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Recommendations based on Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tacticsby Jonathan Wilson
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Soccernomics
by Simon Kuper
A data-driven analysis of soccer, exploring the economics and psychology behind the world's most popular sport.
Why do England lose? Why does Scotland suck? Why doesn’t America dominate the sport internationally... and why do the Germans play with such an efficient but robotic style? These are questions every ... (Goodreads)
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
by Michael Lewis
How an unconventional approach to baseball changed the competitive landscape.
Billy Beane, general manager of MLB's Oakland A's and protagonist of Michael Lewis's Moneyball , had a problem: how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that's smaller than that of nearly every ... (Goodreads)
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
by Alex Ross
A journey through the music of the 20th century, exploring its cultural and historical context, and its impact on society and politics.
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century is a voyage into the labyrinth of modern music, which remains an obscure world for most people. While paintings of Picasso and Jackson Pollock ... (Goodreads)
Homage to Catalonia
by George Orwell
A first-hand account of the Spanish Civil War, and the political conflicts in the 1930s.
In 1936 George Orwell travelled to Spain to report on the Civil War and instead joined the fight against the Fascists. This famous account describes the war and Orwell’s own experiences. Introduction ... (Goodreads)
The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds
by Michael Lewis
A fascinating examination of the two psychologists who changed the way we view the human mind.
Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original papers that invented the field of behavioral economics. One of the greatest ... (Goodreads)
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by Michael Pollan
Exploration of the modern food chain, examining the impact of food choices on our health and the environment.
What should we have for dinner? The question has confronted us since man discovered fire, but according to Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Botany of Desire , how we answer it today, at ... (Goodreads)
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
A critical examination of the impact of randomness/chance in life and financial markets.
Fooled by Randomness, is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s landmark Incerto series, an investigation of opacity, luck, uncertainty, probability, human error, risk, and decision-making in a ... (Goodreads)
Open
by Andre Agassi
Autobiographical account of a tennis star's career, struggles, and personal growth.
From Andre Agassi, one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court, a beautiful, haunting autobiography. Agassi’s incredibly rigorous ... (Goodreads)
The Chimp Paradox: The Acclaimed Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness
by Steve Peters
A guide to understanding and managing the inner workings of the human mind, using the analogy of a chimp to explain our emotional responses.
Leading consultant psychiatrist Steve Peters knows more than anyone how impulsive behaviour or nagging self-doubt can impact negatively on our professional and personal lives. In this, his first ... (Goodreads)
Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart
by Tim Butcher
An exploration of the Congo River, tracing its past and present history.
A compulsively readable account of a journey to the Congo — a country virtually inaccessible to the outside world — vividly told by a daring and adventurous journalist. Ever since Stanley first ... (Goodreads)
The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs
by Tyler Hamilton
An expose of doping, cover-ups and unethical practices in the world of professional cycling.
The Secret Race is a definitive look at the world of professional cycling—and the doping issue surrounding this sport and its most iconic rider, Lance Armstrong—by former Olympic gold medalist Tyler ... (Goodreads)
The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media
by Walter Benjamin
Reflection on the impact of technology on art, culture and society.
Benjamin’s famous 'Work of Art' essay sets out his boldest thoughts–on media and on culture in general--in their most realized form, while retaining an edge that gets under the skin of everyone who ... (Goodreads)
How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization
by Franklin Foer
Exploring the political, economic and social ties between soccer and the world.
Soccer is much more than a game, or even a way of life. It is a perfect window into the cross-currents of today's world, with all its joys and its sorrows. In this remarkably insightful, wide-ranging ... (Goodreads)
Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety
by Eric Schlosser
An exploration of nuclear weapon safety and the risk of catastrophic accidents.
A myth-shattering exposé of America’s nuclear weapons Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America’s nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking ... (Goodreads)
A Moveable Feast
by Ernest Hemingway
A memoir of Hemingway's life in 1920s Paris, exploring its rich bohemian culture.
