Hut one! hut two! Set, Hike!
Whether you're chasing a new personal best or reliving iconic sports moments, Game Day Heroes know that greatness happens both on and off the field. At Bookfinity, we celebrate your competitive spirit and love for stories that inspire, motivate, and capture the thrill of the game.
This fall, score big with new sports and outdoor reads that bring grit, determination, and heart to every page. From legendary biographies and behind-the-scenes memoirs to underdog victories and fitness-focused inspiration, these picks are perfect for your next rest day—or your next win.
November New Releases
Little Woodchucks: Offerman Woodshop's Guide to Tools and Tomfoolery
by Nick Offerman - Lee Buchanan
*Instant New York Times Bestseller!*
From New York Times bestselling author, Emmy-winning actor, and charismatically carnivorous woodworker Nick Offerman and his fellow champion creator Lee Buchanan (who is also not averse to delicious meats), an illustrated woodworking guide with projects for the whole family
Are you a parent or an otherwise amply sized Woodchuck interested in making projects with, or for, your kids? Or are you an aspiring small Woodchuck ready to get into some quality mischief that involves a hammer, nails, and your very own pocketknife? Well, do we have a guide for you!
Offerman Woodshop is opening its avuncular doors to woodworkers of all ages in the form of twelve brand-new, family-friendly undertakings perfect for kids, from beginner offerings like a handmade box kite to more challenging structures like a garden planter.
All projects are achievable and fun and encourage eye contact, giggles, handshakes, and other old-fashioned familial engagements, while introducing young woodworkers-to-be to the satisfaction and good clean fun of hands-on crafting.
Look Again: Recognize Your Worth. Renew Your Hope. Run with Confidence.
by Tim Tebow - A J Gregory
Every one of us is infinitely valuable to God. What would it mean to live that way?
New York Times bestselling author Tim Tebow shares a dynamic message on identity, meaning, and purpose. Highlighting his work with some of the world's most vulnerable populations, Tebow unlocks a powerful truth: Everything changes when we learn to see the image of God in every human; ourselves, our neighbors, and even our enemies. With powerful personal stories and profound spiritual principles, Tebow gives readers the tools and inspiration they need to impact their homes, neighborhoods, communities, and culture for good.
In Look Again, Tebow inspires you to
- stand up to the lies and fight for the truth,
- see everything and everyone differently, including yourself, and
- joyfully rediscover the infinite worth of every person in the world, including people society rejects.
"God has done something incredible for you...Not because everything in your life is perfect, but because you know the One who holds your future. And when you know how deeply you're loved, you can step forward boldly, even when the odds are stacked against you."
--Tim Tebow
Mamba & Mambacita Forever
by Vanessa Bryant
A beautiful and moving testament to the enduring life of Kobe Bryant and the Mamba Mentality.
When Kobe and Gianna Bryant died, tragically and unexpectedly, in 2020, the world mourned with a wholehearted ferocity. In perhaps the largest and most intense outpouring of public art the world has ever seen, murals went up on seemingly every available wall in Los Angeles and around the globe. The paintings were both professional and amateur, some public and some private, many of them colossal. All of them expressed love and respect for Kobe and Gianna Bryant as athletes, as a father and daughter, as heroes who will not be forgotten.
In Mamba & Mambacita Forever, Vanessa Bryant brings together the images and stories of more than a hundred murals honoring her husband and daughter. Taken together, what emerges is the story of a man who became even more than he himself could have imagined, an avatar of determination, discipline, and competitiveness. He was also a worldwide icon, one of the greatest athletes of our time, a man committed to his family and to fatherhood. Kobe was a figure of transformation and hope.
Mamba & Mambacita Forever ensures that the legacy of Kobe and Gianna Bryant will live on even after the most monumental murals themselves have all crumbled.
Texas BBQ: The Art of Low and Slow
by Veronica Meewes
Sink your teeth into the ultimate celebration of Texas barbecue--a captivating collection of essays, stunning photography and rich storytelling that brings this legendary culinary tradition to life. Whether you're a seasoned pitmaster, a backyard brisket aficionado or a smoke-chasing barbecue pilgrim, this keepsake coffee table book will be a standout centerpiece for your own collection-- or an excellent gift.
