still be the best on the pitch. Edwards made his England debut in a game against Scotland at the age of 18 years and 183 days, becoming his country's youngest international since the Second World War - a record which stood until Michael Owen's debut over forty years later. He went on to play 18 games for his country, including all four of the qualifying matched for the 1958 World Cup, in which he was expected to be a key player.

Sir Bobby Charlton described him as 'the only player that made me feel inferior' and Terry Venables claimed that, had he lived, it would have been Edwards, not Bobby Moore, who would have lifted the World Cup as captain in 1966. Sadly, it was not to be, after he lost his life following the Munich Air Disaster of 6 February 1958. Page-turning and poignant, author James Leighton tells a story of a magnificent sportsman and great man - the perfect antidote to the headline-grabbing footballers of today.

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Part manifesto, part how-to, Eat Sweat Play is a hugely inspirational call to arms for women to take back sport for themselves.

Long-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award.

Sport's for everyone... isn't it?

Society has led us to believe that women and sport don't mix. But why? What happens to the young girls who dare to climb trees and cartwheel across playgrounds?

In her exploration of major taboos, from sex to the gender pay gap, sports journalist Anna Kessel discovers how sport and exercise should play an integral role in every sphere of our modern lives.

Covering a fascinating range of women, from Sporty Spice to mums who box and breastfeed, Eat Sweat Play reveals how women are finally reclaiming sport, and by extension their own bodies, for themselves - and how you can too.

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'Run until you can't run anymore. Then run some more. Find a new source of energy and will. Then run even faster.' The words of Scott Jurek, a dominant force - and darling - in the gruelling and growing sport of ultrarunning for more than a decade. In 1999, as a complete unknown, he took the lead in the Western States Endurance Run, a 100-mile jaunt over the Gold Rush trails of America's Sierra Nevada. He went on to win that race seven years in a row. Jurek was also one of the elite runners who travelled to Mexico to run with the Tarahumara Indians, as profiled in the international bestseller Born to Run. His accomplishments are nothing short of extraordinary.

In Eat and Run, Jurek opens up about his life and career as an elite athlete, and about the vegan diet that is key to his success. From his Midwestern childhood of hunting and fishing to his slow transition to ultrarunning and veganism, to his epic, record-breaking races, Jurek's story shows the power of an iron will and the importance of thinking of food as fuel.

Full of stories of endurance and competition as well as practical advice and some of his original recipes, Eat and Run will motivate people to go the distance, whether that means getting out for a first run, expanding your food horizons, or simply exploring the limits of human potential.

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The first definitive story of the greatest cyclist of all time

'The whole point of a race is to find a winner... I chose to race, so I chose to win.'

For 14 years between 1965 and 1978, cyclist Edouard Louis Joseph Merckx simply devoured his rivals, their hopes and their careers. His legacy resides as much in the careers he ruined as the 445 victories - including five Tour de France wins and all the monument races - he amassed in his own right. So dominant had Merckx become by 1973 that he was ordered to stay away from the Tour for the good of the event.

Stage 17 of the 1969 Tour de France perfectly illustrates his untouchable brilliance. Already wearing the yellow jersey on the col du Tourmalet, the Tour's most famous peak, Merckx powered clear and rode the last 140 kilometres to the finish-line in jaw-dropping solitude, eight minutes ahead of his nearest competitor.

Merckx's era has been called cycling's Golden Age.It was full of memorable characters who, at any other time, would all have gone on to become legends. Yet Merckx's phenomenal career overshadowed them all. How did he achieve such incredible success? And how did his rivals really feel about him? Merckx failed drug tests three times in his career - were they really stitch ups as he claimed? And what of the crash at a track meet in Blois, France that killed Merckx's pacer Fernand Wambst, which Merckx claimed deeply affected him psychologically and physically? Or the attack by a spectator in 1975?

Despite his unique achievements, we know little about the Cannibal beyond his victories. This will be the first comprehensive biography of Merckx in English, and will finally expose the truth behind this legendary man.

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For fans of the hit Netflix docuseries The Last Dance.

During his storied career as head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson won more championships than any coach in the history of professional sports. Even more important, he succeeded in never wavering from coaching his way, from a place of deep values. Jackson was tagged as the 'Zen master' half in jest by sportswriters, but the nickname speaks to an important truth: this is a coach who inspired, not goaded; who led by awakening and challenging the better angels of his players' nature, not their egos, fear, or greed.

This is the story of a preacher's kid from North Dakota who grew up to be one of the most innovative leaders of our time. In his quest to reinvent himself, Jackson explored everything from humanistic psychology and Native American philosophy to Zen meditation. In the process, he developed a new approach to leadership based on freedom, authenticity, and selfless teamwork that turned the hyper-competitive world of professional sports on its head.

