Sports Obsession

Hans Florine is a big-wall climbing legend in his own time. He holds the speed record on the Nose route of El Capitan, a 3,000-foot granite cliff in Yosemite Valley that's considered the Everest of the rock-climbing world. But Florine's story is not one of super-human athletic prowess; it's one of persistence and dogged determination. In 30 years of climbing, he's ascended the Nose a mind-blowing, death-defying 100 times, more than anyone else ever has, and most likely ever will. In On the Nose, Florine describes the most dangerous, pivotal, and inspirational of those climbs.

Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America. Easy to learn, but impossible to master, it’s no wonder that nearly 5 million people nationwide have picked up their paddles and taken to the court. But people aren’t just dabbling in this up-and-coming activity, they are obsessed; some hit the court as many as five, six, even seven times a week. As Vanity Fair put it, pickleball has “won over everyone, from Leonardo DiCaprio to your grandparents.”

Every year on January 1, a quirky crowd of adventurers storms out across North America for a spectacularly competitive event called a Big Year: a grand, grueling, expensive, and occasionally vicious, "extreme" 365-day marathon of birdwatching. For three men in particular, 1998 would be a whirlwind, a winner-takes-nothing battle for a new North American birding record.

Hell-Bent explores a fascinating, often surreal world at the extremes of American yoga. Benjamin Lorr walked into his first yoga studio on a whim, overweight and curious, and quickly found the yoga reinventing his life. He was studying Bikram Yoga (or “hot yoga”) when a run-in with a master and competitive yoga champion led him into an obsessive subculture—a group of yogis for whom eight hours of practice a day in 110- degree heat was just the beginning.

**Deadley Obsession** captivates readers with the gripping tale of two families from starkly different backgrounds. This is part 1- The Seduction of Speed- Frank Cartland is born as the motoring era begins, his family from a lineage of village blacksmiths. Hardships marked his upbringing, yet he carried an unwavering optimism that set him apart. In sharp contrast stands George Marshall, born into old money and privilege. Despite their differences, both men find common ground in a shared, exhilarating passion for racing machines. The scars left by the First World War profoundly influenced ...

For professional cyclists, going faster and winning are, of course, closely related. Yet surprisingly, for many, a desire to go faster is much more important than a desire to win. Someone who wants to go faster will work at the details and take small steps rather than focusing on winning. Winning just happens when you do everything right - it's the doing everything right that's hard. And that's what fascinates and obsesses Michael Hutchinson.

From well-known nature and adventure writer Dan Koeppel, whose work has appeared in Audubon and National Geographic Adventure, comes this true story of one bird watcher's incredible achievements.

Here is the story of a community - Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts - and a sporting event - the island's legendary Striped Bass & Bluefish Derby - that is rendered with the same depth, color, and emotional power of the best fiction. Among the characters we meet Dick Hathaway, a crotchety legend who once caught a bluefish from a helicopter and was ultimately banned for cheating; and Janet Messineo, a recovering alcoholic who says that striped bass saved her life.

He saw what I was hiding on the ice. Now he’s using it to keep me close. Sadie Miller is a figure skater with a secret her body won’t let her hide. Every practice is a risk. Every wardrobe malfunction is a nightmare. And when the hockey team storms the rink, their loud, arrogant goalie becomes her biggest problem. Logan Carter isn’t interested in figure skaters. Until one panicked glance, one wet stain, and one humiliating accident changes everything. Now he’s watching her. He saw the truth. He knows what she’s hiding. And he wants to own it. 🩰 Figure Skater Hiding A Secret ...

The air might be thin at 8,000 feet, but even there, at the top of Sugarloaf Mountain, Annette Young has enough energy for two people. Hopping down from the chairlift, she grabs the first person she comes to; her brother Paul, to help hook up the snowmaking machines that will run through the night until mother nature provides the snow they need to stay in business. Since she could walk, Annette's life revolved around the ski resort her grandfather had started long before she was born. But with the recent death of their father, brother and sister had plugged along, working at getting it ...