Hemingway's memories of his life as an unknown writer living in Paris in the twenties are deeply personal, warmly affectionate, and full of wit. Looking back not only at his own much younger self, ... (Goodreads)
A People's History of the United States
by Howard Zinn
An examination of American history from a perspective of marginalized people.
In the book, Zinn presented a different side of history from the more traditional "fundamental nationalist glorification of country". Zinn portrays a side of American history that can largely be seen ... (Goodreads)
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
by Christopher McDougall
A thrilling exploration of the Tarahumara tribe and their superhuman running abilities.
Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does ... (Goodreads)
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
by Christopher R. Browning
A study of how ordinary men became willing participants in the Holocaust, shedding light on the nature of genocide and human behavior.
Christopher R. Browning’s shocking account of how a unit of average middle-aged Germans became the cold-blooded murderers of tens of thousands of Jews—now with a new afterword and additional ... (Goodreads)
Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
by Tony Hsieh
A business leader's journey from success to significance, showing how to build a corporate culture of happiness.
You want to learn about the path that we took at Zappos to get to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales in less than ten years. You want to learn about the path I took that eventually led me to ... (Goodreads)
The Law
by Frédéric Bastiat
A concise treatise on the nature of law, its purpose, and its proper role in society.
How is it that the law enforcer itself does not have to keep the law? How is it that the law permits the state to lawfully engage in actions which, if undertaken by individuals, would land them in ... (Goodreads)
Thinking, Fast and Slow
by Daniel Kahneman
An exploration of the two systems of the mind, and how they influence decision-making.
In the highly anticipated Thinking, Fast and Slow , Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and ... (Goodreads)
Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
by Tony Judt
History of Europe since the end of World War II, examining the changes and challenges of the region.
Almost a decade in the making, this much-anticipated grand history of postwar Europe from one of the world's most esteemed historians and intellectuals is a singular achievement. Postwar is the first ... (Goodreads)
Ball Four
by Jim Bouton
A candid account of the life of a professional baseball player, exposing the realities of the sport.
Twentieth-anniversary edition of a baseball classic, with a new epilogue by Jim Bouton. When first published in 1970, Ball Four stunned the sports world. The commissioner, executives, and players ... (Goodreads)
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
by Lawrence Wright
A comprehensive study of the rise of Al-Qaeda and its role in the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001.
A sweeping narrative history of the events leading to 9/11, a groundbreaking look at the people and ideas, the terrorist plans and the Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on ... (Goodreads)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
by Friedrich Nietzsche
A philosophical treatise exploring morality, religion, and the meaning of life.
A Little History of the World
by E.H. Gombrich
A concise and engaging history of the world, from prehistoric times to the present day, written for young readers but enjoyable for all ages.
In 1935, with a doctorate in art history and no prospect of a job, the 26-year-old Ernst Gombrich was invited by a publishing acquaintance to attempt a history of the world for younger readers. ... (Goodreads)
The Wretched of the Earth
by Frantz Fanon
A political analysis of colonialism and its effects on the global underclass.
A distinguished psychiatrist from Martinique who took part in the Algerian Nationalist Movement, Frantz Fanon was one of the most important theorists of revolutionary struggle, colonialism, and ... (Goodreads)
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
by Robert A. Caro
Biography of Robert Moses, city planner and power broker who reshaped New York City.
One of the most acclaimed books of our time, winner of both the Pulitzer and the Francis Parkman prizes, The Power Broker tells the hidden story behind the shaping (and mis-shaping) of ... (Goodreads)
Zeitoun
by Dave Eggers
A man's struggle to survive and reunite with his family amidst the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Abdulrahman Zeitoun grew up in Syria. After a few years of apprenticeship in the Syrian port city of Jableh , Zeitoun spent twenty years working at sea as a muscleman, engineer and fisherman. During ... (Wikipedia)
Life
by Keith Richards
A personal journey of a legendary rockstar, reflecting on the highs and lows of his life.
With the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the riffs, the lyrics and the songs that roused the world, and over four decades he lived the original rock and roll life. Now, at last, the man ... (Goodreads)