In Eleven Rings, Jackson candidly describes how he:

- Learned the secrets of mindfulness and team chemistry while playing for the champion New York Knicks in the 1970s

- Managed Michael Jordan, the greatest player in the world, and got him to embrace selflessness, even if it meant losing a scoring title

- Forged successful teams out of players of varying abilities by getting them to trust one another and perform in sync

- Inspired Dennis Rodman and other 'uncoachable' personalities to devote themselves to something larger than themselves

- Transformed Kobe Bryant from a rebellious teenager into a mature leader of a championship team.

Eleven times, Jackson led his teams to the ultimate goal: the NBA championship six times with the Chicago Bulls and five times with the Los Angeles Lakers. We all know the legendary stars on those teams, or think we do. What Eleven Rings shows us, however, is that when it comes to the most important lessons, we don't know very much at all. This book is full of revelations: about fascinating personalities and their drive to win; about the wellsprings of motivation and competition at the highest levels; and about what it takes to bring out the best in ourselves and others.

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England: The Biography is the most comprehensive account of the England cricket team that has ever been published, taking the reader into the heart of the action and the team dynamics that have helped shape their success, or otherwise.

It is now 140 years since England first played Test match cricket and, for much of that time, it has struggled to perform to the best of its capabilities. In the early years, amateurs would pick and choose which matches and tours they would play; subsequently, the demands of the county game - and the petty jealousies that created - would prevent many from achieving their best. It was only in the 1990s that central contracts were brought in, and Team England began to receive the best possible support from an ever-increasing backroom team.

But cricket isn't just about structures, it depends like no other sport on questions of how successful the captain is in motivating and leading his team, and how well different personalities and egos are integrated and managed in the changing room. From Joe Root and Alastair Cook back to Mike Atherton, Mike Brearley and Ray Illingworth, England captains have had a heavy influence on proceedings. Recent debates over Kevin Pietersen were nothing new, as contemporaries of W.G.Grace would doubtless recognise. As England play their 1000th Test, this is a brilliant and unmissable insight into the ups and downs of that story.

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'For 30 years I was the voice of sport at The Times - but that's enough about me. What matters is sport.'

This is an autobiography from which the author, award-winning writer Simon Barnes, has been surgically removed. He has reported on six World Cups, seven Olympic Games, cricket on five continents and more than 20 Wimbledons, watching Diego Maradona, Usain Bolt, Sachin Tendulkar and Roger Federer at their peak. Along the way he had soul-revealing conversations with Ayrton Senna and sat on Desert Orchid.

His journalist's experience gives him perspective, until the addictive madness of sport takes over. Epic is a stunning mosaic of some of the greatest sporting moments in recent years, which build up to provide the reader with a better idea of what sport is for, what differentiates winners from losers, and reveals how sport teaches us how better to enjoy life.

This is sport unplugged. Speaking for itself. Allowing the reader to understand sport with more clarity and depth than ever before.

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In Etape, critically acclaimed author Richard Moore will take readers on a virtual Tour de France, with each chapter focusing on a single rider in a single stage that came to define the Tour s history.

In Etape, critically acclaimed author Richard Moore tells the stories behind some of the defining stages in the Tour de France s history through the eyes of the protagonists: the heroes and villains, stars and journeymen.
Featuring exclusive new interviews with Mark Cavendish, Lance Armstrong, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond, David Millar, Chris Boardman and many other Tour riders past and present, Etape spans six decades in conveying the mystery, beauty and madness of the world s greatest bike race.
The book includes Boardman s famous debut in 1994, Cavendish s best and worst stages, an emotionally charged win for Armstrong in Limoges in 1995 and his dramatic, drug-fuelled victory eight years later at Luz Ardiden, as well as iconic stages featuring giants of the sport: Merckx s toughest Tour, Hinault s journey through hell, LeMond s return from near-death, and the tragic Marco Pantani s domination of the most controversial race in Tour history, among others.
From the Alps to the Pyrenees, the sun-soaked plains of the midi to the rain-lashed cobbles of the north, Etape takes the reader on a virtual Tour. Along the way, in shedding new light on familiar events, unravelling mysteries and exploring untold stories, it confirms the Tour de France as unrivalled in its creation of myths and legends, and as a stage for courage, scandal, skill, and drama.

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A social history of 1980s Britain, told through the sport of the time.

Travel back to the 1980s - to Botham's Ashes and the Brixton riots; the Moscow Olympics and the miners' strike; the Crucible Theatre and the Falklands - to explore how we got to where we are now. Discover how sport became fully entwined in our national story; how sporting heroes were made, and destroyed; how 'wars' were fought on the pitch; and how sport responded to - and drove cultural change in - our society.

