My pandemic reading list

[trackstar]

When the pandemic hit and I suddenly had more time for reading, I suddenly had the urge to really dive into track & field history books. I read some other stuff too, but lots of track. Since all this mess started I have plowed through:

• Running to the Top, Arthur Lydiard
• Arthur Lydiard, Master Coach, Garth Gilmour
• Why Die? The Extraordinary Percy Cerutty, Graem Sims
• The Marathoners, Hal Higdon
• The 100 Greatest Track & Field Battles of the 20th Century, Jeff Hollobaugh
• No Bugles, No Drums, Peter Snell and Garth Gilmour
• The Golden Mile, Herb Elliott
• And I'm currently enjoying The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb (don't tell me how it ends, I'm anxious to see whether one of those nice gentlemen broke 4 minutes. 😉)

What should be next on my list?

[Django]

Staying the Course, Ron Delaney
The First Four Minutes, Roger Bannister

[gm]

My Race Be Won by Vince Matthews (if you can find it!)

[bad hammy]

Decathlon Challenge: Bruce Jenner's Story by Bruce Jenner & Phillip Finch

[Atticus]

Since I have a bit of an obsession with the 1968 USA team my favorites were:

The Wizard of Foz - about Fosbury's rise to fame
The Track in the Forest - about the 1968 Echo Summit Trials

[trackstar]

Thanks for the tips. I'm planning to read Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World by David Maraniss.

I have discovered that A Clean Pair of Heels: The Murray Halberg Story by Garth Gilmour is damned hard to get unless I want to have it shipped from New Zealand. The shipping would actually cost more than the book itself!

[bad hammy]

The Track in the Forest - about the 1968 Echo Summit Trials

Two bad hammy thumbs up, more if I had more thumbs.

[noone]

And I'm currently enjoying The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb (don't tell me how it ends, I'm anxious to see whether one of those nice gentlemen broke 4 minutes. 😉)[/LIST]What should be next on my list?

That has to be the most annoying book I've ever read. It is hard to decide if it's more boring than pretentious, or the other way around.
Have you read Jump, by Debbie Brill?

[JMysterio]

Since I have a bit of an obsession with the 1968 USA team my favorites were:

The Wizard of Foz - about Fosbury's rise to fame
The Track in the Forest - about the 1968 Echo Summit Trials

Well, Mr. Sparticuss you have good reason to be obsessed with that team. By my research it was the greatest track team ever.

[Halfmiler2]

My Race Be Won by Vince Matthews (if you can find it!)

You can get a used copy on Amazon for only $175.00 !

[Steele]

I bought My Race Be Won back in the late 70s or early 80s, can't remember which. Might still have it around in the garage. I liked it, no earth shattering revelations, but an honest look at an athlete from that era.

[Atticus]

Well, Mr. Sparticuss you have good reason to be obsessed with that team. By my research it was the greatest track team ever.

And with my interest re-sparked, I just bought ($15, mint condition) and am reading, The Randy Matson Story (1971). Good stuff, earnestly written by a Texas newspaper journalist.

[noone]

And with my interest re-sparked, I just bought ($15, mint condition) and am reading, The Randy Matson Story (1971). Good stuff, earnestly written by a Texas newspaper journalist.

Agreed! I got my son, then about 12, to read it for a book report he had to write. It made him into a lifelong devoted athletics fan.

[bad hammy]

Agreed! I got my son, then about 12, to read it for a book report he had to write. It made him into a lifelong devoted athletics fan.

Sweet!

[midwestfan]

Here are some new and old books I have collected that are great stories of coaches and athletes:
The Inside Track by Tom Courtney (short read in 1-2 days)
The Greatest Athlete..You've Never Heard Of (bio of George Orton) by Mark Hebscher
The Legend of Lovelock by Norman Harris
The Jim Ryun Story by Cordner Nelson
Beer and Brine, The Making of Walter George by Rob Hadgraft

If you like baseball stories I am just reading "Gordie Gillespie: Coach the Kid at the End of the Bench" by Ray Coughlin. A true story of one of the winningest college baseball coaches in country who left his mark on so many young kids who had dreams of playing in the majors (like did at 14 years old)