Texas BBQ: The Art of Low and Slow takes you deep in the heart of Texas barbecue through in-depth profiles and striking images. Whether it's Houston, Dallas, or Austin travel across the Lone Star State to meet the pitmasters, Explore the tools and learn the time-honored techniques that define this beloved craft. Every page is steeped in the flavors, culture and spirit of Texas barbecue--from Texan small-town gems to big-city smokehouses.
Inside you'll discover:
- Profiles of 75+ notable barbecue spots across the state
- Vibrant photography showcasing the people behind the pits--and the meats of their labor
- Essays exploring the history, techniques and cultural impact of Texas barbecue
- Interviews with leading Texas barbecue influencers and tastemakers
This book makes a great holiday gift for:
- Fathers, grandfathers, and other family members
- Southern or Southwestern cuisine enthusiasts
- Chefs, home chefs, bbq lovers and grillers
This book is a feast for the senses--and a heartfelt tribute to the people, places and passion that make Texas barbecue truly unforgettable.
The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports
by Nicholas Thompson
A profound meditation on what running can teach us about our limits and our lives by a record-setting distance runner who is now the CEO of The Atlantic.
"This is not just an engaging memoir about running. It's a meditation on what it takes to marshal and maintain motivation."--ADAM GRANT, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Potential and Think Again
"Endlessly surprising, revelatory, and heart-rending."--ANNA WINTOUR
For Nicholas Thompson, running has always been about something more than putting one foot in front of another. He ran his first mile at age five, using it as a way to connect with his father as his family fell apart. As a young man, it was a sport that transformed, and then shook, his sense of self-worth. In his 30s, it was a way of coping with a profound medical scare.
By his early 40s, Thompson had many accomplishments. He was the Editor in Chief of a major magazine; a devoted husband and father; and a passionate runner. But he was haunted by the recent death of his brilliant, complicated father and the crack-up that derailed his father's life. Had the intensity and ambition he'd inherited made a personal crisis inevitable for him as well?
Then a chance offer gave him the opportunity to train for the Chicago Marathon with elite coaches. Giving himself over to the sport more fully than ever before, he discovered that aging didn't necessarily put you on an unbroken trajectory of decline. For seven years after his father died, Thompson transforms his body to perform at its highest capacity, and the profound discipline and awareness he builds along the way changes every aspect of his life. Throughout the narrative, he weaves in stories of remarkable men and women who have used the sport to transcend some of the hardest moments in life.
The Running Ground is a story about fathers, sons, and the most basic and most beautiful of sports.
The Way Out: A True Story of Survival in the Heart of the Rockies
by Devon O'Neil
"On par with Into the Wild... Fast-paced, yet thoughtful and empathetic, all the way to its devastating conclusion, this psychological thriller will haunt me whenever I step off the pavement into the woods. I couldn't stop reading it, and I can't stop thinking about it." -- Bill Gifford, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Outlive
A harrowing, never-before-told story of life and death in the Colorado mountains--thirty hours that changed lives forever and forced a reckoning about the cost of adventure.
"You wanna ski a lap?"
Fifteen-year-old Cole Walters-Schaler couldn't resist. This was why they'd come to the backcountry, after all--three fathers and four teenage children together for a bonding alpine getaway outside Salida, Colorado, in January 2017.
Within minutes, Cole and Brett Beasley, a longtime Forest Service ranger and expert outdoorsman in his mid-forties, had pushed off from their cabin, expecting to be gone for a half hour or so. But an unforgiving blizzard transformed their quick jaunt into a thirty-hour ordeal that would end in tragedy, as the community raced to find them.
The Way Out is the story of those ensuing hours and their aftermath--an almost unbelievable event that shook a tight-knit mountain community and raised difficult questions about life and death, guilt and redemption, and the pursuit of adventure. Why, when we know that the wilderness can kill, can't we stay away? When the unthinkable happens, how does a community forgive the survivors? And how do the survivors forgive themselves?