From Sebastian Coe to Margaret Thatcher, John Barnes to the ZX Spectrum, Martina Navratilova to Section 28, Everybody Wants to Rule the World speaks to our treasured memories of eighties sports while also throwing light on where things went deeply wrong. In so doing it tells nothing less than the story of how British sport came into the modern era.

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Football has always measured success by what you win, but only in the last twenty years have clubs started to think about how you win. Data has now suffused almost every aspect of how football is played, coached, scouted and consumed. But it's not the algorithms or new metrics that have made this change, it's the people behind them.
This is the story of modern football's great data revolution and the group of curious, entrepreneurial personalities who zealously believed in its potential to transform the game. Central to this cast is Chris Anderson, an academic with no experience in football, who saw data as an opportunity to fundamentally change a sport that did not think it could be changed. His aim: to infiltrate the strange, insular world of professional football by establishing a club whose entire DNA could be built around data.
Expected Goals charts his remarkable journey into the heart of the modern game and reveals how clubs across the world, from Liverpool to Leipzig and Brentford to Bayern Munich, began to see how data could help them unearth new players, define radical tactics and plot their path to glory.

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Up in the air! Down on the ground! Under the water! Extreme sports are new, exciting, and dangerous! Learn about extreme sports from aerial ballet to zorbing. Read about the crazy people who love extreme sports. Are extreme sports for you?

Серия: Pearson English Readers

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Up in the air! Down on the ground! Under the water! Extreme sports are new, exciting, and dangerous! Learn about extreme sports from aerial ballet to zorbing. Read about the crazy people who love extreme sports. Are extreme sports for you?

Серия: Pearson English Readers

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The autobiography of the fastest man of all time and a superstar whose talent and charisma have made him one of the most famous people on the planet.

Whether you know Athletics or not, and even whether you know sport or not, chances are you know Usain Bolt. The fastest man on the planet, not just now but ever, Usain has won the hearts of people everywhere with his mind-blowing performances and his infectious charisma - uniting supporters around the world.
In this, his full autobiography, Usain tells his story in his own words: from humble beginnings in Jamaica, to international stardom at Beijing and on to the new heights of superstardom he has reached since lighting up London 2012.
Full of the charm and charisma that has made him the most popular sporting figure of our time and a universal celebrity, this is a book that Usain's millions of fans will love.

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The hilarious tale of one podgy boy's dreams on the outside edge of a cricketing life from 'one of Britain's funniest writers' (Daily Mail)

A fat boy with a passion for sweets and a loathing for games, the young Michael Simkins finds in cricket a sport where size doesn't necessarily matter and a full-blown obsession is born. Now in middle-age, he still harbours the somewhat deluded belief that the England middle-order might usefully benefit from his hard-earned skills. From impromptu Test series played with his dad in the family sweetshop through to his years running a team of dysfunctional inadequates, Fatty Batter is the bestselling and hilarious story of one man's life lived through cricket.

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A detailed plan for conquering the mental side of your golf, from the pioneering psychologist whose techniques have benefited Justin Rose and numerous other world-class golfers.

As Jack Nicklaus once observed, fear is the golfer s greatest enemy. It can turn you from a brilliant shot-maker on the practice range into an incompetent hack on the course. Most golfers understand this, but do not have the tools to overcome it. That s where pioneering sports psychologist Dr Gio Valiante comes in. Having studied the sources of an athlete s fear and its physiological and neurological impact on performance, he has developed a groundbreaking programme for conquering it.

Emphasising the need to replace a fixation-on-results with a commitment to mastery of one s body and one's mind, Valiante s approach will help golfers reach their true potential. Through concrete confidence and mastery drills, he presents specific ways to break free of fear s grasp and perform at your best even under the most extreme pressure.

Fearless Golf is the ultimate guide to the mental game.

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The real story of a moment of sporting history, when an English cricket team took on Nazi Germany in 1937

Adolf Hitler despised cricket, considering it un-German and decadent. And Berlin in 1937 was not a time to be going against the Fuhrer's wishes. But hot on the heels of the 1936 Olympics, an enterprising cricket fanatic of enormous bravery, Felix Menzel, somehow persuaded his Nazi leaders to invite an English team to play his motley band of part-timers.

That team was the Gentlemen of Worcestershire, an ill-matched group of mavericks, minor nobility, ex-county cricketers, rich businessmen and callow schoolboys - led by former Worcestershire CC skipper Major Maurice Jewell. Ordered 'not to lose' by the MCC, Jewell and his men entered the 'Garden of Beasts' to play two unofficial Test matches against Germany.