Norwegian adventurer, philosopher and acclaimed author Erling Kagge ventured to the North Pole in 1990. Blending memoir from that intrepid journey, along with history, philosophy and a stark warning about melting ice, comes a profound meditation about nature and our place within it. The North Pole is for anyone who’s gazed out at the horizon – and wondered what happens if you keep walking.

Before he made a name for himself as an acclaimed essayist and nature writer, David Gessner devoted his 20s to a cultish sport called Ultimate Frisbee. Like his teammates and rivals, he trained for countless hours, sacrificing his body and potential career for a chance at fleeting glory without fortune or fame. His only goal: to win Nationals and go down in Ultimate history as one of the greatest athletes no one has ever heard of.

John Garrity is well known in the golf world for his writing for Sports Illustrated, Golf Magazine, and on Golf.com. In this new book, Garrity travels to the remote corner of Ireland from which his great-grandfather left for America, now home to a majestic golf course. There he discovers why local farmers spent seven years carving the course out of unforgiving terrain, using only rakes and spades for their work. From there, he visits Musselburgh, Scotland, where his maternal ancestors played golf before the first 13 rules of the game were written there in 1774, and to Wisconsin’s St. Croix River Valley, where his father learned the Ancient Game.

This is a celebration of running, and what lots of us think about when we run. Part escape, part self-discovery, part therapy, part fitness. Part simple childlike joy of running when you could be walking. Vassos Alexander shares the highs and lows of falling in love with running, from his first paltry efforts to reach the end of his street to completing ultra marathons and triathlons in the same weekend.

PUREBRED is the story of many Nebraska Football fans. Nebraska’s third-largest city. Kent Cowgill is one of those fans. Every Saturday of every football season of his life has been devoted to the Big Red. Diehard sports fans ride the emotional wave of the season from the highest highs to the lowest lows. From the beginning, Cornhusker red has run deep in Cowgill’s blood. Family bonds were strengthened while listening to Big Red win (and sometimes lose.) He followed his team from his small town in Nebraska all the way to medieval French monastic ruins and back. Along the way, life ...

In Icons, Wiggins takes the listener on an extraordinarily intimate journey through the sport, presenting key pieces from his never-before-seen collection of memorabilia. Over the course of his illustrious career, he amassed hundreds of items - often gifts from its greatest and most controversial figures. Each reflects an icon, a race or a moment that fundamentally influenced Wiggins on both a personal and professional level.

From the day Princeton played the first intercollegiate game in 1869, these major schools of the northeast - Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale - shaped football as we now know it. In this rich history, Bernstein shows that much of the culture that surrounds American football, both good and bad, has its roots in the Ivy League.

An inspiring insight into one of the oldest extreme sports, this is the definitive story of fell-running. This is a complete portrait of one of the few sports to have remained utterly true to its roots. Richard Askwith’s journey takes him into a world of forbidding rockscapes, horizontal rain, fear, exhaustion and stunning natural beauty, as well as his own attempt at one of the toughest challenges imaginable: the Bob Graham Round, the sport’s traditional test of 42 Lake District peaks in 24 hours.

From Desperation to Destiny: A Riveting Journey of Strength and Passion Meet Sally: trapped in a soul-crushing job, she's just another face in the crowd, until a harrowing event forces her to confront the life she's been living. Brutally beaten for standing by her sister, Sally is left shattered but not broken. Her journey from a place of despair to discovering an unstoppable force within her is nothing short of miraculous. In the heart of adversity lies the seed of Sally's transformation. She takes up self-defense, not just as a means to protect herself, but as a pathway to empowerment. ...

High Drama explores rock climbing's transformation from a pursuit of select anti-establishment vagabonds to a sport embraced by competitors of all ages, social classes, and backgrounds. Climbing magazine's John Burgman weaves a multi-layered story of traditionalists and opportunists, grassroots organizers and business-minded developers, free-spirited rebels and rigorously coached athletes. Deeply reported and compellingly told, this is a celebration of climbing and the pivotal figures who made its growth possible....