Drawing on firsthand interviews with those closest to the tragedy, including the key eyewitness, and written with the gripping intensity of classics such as Into Thin Air and Touching the Void, O'Neil recreates that fateful day. The Way Out is a thoughtful investigation of the allure of the mountains and the aftermath of trauma, and an unforgettable look at life at its very edge.
The Way Out includes 12 black-and-white personal photos throughout.
October New Releases
Capturing Kahanamoku: How a Surfing Legend and a Scientific Obsession Redefined Race and Culture
by Michael Rossi
The fascinating untold story of one scientist's pursuit of a legendary surfer in his quest to define human nature, written with the compelling drama and narrative insight of Why Fish Don't Exist and The Lost City of Z.
Deep in the archives of New York's American Museum of Natural History sits a wardrobe filled with fifty plaster casts of human heads a century old. How they came to be is the story of one of the most consequential, and yet least-known, encounters in the history of science.
In 1920, the museum's director Henry Fairfield Osborn traveled to Hawaii on an anthropological research trip. While there, he took a surfing lesson. His teacher was Duke Kahanamoku, a famous surf-rider and budding movie star. For Osborn, a fervent eugenicist, the tall, muscular Kahanamoku embodied the "pure racial type" he was desperate to understand and, more significantly, preserve, in the human race.
Upon his return to New York, Osborn's fixation grew. He dispatched young scientist Louis Sullivan to Honolulu to measure, photograph, and cast in plaster Kahanamoku and other Hawaiian people. The study touched off a series of events that forever changed how we think about race, culture, science, and the essence of humanity.
In Capturing Kahanamoku, historian Michael Rossi draws on archival research and firsthand interviews to weave together a truly fascinating cultural history that is an absorbing account of obsession, a cautionary tale about the subjectivity of science, a warning of the pernicious and lasting impact of eugenics, a meditation on humanity, and the story of a man whose personhood shunned classification.
A heady blend of Barbarian Days and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Capturing Kahanamoku is a twentieth-century saga with ever-clearer implications for our times.
Capturing Kahanamoku includes 16-20 black-and-white photos throughout.
Every Day Is Sunday: How Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, and Roger Goodell Turned the NFL Into a Cultural & Economic Juggernaut
by Ken Belson
From veteran New York Times Business & NFL reporter, Ken Belson, a deeply-reported account of how the NFL's Commissioner, Roger Goodell, and its two most powerful owners, Jerry Jones & Robert Kraft, turned the league into a cultural phenomenon.
On February 11, 2024, NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, & the league's two most powerful owners, Jerry Jones & Robert Kraft, looked down at the spectacle before them. What they saw was the sport's championship game, the Super Bowl--now a de facto national holiday--being played in a shiny new $2B stadium, home to the first franchise based in Las Vegas, after the league's embrace of nationwide gambling. The moment was over 30 years in the making. As one of Goodell's colleagues said: "Roger doesn't view the other leagues as competition. He wants to be mentioned with Disney and the Vatican, these massive institutions."
In Every Day is Sunday, Ken Belson traces the evolution of the league from "one of the four US professional sports," to the superpower it is today. Belson illustrates how the league's rise coincided with the arrival of Jones & Kraft in the early 90's. He provides an inside look on how these two men reshaped the league, taking readers into the secretive owner's meeting, how they decided Goodell was the right man to place as Commissioner, and how the three built, wielded, and held on to their collective power.
Perfect for fans of The Dynasty and Big Game, Belson provides a unique peek behind the curtain of how America's favorite sport achieved its status--and how these three men let nothing stand in their way.
Expensive Basketball
by Shea Serrano
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Rap Year Book and Basketball (and Other Things), a clever and inventive examination of some of basketball's most iconic players, moments, games, and more.
Everything in basketball is measured. Everything in basketball is counted, and quantified, and computed. And yet, no matter how expansive the list of various pinpoint-specific statistical categories gets, some basketball things remain uncountable, and unquantifiable.
Some moments are more poetry than calculation; more art than numerical value; more feeling than data processing. And thus: Expensive Basketball.