Against a backdrop of repression, brutality and sporadic gunfire, the Gents battled searing August heat, matting pitches, the skill and cunning of Menzel, and opponents who didn't always adhere to the laws and spirit of the game. The tour culminated in a match at the very stadium which a year before had witnessed one of sport's greatest spectacles and a sinister public display of Nazi might.

Despite the shadow cast by the cataclysmic conflict that was shortly to engulf them, Dan Waddell's vivid and detailed account of the Gentlemen of Worcestershire's 1937 Berlin tour is a story of triumph: of civility over barbarity, of passion over indifference and hope over despair.

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The perfect guide for any football fan who wants to know everything about the "beautiful game" - from World Cup winners and champions past and present, to football skills and techniques. Ever wondered when and where was football played for the first time? Do you know the history of the first football team? Have you explored the science behind football? Enter the fascinating world of the most popular game in the world with Eyewitness Football. Get in-depth knowledge about everything football from the rules and laws of the game to various skills and tactics. Follow the evolution of the ball itself, from inflated animal bladders to modern synthetic ones. Know what it feels like to walk in the specialized boots worn by the players - from studless ones from the 19th century to the modern ones with changeable screw-in studs. Eyewitness Football is packed with amazing pictures and facts that would interest new and old fans of the game alike. From bite-sized biographies of legendary players and results from all major tournaments to details about different national teams and clubs, this book packs it all in. Also included is a fantastic, full-colour poster to hang on your wall.

Серия: Eyewitness Travel

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Football is at the heart of British national identity. Through more than forty fascinating stories, Football Nation reveals the hidden and not-so-hidden history of the game since 1945. From the mass audiences of austerity Britain when footballers were amateurs, through the arrival of the Premiership after the Hillsborough disaster, to the present day when top-flight players command a higher weekly wage than the average spectator earns in a year, Football Nation offers an entirely fresh perspective on the history of the beautiful game in Britain.

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'Football is a pleasure that hurts'

This unashamedly emotional history of football is a homage to the romance and drama, spectacle and passion of a 'great pagan mass'. Through stories of superstition, heartbreak, tragedy, luck, heroes and villains, those who lived for football and those who died for it, Eduardo Galeano celebrates the glory of a game that - however much the rich and powerful try to control it - still retains its magic.

Серия: Penguin Modern Classics

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A meditation on running, nature and the pursuit of freedom in the modern world.

Running is not just a sport. It reconnects us to our bodies and the places in which we live, breaking down our increasingly structured and demanding lives. It allows us to feel the world beneath our feet, lifts the spirit, allows our minds out to play and helps us to slip away from the demands of the modern world.

When Vybarr Cregan-Reid set out to discover why running meant so much to so many, he began a journey which would take him out to tread London's cobbled streets, climbing to sites that have seen a millennium of hangings, and down the crumbling alleyways of Ruskin's Venice. Footnotes transports you to the cliff tops of Hardy's Dorset, the deserted shorelines of Seattle, the giant redwood forests of California, and to the world's most advanced running laboratories and research centres, using debates in literature, philosophy and biology to explore that simple human desire to run.

Liberating and inspiring, this book reminds us why feeling the earth beneath our feet is a necessary and healing part of our lives.

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Imagine yourself in the electrifying driver's seat of your dream car and discover the fast and furious world of Formula One. Learn your cockpits from your monocoques, your paddles from your paddocks, your downforce from your G-force, and all that lies between! This title is packed full of round-the-world record-breaking race, team and driver info and all the technical car 'gumpf' you'll ever need! Sit on the edge of your seat and read all about nail-biting championship moments, team triumph and tragedy, exhilarating starts and expertly engineered race strategies. Then, pull out your official race poster and put it on the wall. This is the perfect souvenir for any budding F1 addict.

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In this very funny sports book (a cross between Nick Hornby and Bill Bryson) young journalist Lawrence Donegan tells the story of the summer he spent caddying for Scottish golfer Ross Drummond, ranked over 400 in the world, on the European Tour. Thisis the inside story of the geniuses, the cheats, the gurus and the hangers-on that make up the golf scene.

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By the late 1970s, boxing had lapsed into a moribund state and interest in it was on the wane. In 1980, however, the sport was resuscitated by a riveting series of bouts involving an improbably dissimilar quartet: Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvellous Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran.

