Sport

The indispensable pocket guide to the cricket season. The 78th edition of the Playfair Cricket Annual is packed with all the information you need to follow the cricket season in 2024, as well as a review of events during the previous twelve months. Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Australia will all be touring England this coming summer, and here you'll find comprehensive Test match and limited-overs records and career records to help you follow the action. County cricket is covered in unrivalled depth, with biographies of all players registered to the counties at the start of the season, full coverage of last summer's events and a fixture list for all major domestic matches in 2024. There are also sections on women's cricket and the major domestic T20 competitions from around the world, including The Hundred. For any cricket fan, the season is never complete without a copy of Playfair to guide you through it all.

A slow, low-carbon journey by bike through Europe's western fringes in search of perfect waves and the soul of surfing.

In The 50 Greatest Players in Detroit Lions History, sports historian Robert W. Cohen ranks the top 50 players ever to perform for one of the National Football League's most historic franchises.

First published in 1988 as West Country Cruising, Mark Fishwick's definitive sailing guide for the ever attractive coastline of Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly combines a skilful blend of pilotage and cruising information, enhanced with full colour photography, including many additional aerial views, and a wealth of absorbing local history and general interest. More than one satisfied reader has aptly described the book as "e;the perfect on-board companion"e;, now reflected in this enlarged eighth edition. For those who plan to head west, this book is more than essential reading - it will enhance your own enjoyment and prove to be a worthy and much used addition to the ship's library.

One of the most surprising footballstories you will ever read: the life of George Robledo, the forgotten foreigngenius of English football.

Through the exploration of incredible physical feats—some well-known and some only passed around watering holes and campfires—endurance athlete and journalist Shannon Hogan takes us into the world of those who have pushed themselves through the “unforgiving hours” to achieve greatness and redefine modern outdoor adventuring.From the frozen wilds of Alaska’s treacherous trails to the unyielding currents of Puget Sound and Canada’s Inside Passage, from the rugged majesty of Colorado’s peaks to the vibrant depths of Costa Rica’s rainforests, Hogan offers us an intimate window into the toughest contests in sports. Whether it’s a blistering race across the furnace trails of gold country in the Sierra Nevadas, a grueling swim in frigid water to break the Ice Mile Distance record, or a competition on the biggest triathlon stage with a determination beyond perceived limitations, each journey reveals the resilience and humor it takes to face the unknown with only the guarantee of discomfort ahead. These stories of ordinary women and men who kept going even when things went wrong, especially when the weather and tides did not cooperate, attest to the drive, grit, and patience that exists in all of us. Through exhaustion, setbacks, and moments of darkness and doubt, these athletes prove that greatness isn’t about perfection—it’s about perseverance. Their triumphs, large and small, are a testament to the power of adaptability, passion, and the sheer will to keep going, one breath, one step, one stroke, and one mile at a time. In the pages of The Unforgiving Hours, you will read the stories of: Gunhild Swanson running the Western States 100 Endurance Run five days shy of her seventy-first birthday Kelly Danielson and team Sail Like a Girl, the first all-female sailing team to win the Race to Alaska Gordon Wadsworth racing the hardest mountain bike race in the world while opting for only one bike gear Lynne Cox breaking the record for swimming across the English Channel at age 15 Yuichiro Hidaka dreaming of eating potato chips while running the Boston Double for the fourth time Seana Hogan, the current cycling transcontinental female record holder (set at age 35) fighting the race clock and Father Time to finish Race Across America at age 60 John Stamstad voyaging to Alaska for an all-night February bike race in the bush of the Last Frontier Melissa Kegler training for two years to break the American Ice Mile Distance record in 39.2ºF water Chris Jones embarking on The Last Great Race—six 100-mile ultramarathons to be completed over the course of one summer And Tina Ament, along with Anne Thilges, crossing the finish line at 16 hours, 18 minutes, and 5 seconds to establish one of the most inspiring records in endurance sports. Blending top-notch sports writing, armchair adventure and travel, and an insightful thesis on the human spirit, The Unforgiving Hours is an indelible chronicle of odysseys that showcase the determination, creativity, joy, strength, and inspiration at the heart of endurance sports.

This book represents the culmination of a two-decade effort to describe, define and measure 'quality physical education' (QPE). Presenting in-depth research and analysis from 24 countries across five continents, it offers a truly comparative analysis that shines important new light on policy and practice in contemporary physical education.

Over 90 artists' depictions of boxing, from Vito Acconci to Carrie Mae WeemsThis book documents an expansive, traveling group exhibition centered on the sport, psychology, ethos and spectacle of boxing. Artists have often gravitated toward the "sweet science" as a subject, and have investigated the boxer as an icon and metaphor for excellence, physical power, perseverance, achievement and perhaps humanity itself, representing its wins and losses, regiment and fluidity, violence and artistry. Given the wealth of depictions of boxers throughout art history, this book explores the sport as inspiration with objects and works by more than 90 artists, ranging in time from ancient to contemporary, and spanning the media of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, and film. The book is fully illustrated with an extensive plate section, and features new texts by artist and Founder of the Church, Eric Fischl, as well as Sara Cochran, Jonathan Rider, Arden Sherman and Robert Lipsyte. Featured artists include: Muhammad Ali, Benny Andrews, Diane Arbus, Jean-Michel Basquiat, George Bellows, Judy Chicago, Rosalyn Drexler, Fab 5 Freddy, Eric Fischl, Chase Hall, Lyle Ashton Harris, Edward Hopper, Rashid Johnson, Martin Kippenberger, Justine Kurland, Glenn Ligon, Robert Mapplethorpe, Christian Marclay, Howardena Pindell, Ed Ruscha, Alison Saar, Andres Serrano, Carrie Mae Weems. This book was published in conjunction with The FLAG Art Foundation, New York; The Church, Sag Harbor; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach

A stunning photographic portrait of cricket featuring behind the scenes shots and portraits of the many greats of cricket across the world.

Discover the joy of mindful walking and hiking, cultivate deep connection with the world around you, and ultimately embrace the path of happiness as a way of lifeA mobile monastery to stick in your pack whenever you go out on the trail, this book by veteran hikers and Buddhist monks Phap Luu and Phap Xa offers mindfulness practices to explore as you walk to generate inner and outer peace. Grounded in the rich traditions of Zen practice, this book invites you to experience the fundamental connection between humans and the natural world.  Hiking Zen offers:concrete mindfulness practices to explore outside for peace, joy, and belongingactionable steps to weave mindful walking into the fabric of daily life nuggets of wisdom gleaned from leading multi-week mindful hiking retreatspersonal narratives of the monastic path insight into how connection with nature supports resiliency and collective and personal health and well-being

An updated edition of the popular RSPB guide to interpreting the signs that animals leave behind.