Biography & Autobiography : Sports

Sailing Alone Around the World (1899) is a sailing memoir by Joshua Slocum about his single-handed global circumnavigation aboard the sloop Spray . Slocum was the first person to sail around the world alone, the book was an immediate success and highly influential in inspiring later travelers. Captain Slocum, a highly experienced navigator and ship-owner, rebuilt and refitted the derelict sloop Spray in a seaside pasture at Fairhaven, Massachusetts during a thirteen-month period between early 1893 and 1894. Between April 24, 1895 and June 27, 1898, Slocum, aboard the Spray , crossed the Atlantic twice (to Gibraltar and back to South America), negotiated the Strait of Magellan, and crossed the Pacific. He also visited Australia and South Africa before crossing the Atlantic (for the third time) to reach home after a journey of 46,000 miles. There was considerable international interest in Slocum's journey, particularly once he had entered the Pacific; he was awaited at most of his ports of call, and gave lectures and lantern-slide shows to well-filled halls. His journal, which is masterfully self-deprecating, was first published in installments before being issued in book form in 1900 (variously 1899). The book was lavishly illustrated. Slocum tells his story as a sequence of adventures, understating his own part and giving credit always to the Spray . He even invents a Columbus' crew-member: the pilot of the Pinta to take credit for the safety of the vessel while he sleeps. The trip itinerary went as follows: Fairhaven, Boston, Gloucester, Nova Scotia, Azores, Gibraltar, (Morocco), Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Maldonado, Montevideo, Strait of Magellan, Cockburn Channel, Port Angosto, Juan Fernandez, Marquesas, Samoa, Fiji, Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania, Cooktown, Christmas Island, Keeling Cocos, Rodriguez, Mauritius, Durban, Cape Town, (Transvaal), St Helena, Ascension Island, Devil's Island, Trinidad, Grenada, Newport, Fa more...

Price: $5.95

Motivational life lessons and observations from one of Australia's most respected cricketers. more...

Price: $19.95

After winning the Olympic Gold in 1976 at age 19, Dorothy Hamill was “America’s Sweetheart” and an idol to millions. She swept the nation with her signature haircut, “Hamill” camel spin, and sparkling smile. But this gifted and supremely talented figure skater lived a life off the ice encumbered with family and financial tribulations. She and her mother spent long months away from her father and siblings so she could properly train, and Dorothy often questioned whether the outcome was worth the sacrifice as she attempted to handle an emotionally unavailable mother, alcoholic father, and a financial toll on her entire family. Skating has always been Dorothy’s only means of escape, but an intense depression took over when Dorothy found that success did not wash away the constant stress of trying to please her parents and coaches. She married the love of her life, Dean Paul Martin, only to face devastation when he was tragically killed in a plane crash shortly after their marriage ended. Dorothy was plummeted into an even deeper depression and struggled to find fulfillment. When she was finally capable of opening her heart to love again, she remarried and gave birth to her daughter, only to be taken advantage of by her philandering second husband who stole her money. The burden of the strained relationship with her parents on top of her broken heart tested Dorothy’s strength—but she prevailed. more...

Price: $11.95

When legendary Negro League player Buck O'Neil asked Joe Posnanski how he fell in love with baseball, the renowned sports columnist was inspired by the question. He decided to spend the 2005 baseball season touring the country with the ninety-four-year-old O'Neil in hopes of rediscovering the love that first drew them to the game. The Soul of Baseball is as much the story of Buck O'Neil as it is the story of baseball. Driven by a relentless optimism and his two great passions—for America's pastime and for jazz, America's music—O'Neil played solely for love. In an era when greedy, steroid-enhanced athletes have come to characterize professional ball, Posnanski offers a salve for the damaged spirit: the uplifting life lessons of a truly extraordinary man who never missed an opportunity to enjoy and love life. more...

Price: $10.95

When Heather Byer moved to New York from the Midwest in the early 1990s, she was like thousands of newcomers before her: wholesome, overeducated, ready to jump head-first into the ruthless, exciting world of literature or film. She eventually built a successful career as a movie executive, only to realize that something was missing from her life. She was stuck -- stuck in a lifestyle of fancy lunches and high-powered temper tantrums, of working too hard for too little personal fulfillment. But instead of turning to therapy or yoga to relieve her angst, Heather found herself drawn to the dark and seductive world of pool. In Sweet, Byer recounts her first fumbling attempts to learn a game that beckoned to her for years. She describes the hypnotic pull that surrounds the sport of pool: the netherworld of bars that serve as dens for substance abuse; the troubled players who lose themselves in the game; the constant quest for the win. As her game improves, she finds her persona changing, becoming less verbal and analytical and more intuitive and physical as she meets a series of people who leave lasting impressions -- a lanky, country-boy pool instructor; a good-hearted lawyer with a drinking problem; a strange South American bank-shot specialist; a hot-tempered woman with a nose-ring and an endless supply of sex appeal; mentors and hustlers; friends and lovers. As she moves through this beguiling, sometimes treacherous subculture, Byer vividly describes her progress and mishaps on the tables. Ultimately, the humiliating losses and exhilarating wins -- both in the pool bars and her personal life -- alter how she thinks of the game and herself. Sweet is both an unexpected memoir and a fascinating glimpse into a world few people know and even fewer understand. more...

Price: $15.00