From the final 196 seconds of Kobe Bryant's playing career to the Sue Bird backpedal, from the erosive terror of Tim Duncan to the Larry Bird memory carousel, Expensive Basketball is an affirmation of feelings.
It's an affirmation of basketball as virtuosity.
It's an affirmation of how sometimes you watch a person perform on the basketball court and it feels the same way it does when you lie in the grass at night and stare up at the moon for long enough that you start to think about how incredible it is that you really, truly, honestly, actually exist.
Snoop Dogg's Treats to Eat: 55 Baking Recipes--Baking with (or Without) Weed
by Snoop Dogg - Antonis Achilleos
From master "baker" Snoop Dogg comes his first baking book! Featuring 55 recipes that can be made with or without weed.
Following the success of his #1 New York Times bestseller From Crook to Cook (more than 1.5 million copies sold) and Snoop Dogg Presents: Goon with the Spoon, the infamous rapper and entertainer opens the door to Tha Boss Dogg's kitchen once again to serve up a long-awaited cannabis cookbook.
Explore Snoop's very own recipes, highlighted in full-color photos, designed to blast your taste buds and your high to new levels, like:
- Cornbread with Hot Honey Cannabutter
- Red Velvet Blundt Cake
- Fruit Gummies
- Pot Cocoa
But the sesh doesn't end there: Spice up your game day lineup with Pigs in a Blanket and Cheese Fries, Snoop style--aka, loaded with THC. Change up your movie night snacks with Hot Buttered Popcorn and a side of Puppy Chow washed down with a Loaded Milkshake (trust, your movie viewing experience will skyrocket, literally). Make Sunday brunch much more interesting by whipping up some Buttermilk Pancakes with Stoner Syrup.
Along with vivid photography and Snoop's inimitable vibe, you'll find tips and tricks for adding bud into unexpected places, like infused ice cubes for a slow-burn cocktail high or doctoring up prepackaged cake and brownie mixes with herbaceous surprises. And for the times you prefer to keep your high on the low, every recipe includes adaptations for baking without weed enhancements. The possibilities are endless.
DISPENSARY-QUALITY EDIBLES AT HOME: Learn to make properly dosed and delicious edibles in the comfort of your kitchen. Craft your own cannabutters, cannaoils, and tinctures, and use them in these 55 sweet and savory bakes to have "special" treats for all occasions.
DELICIOUS BAKES FOR ALL: Not a fan of flying? Not a problem. Easily substitute unsalted butter or vegetable oil in recipes for every baked good in the book for weed-free goodies.
SESH WITH SNOOP: Learn how Tha Boss Dogg, an authority in the weed space for over thirty years, likes to get lifted. These recipes are Snoop snacks straight from his kitchen.
CELEBRITY COOKBOOKS: If you're a fan of celebrity recipe books such as Willie & Annie Nelson's Cannabis Cookbook, Good Lookin' Cookin', Trejo's Tacos, and Cravings, any of Snoop Dogg's cookbooks are perfect for your next buy.
Perfect for:
- Fans of Snoop Dogg, Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party, and Snoop's brands, including Merry Jane, 19 Crimes, and more!
- Marijuana and CBD enthusiasts
- Bakers of all skill levels looking for the ultimate weed baking book
- Birthday, graduation, holiday, housewarming, and host or hostess gift-giving
Wisdom Takes Work: Learn. Apply. Repeat.
by Ryan Holiday
In this much-anticipated final installment in the Stoic Virtues series, Ryan Holiday makes the case for the virtue on which all other virtues depend.
Of all the stoic virtues - courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom - wisdom is the most elusive. This is especially apparent in an age where reaction and idle chatter are rewarded, and restraint and thoughtfulness are unfashionable. The great statesman and philosophers of the past would not be fooled, as we are, by headlines or appearances or the primal pull of tribalism. They knew too much of history, of their own flaws, of the need for collaboration to do any of that. That's wisdom - and we need it more than ever.
