Books » Sport Biographies

As an athlete, ultrarunning legend (Men's Journal) Dean Karnazes has run 350 miles without rest and is probably the first person to eat an entire pizza while running. As an author, he has inspired countless couch potatoes to get off the couch, cancel the cable, and start running. In September, Karnazes embarks on his most monumental feat ever, The North Face Endurance 50. Beginning September 17 (at the Lewis & Clark Marathon in St. Charles, Missouri), Dean will run fifty marathons (each marathon is 26.2 miles) in fifty states on fifty consecutive days. The North Face Endurance 50 will culminate with Dean's run in the New York City Marathon on November 5.Promotional blow-in cards for this unprecedented run, sure to receive extraordinary media coverage, are inserted in this paperback edition of Ultramarathon Man, which also includes a new epilogue with Dean's diet and training tips.

The #1 New York Times bestseller with legs as strong as its author's. Lance Armstrong is one of the most talked about- and inspirational-sports figures of all time. He was Sports Illustrated 's 2002 Sportsman of the Year-and now, after his record-shattering string of Tour de France victories, some are proclaiming him the greatest athlete of all time. This is the book in which he shares his journey through triumph, tragedy, transformation, and transcendence. It is the story of a world-famous cyclist and his fight against cancer.This is the story of Lance Armstrong, the world-famous cyclist, and his fight against cancer.People around the world have found inspiration in the story of Lance Armstrong--a world-class athlete nearly struck down by cancer, only to recover and win the Tour de France, the multiday bicycle race famous for its grueling intensity. Armstrong is a thoroughgoing Texan jock, and the changes brought to his life by his illness are startling and powerful, but he's just not interested in wearing a hero suit. While his vocabulary is a bit on the he-man side (highest compliment to his wife: "she's a stud"), his actions will melt the most hard-bitten souls: a cancer foundation and benefit bike ride, his astonishing commitment to training that got him past countless hurdles, loyalty to the people and corporations that never gave up on him. There's serious medical detail here, which may not be for the faint of heart; from chemo to surgical procedures to his wife's in vitro fertilization, you won't be spared a single x-ray, IV drip, or unfortunate side effect. Athletes and coaches everywhere will benefit from the same extraordinary detail provided about his training sessions--every aching tendon, every rainy afternoon, and every small triumph during his long recovery is here in living color. It's Not About the Bike is the perfect title for this book about life, death, illness, family, setbacks, and triumphs, but not especially about the bike. --Jill Lightner

In 1974 Mark Donohue took a year off from driving at the height of his racing career and wrote a candid and revealing book about his journey through the world of auto racing - from amateur races in his own '57 Corvette to winning the Indy 500 in Roger Penske's McLaren M16.

Now, 25 years after it's original publication, The Donohue sons and Bentley Publishers have re-released a new edition of The Unfair Advantage. The new edition contains all of the original text. Expanded content includes photographs and separately appended material that fills out the Donohue story in words and pictures and provides historical context.

The Unfair Advantage captures a uniquely American blend of intellect and scrappiness. A graduate in engineering from Brown University, Donohue integrated creativity, openness to new ideas, humor, and his persistent will to win into every part of his approach to racing.

When Donohue puts that formula into words in The Unfair Advantage the result is as much an attitude and perspective as anything else. As such, it has had wide reaching and particularly personal impact for almost 30 years in the world of motorsport participants and enthusiasts.

Theres no denying that Tiger Woods has taken golf by storm. It seems like every time this 25-year-old swings a club, another PGA record is shattered. While his explosive drives, accurate approach shots, and steady putter certainly contribute to this success, both fans and critics agree that its Tigers devastating mental game that has propelled him to become the premier golfer of our time. Now Tiger shares his thoughts on what he calls the game of a lifetime. He reveals the five secrets he believes are responsible for his successa combination of physical, metaphysical, and psychological practices he uses daily to keep his game in top shape and help him to transcend all the ups and downs of golf. Best of all, Tiger reveals his unique approach to the game for the first time ever in this one singular volume. Tiger Woods became the youngest player ever to complete the career Grand Slam of professional major championships and only the fifth ever to do so, following the likes of Jack Nicklaus. He was also the youngest Masters champion ever, at the age of 21, and has since won 29 tournaments, including the 1999 and 2000 PGA Championships, the 2000 U.S. Open Championship, and the 2000 British Championship. He is the career victories leader among active players on the PGA tour. How I Play Golf will be lavishly illustrated with colour photos throughout, special design features, and easy-to-follow diagrams that will clarify and complement Tigers instructions. Its certain to be the #1 gift book of the year. First serial in Golf Digest.

