What Sport Tells Us About Life - Hardcover

Smith, Ed

3.64

229 ratings by Goodreads

9780670917228: What Sport Tells Us About Life

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670917222 ISBN 13: 9780670917228

Publisher: Viking, 2008

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There is a huge category of sports fan: people who love a bloody good argument. Sport makes them think, engage and argue. Given that people already take sport so very seriously, and at such an intense level of enquiry, then Ed Smith concludes we should draw out some of sport's intellectual lessons and practical uses

What Sport Teaches Us About Life gives us a rare glimpse into the world of sport as seen from an extraordinarily keen, and closely-involved observer. In one chapter Smith extols the virtues of amateurism in today's professional world; in another he explains why there'll never be another sportsman as dominant as Don Bradman. He unearths the hidden dimensions of England's 2005 Ashes win, examines the impact of the free market on cricket and football, argues that cheating is not always as clear cut as it might seem.

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Review:

Praise for On and Off the Field

'A small masterpiece of tensions ... uncannily close to the meaning of sport' Simon Barnes, The Times

'Terrific, exactly the kind of book you want from a professional sportsman but you never get: self-analytical, wry, and honest' Nick Hornby, Believer

'The insights in his writing are acute. It's not common to have someone who writes intelligently and honestly about sport from the inside' Independent on Sunday

'Explains what it's like to play sport for a living - the joy it can bring to others and the deep soul-searching it can cause in oneself' Time Out

'Fascinating. Smith skilfully articulates what goes on in a batsman's head' Spectator

About the Author:

Ed Smith read History at Peterhouse, Cambridge. When still at Cambridge he made his debut for Kent, and played three times for England. He now captains Middlesex. He is the author of On and Off the Field. Praise for On and Off the Field:

'Terrific, exactly the kind of book you want from a professional sportsman but you never get: self-analytical, wry and honest' Nick Hornby, Believer

'The insights in his writing are acute. It's not common to have someone who writes intelligently and honestly about sport from the inside' Independent on Sunday

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