Fall 2024 Game Day Hero Reader Type Book Recommendations
This fall, sports lovers and outdoor enthusiasts are in for a treat with a lineup of exhilarating nonfiction books that celebrate the spirit of adventure, competition, and the great outdoors. Whether you’re passionate about team sports, extreme challenges, or simply love getting outside and exploring nature, these new releases offer something for every kind of athlete and adventurer. From inspiring biographies of legendary athletes to survival tales and guides for outdoor recreation, this book roundup will fuel your passion for both the game and the wild!
december new release books
Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman
by Patrick Hutchison
A memoir of the author's journey from an office job to restoring a cabin in the Pacific Northwest, based on his wildly popular Outside Magazine piece.
Wit's End isn't just a state of mind. It's the name of a gravel road, the address of a run-down off-the-grid cabin, 120 shabby square feet of fixer-upper Patrick Hutchison purchased on a whim in the mossy woods of the Cascade Mountains in Washington state.
Disaster Survival 101: The Essential Guide to Preparing For--And Surviving--Any Emergency Scenario
by Creek Stewart
Be prepared for any disaster and put your mind at ease with this step-by-step plan for surviving natural disasters, technological and grid failures, attacks, hazards, and more including sheltering in place or evacuating as conditions dictate.
Are you prepared for a widespread electrical grid failure? What would you do if there was a sudden tornado warning? Will you be ready when disaster strikes?
In Disaster Survival 101, survival expert and bestselling author Creek Stewart cuts through the panic and fear emergency situations can create so you can ensure all safety measures are in place should you ever need them.
Why So Serious?: The Untold Story of NBA Champion Nikola Jokic
by Mike Singer
A revealing, intimate biography of basketball savant and enigmatic NBA superstar Nikola Jokic, filled with news-breaking interviews and deep reporting from Mike Singer, the Nuggets' former beat writer for the Denver Post.
Why So Serious? takes readers on Nikola Jokic's long, strange, and incredibly unlikely journey to becoming the heartbeat of the champion Denver Nuggets and the best basketball player on the planet. As he traces Jokic's transformation from his humble beginnings in Sombor, Serbia, sports journalist Mike Singer captures the witty irreverence, unparalleled competitiveness, and slight mischievousness of the MVP fondly known as “The Joker.”
A Giant Win: Inside the New York Giants' Historic Upset Over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII
by Tom Coughlin - Greg Hanlon - Eli Manning
From legendary Giants coach Tom Coughlin, an inside look at the unforgettable Super Bowl game that changed NFL history.
In A Giant Win, Coach Tom Coughlin reveals the intricacies of football, sharing details only a coach would know. He also details relationships with some of the most iconic players from the Giants, including Eli Manning and Michael Strahan.
Stugotz's Personal Record Book: The Real Winners and Losers in Sports
by Jon Stugotz Weiner - Dan Stanczyk - Dan Le Batard
Sports radio legend Stugotz rewrites the record books, taking rings away from undeserving champions and giving them to the rightful winners.
"I've been accused of rooting against every team in America, but I am rooting FOR Stugotz's Personal Record Book."--Joe Buck
Without Tom Brady, Bill Belichick is a worse head coach than Herm Edwards. Kevin Durant has no rings. Rafael Nadal is not on the Mount Rushmore of men's tennis.
For years, popular sports radio personality Stugotz has been telling fans that he keeps a "personal record book," a kind of alternate sports universe in which Babe Ruth is not a great Yankee, Sean McVay has no rings, and Joe Namath is not in the Hall of Fame, to name just a few of his sacred proclamations.
How We Fish: The Love, Life and Joy of the Riverbank
by Paul Whitehouse - John Bailey - Bob Mortimer
Paul Whitehouse and fishing expert John Bailey celebrate the timeless joy of fishing.
Paul Whitehouse and John Bailey have been devout fishermen for longer than they care to remember. A hobby, past time or sport - call it what you want - they have felt the pull of the water ever since they were kids and have never missed the chance to set up on the bank and try their luck.
The Tiger Slam: The Inside Story of the Greatest Golf Ever Played (Tiger Woods in 2000-2001)
by Kevin Cook
Twenty-five years ago, Tiger Woods achieved the greatest feat in golf history: the "Tiger Slam." Now, for the first time, the award-winning author of Tommy's Honor delivers a riveting account of Tiger at his most brilliant--dominating the game in a way we will never see again.
In 1997, as every schoolchild knows, Tiger Woods won the Masters by the largest margin in history, becoming the first Black player to win a major championship. Four years later, the world watches with breathless anticipation as he returns to Augusta National, aiming for a milestone no other golfer has ever achieved: four professional Grand Slam triumphs in a row.
November new release books
The Basketball 100
by The Athletic - David Aldridge - John Hollinger - Charles Barkley
A celebration of basketball by way of the 100 greatest players to ever grace the court in the history of the NBA--from The Athletic's foremost basketball writers and analysts the game has to offer. With a foreword by Charles Barkley.
Over the course of 100 luminous player profiles, the best sports newsroom on the planet paints vivid portraits of the game's most compelling characters. There's George Mikan, who was cut from his high school team because he wore glasses, then went on to become the fledgling NBA's first transcendent star. Gary Payton, called "The Glove" for his skintight defense, who talked as much trash to his teammates as he did to his opponents on the court. Dennis Rodman, who started playing basketball at age 20, and in a few short years went from working as a janitor at the airport to being one of the strangest superstars that sport has ever known. Allen Iverson, who drew inspiration from hip hop for his inimitable style and swagger, on and off the court. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was so dominant in the paint that they changed the rules--and Steph Curry, who was so dominant outside it that he seemed to expand the very boundaries of the court.
Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the Show That Kicked Its Way Into Our Hearts
by Jeremy Egner
From The New York Times's Jeremy Egner, the definitive book on Ted Lasso.
When Ted Lasso first aired in 2020, nobody--including those who had worked on it--knew how a show inspired by an ad, centered around soccer, filled mostly with unknown actors, and led by a wondrously mustachioed "nice guy" would be received. Eleven Emmys and one Peabody Award later, it's safe to say that the show's status as a pop-culture phenomenon is secure.
Comfort in Darkness: The Invisible Power of Jiu Jitsu
by Rickson Gracie - Peter Maguire
A masterwork about the art of combat and the invisible powers within us all from Rickson Gracie, the world's greatest Jiu Jitsu fighter and New York Times bestselling author of Breathe
A mythic figure in fighting and a legendary member of the "first family of martial arts," Rickson Gracie is considered the godfather of what we recognize today as Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Although Rickson's three decades of total dominance in Jiu Jitsu is astounding, even more astounding is the serenity and spiritual depth of his approach to combat.
For Rickson, Jiu Jitsu is a metaphor for life. Some consider Jiu Jitsu a martial art, others consider it a sport, but to Gracie, it is a philosophical system he uses to face and evaluate life's challenges and maintain happiness and mental balance.
To the Limit: The Meaning of Endurance from Mexico to the Himalayas
by Michael Crawley
'A fascinating and multilayered exploration of what it means to endure'
Alex Hutchinson, author of Endure
The author of Out of Thin Air, winner of the Margaret Mead Award 2022, journeys through different cultures to find out the meaning of endurance.
So many of us are embracing endurance sports - whether it is running an ultra-marathon, taking on long-distance cycling events or even climbing Mount Everest. But what is it that makes us voluntarily do exhausting things? When we lace up our running shoes or jump on our bike, are we embracing freedom, or are we simply reproducing ideas about productivity and competition from the world of work? And what kinds of broader social and spiritual significance does endurance have indifferent parts of the world?
The White Ladder: Triumph and Tragedy at the Dawn of Mountaineering
by Daniel Light
Whether in the name of conquest, science, or the divine, humans across the centuries have had myriad reasons to climb mountains. From the smoking volcanoes of South America to the great snowy ranges of the Himalaya, The White Ladder follows a cast of extraordinary characters--conquistadors and captains, scientists and surveyors, alpinists and adventurers--up the slopes of the world's highest peaks.
A masterpiece of edge-of-your-seat narrative history, The White Ladder describes the epic rise of mountaineering's world altitude record, a story of ever higher climbs by figures great and small of mountaineering during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
October New Release Books
All the Smoke: All the Stars, All the Stories, No Apologies
by Matt Barnes - Stephen Jackson
An in-depth and fresh celebration of the award-winning, "unapologetic, authentic, and at times unfiltered" (The Sacramento Bee) sports podcast All the Smoke hosted by NBA champions Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, featuring exclusive photographs and more never-before-seen material.
For over two hundred critically acclaimed episodes, famously outspoken and controversial NBA icons Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson have comprehensively explored the lives and most pressing issues facing today's basketball players both on and off the court. Now, the two dive deeper into the "riveting, absurdly profane, and often unexpectedly poignant" (Slate) podcast.
From taking us behind the scenes of their greatest moments to eye-opening insights from their interviews with legends such as Shaquille O'Neal, Stephen Curry, Snoop Dogg, and more, All the Smoke is a fascinating, sharp, and essential read for new and longtime fans.
Why Is Everything: A Story of Football, Rivalry, and Revolution
by Michael Silver
When Kyle Shanahan became the NFL's youngest offensive coordinator in 2008, he had one prevailing rule: Tell me the why. If a colleague couldn't justify his position by providing the unassailable reasoning behind it, he was told to get the hell out of Shanahan's office. Shanahan and the members of his coaching tree--including Sean McVay, Mike McDaniel, Raheem Morris, and Matt LaFleur--came up in a sport where innovation was the exception, not the rule. There had been brilliant football minds before, from Paul Brown to Bill Walsh to Bill Belichick. But for the most part, coaches learned a particular system and stuck to it no matter what--no matter the players on their team, no matter what the opponent might do.
Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up the World of Sports
by Mark Jacob - Matthew Jacob - Mannie Jackson
Read the captivating biography of Abe Saperstein, originator of the Harlem Globetrotters, which is called "meticulously researched and written in an easy and entertaining style" by Booklist in a starred review.
The original Harlem Globetrotters weren't from Harlem, and they didn't start out as globetrotters. The talented all-Black team, started by Jewish immigrant Abe Saperstein, was from Chicago's South Side and toured the Midwest in Saperstein's model-T. But with Saperstein's savvy and the players' skills, the Globetrotters would become a worldwide sensation.
Globetrotter: How Abe Saperstein Shook Up the World of Sports is the fascinating biography of Saperstein, a five-foot-three promoter who made an amazing impact in a sport where height is at a premium: basketball. After Saperstein founded the team in the 1920s, they battled everything from blizzards to bigotry, steadily building a reputation for talent and comedy until their footprint covered the entire world.