Red: My Autobiography


Gary Neville - 2011
    This is his storyNo player has been more synonymous with the glory years of Manchester United Football Club over the past two decades than right–back Gary Neville. An Old Trafford regular since he attended his first match at the age of six, captain of the brilliant 1992 FA Youth Cup–winning team, outspoken representative of MUFC, Neville is the ultimate one–club man. He has been at the heart of it all and, at the end of an amazing career, is now ready to tell all. Neville reveals the behind–the–scenes secrets of his early days with the likes of Giggs, Scholes, and his best mate, David Beckham.

Life Is Short and So Am I: My Life in and Out of the Wrestling Ring


Dylan Postl - 2019
    Born with achondroplasia, a condition that causes disproportionate dwarfism, Dylan Postl had endured multiple surgeries by the age of 12. And yet, he held on to the dream that he would one day become a professional wrestler. Ignoring the naysayers and against doctors' recommendations, Dylan began training in his teens, and he soon began appearing on local independent shows. Before he turned 20, he was signed by the world leader in sports-entertainment, WWE, to play the role of Irish grappler Finlay's feisty sidekick, Hornswoggle, and remained a firm fixture in the company for a full decade.While most of Dylan's adult life has been spent in the wild world of the wrestling industry, Life Is Short is more than a story of a little person's journey through a world of giants; it's a memoir of elation and anguish, triumph and disappointment, and of how an endlessly positive outlook combined with the unwavering support of family and friends helped him become a success in his industry and a loving, responsible father. It's a story about a man who still loves wrestling -- but loves his family above all else.

Greavsie


Jimmy Greaves - 2003
    One of the game's great characters. A man who faced doen the demons. A top television pundit and columnist. This is the story of James Peter 'Jimmy' Greaves, one of the all-time greats of English football.Jimmy Greaves was born in east London in February 1940, and from humble beginnings began his rise to the top of the game. He scored on his Chelsea debut, aged seventeen, and became the first player to score 100 goals before the age of twenty-one. When Jimmy left Stanford Bridge for AC Milan in 1963, it outraged the Chelsea faithful, but after only four months Jimmy returned to London, to Tottenham Hotspur for £99,999. Scoring a hat-trick on his debut, Jimmy went on to help Spurs win the fA Cup and the European Cup-Winners' Cup. Throughout the 1960s Greavsie was the hero of White Hart Lane.But for all his success at both club and international level (44 goals in 57 games), there were dark struggles to overcome too. An injury picked up in the final group game of the 1966 World Cup meant that Jimmy cast a forlorn figure on the sidelines during England football's finest hour. And after a move to West Ham at the start of the 1970s, Jimmy career would be plagued by alcoholism. But however powerful his addiction, Jimmy was too strong a character to be pulled under. He came through and reinvented himself as a celebrated pundit on the beautiful game.'Greavsie' is a gripping and truthful autobiography, the story of a remarkable life laced with Jimmy's trademark wit. It is a fascinating account of the golden era of football, the characters who populated it, and the goalscoring machine at the centre of it all.

Shamrock: The World's Most Dangerous Man


Jonathan Snowden - 2020
    In Shamrock: The World's Most Dangerous Man, acclaimed Bleacher Report sportswriter Jonathan Snowden offers a compelling and hard-hitting look at the factors that led to the rise and incredible fall of one of mixed martial arts most enduring icons Ken Shamrock.Through extensive research and more than 100 interviews, Snowden reveals a complicated man who, even when on top of the sports world, was planting the seeds of his eventual fall. These are the stories behind the headlines, a rare glimpse at what life is really like for a WWE Superstar and UFC Hall of Famer including the drugs, crime and debauchery that almost cost Shamrock everything.

Acid for the Children


Flea - 2019
    His more famous stage name, Flea, and his wild ride as the renowned bass player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers was in a far and distant future. Little Michael from Oz moved with his very conservative, very normal family to Westchester, New York, where life as he knew it was soon turned upside down. His parents split up and he and his sister moved into the home of his mother's free-wheeling, jazz musician boyfriend, Walt--trading in rules, stability, and barbecues for bohemian values, wildness, and Sunday afternoon jazz parties where booze, weed, and music flowed in equal measure. Michael was frightened by the lack of order in his new reality and his volatile new stepfather, but found his salvation in the world of passionate musicians the Walt exposed him to. There began his life-long journey to channel all the frustration, loneliness, love, and joy he felt into incredible rhythm.When Michael's family moved to Los Angeles in 1972, his home situation was rockier than ever. He sought out a sense of belonging elsewhere, spending most of his days partying, playing basketball, and committing petty crimes. At Fairfax High School, he met another social outcast, Anthony Kiedis, who quickly became his soul brother, the yin to his yang, his partner in mischief. Michael joined some bands, fell in love with performing, and honed his skills. But it wasn't until the night when Anthony, excited after catching a Grandmaster Flash concert, suggested they start their own band that he is handed the magic key to the cosmic kingdom.Acid for the Children is as raw, entertaining and wildly unpredictable as its author. It's both a tenderly evocative coming of age story and a raucous love letter to the power of music and creativity.