Like Ali and Frazier, Dempsey and Tunney, Robinson and LaMotta, the 'Four Kings of the Ring' brought out the best in each other, producing unprecedented multi-million-dollar gates along the way. Each of the nine bouts between the four men was memorable in its own way and at least two of them - Leonard-Hearns in 1981 and Hagler-Hearns in 1985 - are commonly included on any list of the greatest fights of all time. The controversial outcome of another - the 1987 Leonard-Hagler fight - remains the subject of heated debates amongst fans to this day.

In Four Kings, award-winning journalist George Kimball documents the remarkable effect they had on the sport and argues that we will never see their likes again. Leonard, Hagler, Hearns and Duran didn't set out to save boxing from itself in the post-Ali era, but somehow they managed to do so.

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In horse racing greatness is defined by speed. Being the second fastest counts for little. You have to win. And win. And keep winning until every challenger of your generation is put to the sword. Of the twelve horses lined up on Newmarket Heath that 2011 day, one would do just that. And more. To become the greatest racehorse that has ever lived.

Frankel was born on 11 February 2008, with four white socks and a blaze, from impressive equine lines on both his parents' sides. Simon Cooper revisits the whole of the horse's life, giving readers an inside tour of the calm oasis that is life a stud farm, where a foal will live with his mother for the first year of his life. Next, the atmosphere of heady possibility that marks the early days of training. Roadwork. Gallops. Trials. Turning raw potential into something more. Frankel begins to set himself apart.

A detailed and fast-paced narrative breathlessly recounts the racing career of the horse who, by his retirement to stud at the age of 4, would be rated the greatest of all time. Cooper weaves the horse's tale with those of his trainer, battling cancer, the stablehands who coped with his explosive nature, the work rider who tamed him, the the jockey who rode in all fourteen of his races, and the owner who saw his potential from the very beginning. The result is a rich and multifaceted tale of modern horse racing, the lives of everyone involved, human and equine, and the unadulterated glory of winning. And winning everything.

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In the state of Texas American football is a religion. And nowhere is more fanatical about its football than the small town of Odessa. There, every Friday night from September to November, a bunch of seventeen-year-old kids play their hearts out for the honour of their high school. In front of 20, 000 people.

In 1988 H.G. Bissinger spent a season in Odessa discovering just what makes a town pin its hopes on eleven boys on a football field. He lived with the students, coaches and townspeople who dedicate their lives to their team, sharing their joys and triumphs, their pains, injuries and bitter disappointments. He returned with a compassionate but hard-eyed story of a town riven by money, race and class, where a high school can spend more on medical supplies for its athletic program than on its English department.

Friday Night Lights is one of the best books about sport ever written. It is the story of how dreams and reality collide, at once glorious and immensely sad. Because for the 30-odd boys of the Permian Panthers, these days will have been the best of their lives.

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So how do you win a bike race?
Riding as fast as you could for as long as you could was the main tactic in the early days of road racing when Grand Tours could be won by hours. Now a minute's delay thanks to a puncture could ruin a rider's chances over a three-week race and the sport is described as nothing less than chess on wheels. The intricacies and complexities of cycling are what makes it so appealing: an eye for opportunity and a quick mind are just as crucial to success as a 'big engine' or good form.
How do you cope with crosswinds, cobbles, elbows-out sprints, weaving your way through a teeming peloton? Why are steady nerves one of the best weapons in a rider's arsenal and breakaway artists to be revered? Where do you see the finest showcase of tactical brilliance? Peter Cossins takes us on to the team buses to hear pro cyclists and directeurs sportifs explain their tactics: when it went right, when they got it wrong - from sprinting to summits, from breakaways to bluffing.
Hectic, thrilling, but sometimes impenetrable - watching a bike race can baffle as much as entertain. Full Gas is the essential guide to make sense of all things peloton.

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They called him God.

For his grace on a bicycle, for his divine talent, for his heavenly looks. Frank Vandenbroucke had it all, and in the late nineties he raced with dazzling speed and lived even faster.

The Belgian won most of cycling's most prestigious races, including Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Paris-Nice, enthralling a generation of cycling fans. Off the bike, he only had one enemy - himself.

His rise to prominence coincided with a rampant period of doping and Vandenbroucke had a wayward streak. He regularly fell out with team managers and had all-night party sessions mixing sleeping pills and alcohol. A drugs scandal started a long fall from grace, leading to addiction, car crashes, court appearances, marital problems and suicide bids, punctuated by sporting comebacks. His life was like a soap opera and its premature ending shocked many.

In October 2009, aged thirty-four, Vandenbroucke was found dead in a Senegalese hotel room - in mysterious circumstances.

Led by candid contributions from his closest family, friends and associates, William Hill award-winning author Andy McGrath lays bare Vandenbroucke's turbulent life story. God is Dead is the compelling biography of this mercurial cycling prodigy.

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