What Sport Tells Us About Life by Ed Smith

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This book is an absolute gem, written by a top sportsman — a former England batsman — who is also a top communicator. Smith gets under the skin of sport. He's been there, so he can tell you what it feels like. "All of us have experienced downward spirals of anxiety and introspection," he tells us. He tells you how to deal with it, too. Smith roves around his subject, and asks lots of good questions. Why will there never be another batsman as good as Don Bradman? Because throughout sport, teams are getting better organised — and this means stopping the opposition's best players.

Why can sportsmen get away with cheating in some ways, but not others? It's a matter of convention. Smith tells us a lot about sport, and also about confidence, the application of rules, and the influence of money. Life, in other words.

Synopsis by Foyles.co.uk

Why will there never be another Bradman? How do you win 33 games in a row? Why did Zidane lose his rag on the world's stage? Foraying deep into sport's leftfield, Ed smith asks the questions we rarely ask of our teams and players. When is cheating really cheating? Is the free market good for sport? Can talent be a curse? Does luck matter? His answers, often controversial and always thought provoking, will delight anyone who has ever wondered why sport matters.