Becoming


Michelle Obama - 2018
    As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare. In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated


Alison Arngrim - 2010
    Though millions of Little House on the Prairie viewers hated Nellie Oleson and her evil antics, Arngrim grew to love her character—and the freedom and confidence Nellie inspired in her.In Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, Arngrim describes growing up in Hollywood with her eccentric parents: Thor Arngrim, a talent manager to Liberace and others, whose appetite for publicity was insatiable, and legendary voice actress Norma MacMillan, who played both Gumby and Casper the Friendly Ghost. She recalls her most cherished and often wickedly funny moments behind the scenes of Little House: Michael Landon's "unsaintly" habit of not wearing underwear; how she and Melissa Gilbert (who played her TV nemesis, Laura Ingalls) became best friends and accidentally got drunk on rum cakes at 7-Eleven; and the only time she and Katherine MacGregor (who played Nellie's mom)  appeared in public in costume, provoking a posse of elementary schoolgirls to attack them. Arngrim relays all this and more with biting wit, but she also bravely recounts her life's challenges: her struggle to survive a history of traumatic abuse, depression, and paralyzing shyness; the "secret" her father kept from her for twenty years; and the devastating loss of her "Little House husband" and best friend, Steve Tracy, to AIDS, which inspired her second career in social and political activism. Arngrim describes how Nellie Oleson taught her to be bold, daring, and determined, and how she is eternally grateful to have had the biggest little bitch on the prairie to show her the way.

On the Edge


Richard Hammond - 2007
    On September 20, 2006, he suffered a serious brain injury following a high-speed car crash, and the nation held its breath. On the Edge is his compelling account of life before and after the accident and an honest description of his year of recovery, full of drama and incident. It is also, perhaps, his explanation of why, as a married man and father of two young daughters, he was prepared to risk all by strapping himself to the front of a jet engine with the power of eleven Formula One cars. A daredevil and a petrolhead long before his association with Top Gear, Richard tells the story of his life as an adrenalin junkie, from the small boy showing off with ridiculous stunts on his bicycle to the adolescent with a near-obsessive attraction to speed and the smell of petrol. After a series of jobs in local radio, he graduated to television and eventually to Top Gear, one of the world's most popular shows, upgrading his car with each step up the ladder. His insights into the personalities, the camaraderie and, of course, the stunts for which Top Gear has become famous make compulsive reading.It was whilst filming for Top Gear, driving a jet-powered dragster at speeds over 300mph, that a tyre burst and the car left the track and rolled over, burying him in the earth. He was airlifted to hospital and hovered near death for several days. His wife Mindy tells the story of the anxious hours and days of watching and waiting until he finally emerged from his coma. In an extraordinarily powerful piece of writing, she and Richard then piece together the stages of his recovery as his shattered mind slowly reformed, leaving him sometimes lucid and plausible, sometimes confused and angry, and often exhausted. The final chapter recounts his return home and his triumphant reappearance in front of the cameras.

Etched in Sand: A True Story of Five Siblings Who Survived an Unspeakable Childhood on Long Island


Regina Calcaterra - 2013
    Her painful early life, however, was quite different. Regina and her four siblings survived an abusive and painful childhood only to find themselves faced with the challenges of the foster-care system and intermittent homelessness in the shadows of Manhattan and the Hamptons.

Grappler: Memoirs of a Masked Madman


Lynn Denton - 2014
    He tutored The Ultimate Warrior and strangled Bret Hart with a dead chicken. This is the true story of pro wrestling's overlooked legend. GRAPPLER chronicles the rags to almost-riches journey of Lynn "The Grappler" Denton. A star of pro wrestling's territorial era, Denton worked alongside the biggest names of the 1980s. Readers will learn about his adventures with ring icons such as Roddy Piper, Ric Flair and Harley Race. In addition, GRAPPLER features previously untold stories involving Bill Goldberg, Junkyard Dog, Ted Dibiase, Rick Rude, Curt Hennig and countless others. Denton also gives wrestling fans a behind-the-scenes look at several legendary promotions, including Mid-South, World Class, Memphis and Portland Wrestling. The book chronicles the territories' "glory days," and offers a ringside seat for their demise. From Denton's humble beginnings in a Texas dance hall, to the bright lights of the "Monday Night Wars," this is the story of one man chasing his dream through 35 years of wrestling history. With a foreword from WWE legend "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, GRAPPLER is a must have for any fan who wants to learn about the unsung heroes of professional wrestling. This humorous and heartfelt autobiography is proof that not every legend wears a Hall of Fame ring.

Sachin: The Story of the World's Greatest Batsman


Gulu Ezekiel - 2002
    He was barely fifteen years old when he first wrote his name into the record books with a stupendous 664-run partnership with his childhood friend Vinod Kambli. Two year later, he struck his first century in first-class cricket. At eighteen, he became the second youngest man to make a hundred in international cricket, and after that there was no looking back. Records tumbled by the wayside as he captivated audiences first in his home city of Mumbai, then in the rest of India and all over the cricket-playing world. Today, Sachin is widely accepted as the world's finest batsman, with impeccable technique, an incredible array of strokes, and maturity far beyond his years. His teammates and friends swear by him, his fans worship him and there are few, if any, critics of his game or his temperament. In this biography of the hero of Indian cricket, sports writer Gulu Ezekiel mines interviews, press reports and conversations over the last decade to create an accurate and sympathetic account of the man and his first passion: cricket. He tracks Sachin from his childhood when he first caught the bug of cricket, through his early performances in the Ranji Trophy and other domestic tournaments, and follows him on his meteoric rise to international stardom. With unfailing attention to detail, he reconstructs the crucial matches and events that marked Sachin's career and unravels for us the magic of the charismatic cricketer whom Wisden once dubbed 'bigger than Jesus'. Sachin: The Story of the World's Greatest Batsman, the first, serious exhaustive biography of the Tendulkar career so far, brings back, like a warm autumn breeze does, the memory of the wunderkind's early exhilarating summers in international cricket...The book is akin to a documentary in prose...the book's big virtue is that it is laboriously researched and cross-referenced. For any quizzer on Mastermind India opting for "The Life and Times of Sachin Tendulkar" as their specialist subject there's good news. You just got yourself the ready reckoner that covers 1973-2002.