Wisdom is Ryan Holiday's guiding principle, and Wisdom Takes Work is the culmination of all his work. Drawing on fascinating stories of the ancient and modern figures alike, Holiday shows how to cultivate wisdom through reading, self-education, and experience. Through the lives of Montaigne, Seneca, Joan Didion, Abraham Lincoln, and others, Holiday teaches us how to listen more than we talk, to think with nuance, to ruthlessly question our own beliefs, and to develop a method of self-education. He argues convincingly for the necessity of mental struggle and warns against taking shortcuts that deprive us of real knowledge. And he shows us how dangerous power and intelligence can be without the tempering influence of wisdom.
An absence of curiosity and prudence is a catastrophe for all of us, argues Ryan Holiday. This incredibly timely book both diagnoses the greatest problem of our current moment and offers solutions for the way forward. Wisdom is work - but it's worth it.
September new releases
Brady vs. Belichick: The Dynasty Debate
by Gary Myers
A unique and unparalleled look into the nature and relationship of two of the pillars in the NFL's greatest dynasty.
The greatest dynasty in NFL history stood on two pillars - Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Together they forged a working relationship that provided thrilling results that would change the NFL forever.
But what was the nature of that relationship? How did it function? How and when did it falter? How did these two figures come together on a national - and global - stage and create the most dominant team in NFL history? Was it driver and passenger? Mentor and mentee? Superstar and mad scientist? Phenom and tactician? Or were they equals? The Yin and Yang that made the New England Patriots championships possible? It is the greatest unanswered question in NFL history that sparks animated debate across the league, and the answer is more complex and more fraught than anyone really understands.
Brady vs. Belichick: Who deserves the credit for nine Super Bowl appearances and six Super Bowl championships?
Veteran NFL insider and New York Times bestselling author Gary Myers draws on his unique and unparalleled access to Belichick and Brady over the course of the two decades, but also to the myriad players, coaches, personnel and family, to get to the bottom of this argument and resolve it once and for all. He drills into the numbers, analyzes the psychology and sociology of this partnership, and use the powerful wand of perspective and context to illuminate the greatest duo that has ever graced the game.
Champion: A Graphic Novel
by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Raymond Obstfeld - Ed Laroche
A high school student whose promising basketball career is in jeopardy discovers the triumphs and hardships of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's life as a social justice advocate in this stunningly illustrated graphic novel.
Monk Travers is the star basketball player on his high school team. Confident about his future as an NBA player, he doesn't see the point in caring much about school, let alone his community. But his world is about to change--big time!
After getting caught graffitiing his team's rival school, Monk comes to the awful realization that his actions have put his place on the team--and his future--in jeopardy. Fearing the worst, he's taken by surprise when his coach offers him an unorthodox way to atone: completing a report on the life of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Monk is ecstatic. He knows all Kareem's records and stats. He smugly announces that the project will be a snap, but his excitement is short-lived when coach tells him that the project is not about Kareem's basketball career--it's about his life as an advocate for change.
As Monk grudgingly begins his research, he discovers a history of struggles, conflicts, frustrations, and violence that he'd never been aware of, awakening a passion for social justice that rivals Kareem's own.
It Doesn't Have to Hurt: Your Smart Guide to a Pain-Free Life
by Sanjay Gupta
Transform your everyday life by reducing and eliminating chronic pain with the latest science-backed pain relief techniques and expert practical advice from America's bestselling doctor and neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta.
Are you one of the 52 million people who experience chronic pain in your day-to-day life? In It Doesn't Have to Hurt, Sanjay Gupta makes the empowering argument that there are effective options for relief that you can start practicing today to greatly reduce your chances of suffering pain tomorrow.
The significance of reducing and even eliminating pain cannot be overstated. Gupta shows how pain carries an enormous amount of physical, social, and emotional baggage, which is, in part, why it has been so hard to treat, and too often ignored. It can also present in infinite ways. Yet both patients and practitioners labor under the mistaken idea that most pain problems can be fixed with a drug or procedure. It turns out we have tremendous agency in choosing how we'll respond. The brain "creates" pain, but it also has the capacity to reduce or even eliminate it. There is more evidence than ever about the benefits of sleep, diet and nutrition, mindfulness-based pain management (MBPM), myofascial and other hands-on treatments, as well as yoga, specialized psychotherapies, and even social "prescriptions"--prompting more doctors than ever to focus on these solutions.