Ernie Harwell, the dean of America's baseball broadcasters, is one of the most beloved figures to have graced the sport. This authorized biography recounts his amazing career, which started at the age of 12, when he talked Babe Ruth into signing his tennis shoe. It revisits such highlights as Harwell's broadcasts of games played by the likes of Jackie Robinson with the Dodgers, Willie Mays with the Giants, and Brooks Robinson with the Orioles, and examines his legendary status as the revered voice of the Detroit Tigers. In 54 seasons and six decades calling major league games, Harwell amassed a wonderful collection of stories to share in this fascinating celebration of one of the most respected men in baseball.

Five-time Mr. Universe, seven-time Mr. Olympia, and Mr. World, Arnold Schwarzenegger is the name in bodybuilding.

Here is his classic bestselling autobiography, which explains how the "Austrian Oak" came to the sport of bodybuilding and aspired to be the star he has become.

"I still remember that first visit to the bodybuilding gym. I had never seen anyone lifting weights before. Those guys were huge and brutal....The weight lifters shone with sweat; they were powerful looking, Herculean. And there it was before me -- my life, the answer I'd been seeking. It clicked. It was something I suddenly just seemed to reach out and find, as if I'd been crossing a suspended bridge and finally stepped off onto solid ground."
Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold shares his fitness and training secrets -- demonstrating with a comprehensive step-by-step program and dietary hints how to use bodybuilding for better health. His program includes a special four-day regimen of specific exercises to develop individual muscle groups -- each exercise illustrated with photos of Arnold in action.

For fans and would-be bodybuilders, this is Arnold in his own words.

Now available in paperback, "it's déjà vu all over again" with another New York Times bestseller -- more than 160,000 copies in print! Three-time MVP and Hall of Famer Yogi Berra hit home runs twice in a row with his two previous books, The Yogi Book and It Ain't Over. Now, his winning streak continues as the celebrated athlete and true American hero speaks about life, baseball, and "the forks in the road." Filled with the baseball legend's inimitable and unwittingly wise aphorisms from "It ain't over till it's over" to "You can't think and hit at the same time," these reflections focus on the valuable lessons he learned on and off the field.

Ever wonder what it would take to turn all of your dreams into reality? In The Life You Imagine, All-Star New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter shows how you can use the same game plan that helped an eight-year-old boy who fantasized about playing baseball for the Bronx Bombers grow up and become MVP of the 2000 World Series. With the help and support of both of his parents, Derek developed a practical program that would assist him in achieving all of his personal and professional aspirations-and now he shares his secrets to success so that you can get closer to living your dream, too.

In this inspiring, information-packed book, Derek provides you with the ten lessons that have guided him throughout his life on and off the field, from his dream of being a gifted, hardworking athlete to his goal of becoming an active community leader. Using personal stories from his own life as a student athlete in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and as a Yankee team player, Derek writes about the simple steps that put him on course for success, including:

* Setting your goals high and finding the right role models
* Being serious but still having fun
* Challenging yourself daily and not being afraid to fail
* Surrounding yourself with a strong supporting cast

Filled with rare family photos and pictures of Derek playing for the Yankees, The Life You Imagine is an intimate look into the life of a superstar athlete -- including the remarkable relationship he has with his family, what it's like to play with the Yankees, and how he's used his baseball celebrity to found the Turn 2 Foundation, a drug and alcohol prevention program for kids.

This sequel to the best-selling Growing Old is Not For Sissies teaches us to reevaluate the popular associations of age with increasing malaise and infirmity. Instead, it presents 100 vital, compelling portraits of senior athletes accompanied by personal statements and poems on aging. Growing Old is Not for Sissies II is testament to the joy of physical activity and of living to a ripe old age. Fourth printing. By Etta Clark.

The last of Colonel Jim Corbett's books on his unique and enthralling hunting experiences in India, this volume concludes the narrative of his adventures with tigers begun in the famous Man-Eaters of Kumaon. These stories maintain, perhaps even supercede, the high standard of the earlier classic collection. Corbett saves his best story of all for the long concluding chapter in this volume, describing, in The Talla Des Man-Eater, how he embarked on what he feared might be a fatal last test of skill and endurance. As always, he writes with an acute awareness of all jungle sights and sounds, choosing words charged with a great love of humanity, birds, and animals. His calm and straightforward modesty heightens the excitement and suspense of these experiences, in which he continuously risks his life to free the Indian tarai of dangerous man-eaters.