Taking on the World - Softcover

MacArthur, Ellen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141006978 ISBN 13: 9780141006970

Publisher: Penguin, 2003

Synopsis

When Ellen finished the Vendee Globe, yachting's toughest race aged just 24 the nation took her to it's heart. The depth of the affection for Ellen is extraordinary - she makes people feel like they can do anything!

This is her story, written intrue Ellen style, in her own words, without the help of a ghost writer.

Passionate, dramatic and and deeply affecting, her story will move and inspire all who read it.

About this title

Review:

When Ellen MacArthur became the youngest person ever to complete yachting's most gruelling race, the Vendée Globe, she also assured herself of a place in sporting history as the fastest woman ever to circumnavigate the globe. As the world watched the images of her disasters and triumphs aboard her boat, MacArthur swiftly entered that pantheon of sportsmen and women whose emotional life we came to share over and above their achievements in their chosen field. We strove against the elements with her, we suffered with her when disaster loomed--and, finally, we could all take vicarious pleasure in her ultimate triumph.

This autobiography proves to have been more than worth the wait. The insights we are granted here into just what MacArthur went through genuinely tug at the heart--and never in any sentimental or manipulative way. Her very air of "ordinariness" (no film-star looks, no breast-beating egomania as in all too many sports personalities) was refreshing, but it's that monumental endurance and skill she demonstrated on her epic voyage that commands our admiration. The earlier sections of the book, detailing her childhood in Derbyshire (quite some distance from the sea) may have us impatient for her great ocean adventure, but they're skilfully and affectingly written. And when she begins her preparations for the Vendée Globe, we take a deep breath, knowing that we'll experience all the arduous adventure and danger that is facing her.

Some may argue that autobiographies are being written by younger and younger authors, with their lives still ahead of them. But surely (in this case) the timing is perfect. --Barry Forshaw

Synopsis:

In February 2001 24-year-old Ellen MacArthur completed the Vendee Globe, the world's toughest race. As the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe singlehanded and as the fastest woman to ever have done so, her achievement was remarkable. But how had a young woman from landlocked Derbyshire come to find a new home among the waves? In "Taking on the World" Ellen tells her story, from saving pennies to buy her first boat through sailing round Britain as a teenager, to sailing the Vendee Globe itself. Enthralling and inspiring in equal measure, it shows how courage, passion and determination can overcome all obstacles - and how one young woman made her dreams come true.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0141006978
• ISBN 13: 9780141006970
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448