Gupta runs the gamut of conventional and complementary approaches, including the technique known as Mobilization Exercise Analgesia Treatment, foam rolling, acupuncture, trigger point injections, and vital "prehabilitation" before any operation. He shares how to make sense of all those over-the-counter pills, patches, and pain products, as well as drugs advertised on television or prescribed by your doctors. He covers psychedelics, supplements, and CBD. And he highlights insights from some of the nation's leading pain scientists and specialists, plus stories of challenge and triumph over pain by those with lived experience.
Gupta sorts through them all with his pain-smart guide to a pain-smart life.
With expert guidance and a wealth of science-backed strategies, It Doesn't Have to Hurt is your ultimate resource for reclaiming your life from chronic pain and unlocking a future of lasting relief--starting today.
Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy
by Mary Roach
The body is the most complex machine in the world, and the only one for which you cannot get a replacement part from the manufacturer. For centuries, medicine has reached for what's available--sculpting noses from brass, borrowing skin from frogs and hearts from pigs, crafting eye parts from jet canopies and breasts from petroleum by-products. Today we're attempting to grow body parts from scratch using stem cells and 3D printers. How are we doing? Are we there yet?
In Replaceable You, Mary Roach explores the remarkable advances and difficult questions prompted by the human body's failings. When and how does a person decide they'd be better off with a prosthetic than their existing limb? Can a donated heart be made to beat forever? Can an intestine provide a workable substitute for a vagina?
Roach dives in with her characteristic verve and infectious wit. Her travels take her to the OR at a legendary burn unit in Boston, a "superclean" xeno-pigsty in China, and a stem cell "hair nursery" in the San Diego tech hub. She talks with researchers and surgeons, amputees and ostomates, printers of kidneys and designers of wearable organs. She spends time in a working iron lung from the 1950s, stays up all night with recovery techs as they disassemble and reassemble a tissue donor, and travels across Mongolia with the cataract surgeons of Orbis International.
Irrepressible and accessible, Replaceable You immerses readers in the wondrous, improbable, and surreal quest to build a new you.
Dirtbag Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia, Made a Fortune, and Gave It All Away
by David Gelles
New York Times reporter and bestselling author David Gelles reveals how Patagonia became a global leader in doing well by doing good and how other companies are adopting its principles.
This is the inside story of one of the most extraordinary brands in the corporate world, the rare company that is driven by environmental activism instead of cutthroat capitalism. Founded in 1973, Patagonia has grown into a wildly popular producer of jackets, hats, and fleece vests, with a cultlike following among hardcore alpinists and Wall Street traders alike, posting sales of more than $1 billion a year.
But it's not just the clothes that make Patagonia unique. For decades, the company has distinguished itself as a singular beacon for socially responsible business, the rare company that can legitimately claim to be doing its damnedest to make the world a better place, while also making a profit. From its early efforts to take exemplary care of its employees, to its extensive work trying to clean up its supply chain, to its controversial activism, Patagonia has set itself apart from its peers with one unorthodox decision after another, proving that there is another way to do capitalism.
At the heart of the story is Patagonia's founder, the legendary rock climber Yvon Chouinard. A perennial outsider who forged one of the most impressive resumes in the outdoor world, Chouinard also established himself as a pivotal figure in the history of American business. Guided by his anti-authoritarian streak and his unwavering commitment to preserving the natural world, Patagonia came to exert a powerful influence on other companies, paving the way for a new era of social and environmental responsibility. He started out as a dirtbag--a term affectionately bestowed on poor, itinerant outdoorsmen so uninterested in material possessions they are happy to sleep in the dirt--and he became a billionaire.
Chouinard also proved that there was another way to be a philanthropist. In the twilight of his career, he gave away Patagonia, renouncing his wealth and committing all its future profits to fighting the climate crisis.
Drawing on exclusive access to Chouinard and the Patagonia team, Dirtbag Billionaire offers new insights into the key moments that informed their priorities, shaped the company, and sent ripples across the corporate world.