The Totum Sport Top 10 - Must Read Books on Sport & Endurance

It was American author George R. R. Martin who wrote in his book called, A Dance with Dragons, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. A man who never reads lives only one.” Totum Sport urges you to live a thousand best lives, or at least 10 by adding these must-reads to your library. Why not take a browse to some of our online blogs to help you lead a better, fitter life:

Hard work pays off with CrossFit 

Deeper brain sleep improves your performance

Cycling is the freedom to so many things

Book Title: The Blind Side  

Author: Michael Lewis  

Synopsis: Based on a true story, a homeless African American named Michael Oher, a youngster from a broken home, is taken in by the Touhys, a well-heeled Caucasian family who nurture him and help him to build-up self-esteem. The book is dichotomous in that it tells two inspiring tales of how Michael overcame life’s many obstacles. Second, it details his growth into manhood, how he reaches his fullest potential in sport, particularly football, and his success. Truly inspiring. 

Book Title: Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster  

Author: Jon Krakauer  

Synopsis: This a gripping non-fiction book written by ex-journalist for Outside Magazine. It’s a gripping account of the infamous guided attempt to summit Mount Everest where things went awfully awry. It resulted in eight deaths including that of the guide Rob Hall in 1996. The book was released in 1997 and reached best-seller status very quickly. It’s a story of overcoming despite tragedy. It reminds us all about the importance of preparation and collaboration, not necessarily competition.

Book Title: The Pursuit of Endurance 

Author: Jennifer Pharr Davis  

Synopsis: Jennifer is a record holder of the fastest known time on the Appalachian Trail. She is also earned the title of National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. She reveals her secrets and the habits behind the concept of backpacking, endurance hiking and trail running. Jennifer has an uncanny ability to take you with you her through her journey of training to accomplishment. She analyses the theories and methodologies drummed into her by her mentors with some interesting take-outs. These become easy-to-understand and practical guidance for anyone wanting to push perseverance to the next level. If you want to get your grit on not only in sport but in life, this is a must-read.  

Book Title: Paper Lion: Confessions of a Last-String Quarterback 

Author: George Plimpton 

Synopsis: In a very engaging and conversational tone that is easy to read and witty. The Wall Street Journal calls it "a continuous feast...The best book ever about football -- or anything!” He recounts his experiences in talking his way into training camp with the Detroit Lions, practicing with the team, and taking snaps behind centre. His breezy style captures the pressures and tensions rookies confront, the hijinks that pervade when sixty high-strung guys live together in close quarters, and a host of football rites and rituals. His motivation, determination and dedication show that anyone can attempt to become a professional sportsman.  

Book Title: Seabiscuit - An American Legend 

Author: Laura Hillenbrand 

Synopsis: This is the story of the one of the most popular attractions in sporting history which obtained more press than Hitler or Mussolini back in 1938. It tells the tale of crooked-legged racehorse without a future. Until three men entered the scene. Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado Plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a song, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a run of bad luck and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit into a sporting icon.   

Book Title: Thrive 

The Vegan Nutritional Guide to Optimal Performance in Sport and Life 

Author: Brendan Brazier 

Synopsis: This is an eye-opening life-changing book which provides nutritional information to help guide optimal performance in sport and life for athletes and individuals consuming a plant-based diet. It provides a long-term eating plan to help all athletes (professional or not) develop a lean body, sharp mind, and everlasting energy. As one of the few professional athletes on a plant-based diet, Brendan Brazier researched and developed this easy-to- follow program to enhance his performance as an elite endurance competitor. 

Book Title: Tiger Woods 

Author: Jeff Benedict 

Synopsis: The #1 New York Times bestseller based on years of reporting and interviews with more than 250 people from every corner of Tiger Woods’s life—this “comprehensive, propulsive…and unsparing” (The New Yorker) biography is “an ambitious 360-degree portrait of golf’s most scrutinised figure…brimming with revealing details” (Golf Digest). In 2009, Tiger Woods was the most famous athlete on the planet, a transcendent star of almost unfathomable fame and fortune living what appeared to be the perfect life. The book addresses the question: who is Tiger Woods, really? 

Book Title: Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer 

Author: Lynne Cox 

Synopsis: This book is based on Lynne Cox, who was born in Boston 1957, she started taking up swimming from a young age and developed a love for the sport. She soon went from swimming in a pool to open cold waters of the sea. The book details her experiences swimming in the sea in particularly the cold water in Antarctic for 1.6Km for 25 minutes. Here are few more details certain to give you goosebumps. She was the first to swim the Strait of Magellan, the most treacherous three-mile stretch of water in the world. The first to swim the Bering Strait—the channel that forms the boundary line between the United States and Russia—from Alaska to Siberia, thereby opening the U.S.-Soviet border for the first time in 48 years, swimming in thirty-eight-degree water in four-foot waves without a shark cage, wet suit, or lanolin grease. The first to swim the Cape of Good Hope (a shark emerged from the kelp, its jaws wide open, and was shot as it headed straight for her). A must read.  

Book Title: What Made Maddy Run  

Author: Kate Fagan  

Synopsis: What Made Maddy Run began as a piece that Kate Fagan, a columnist for espnW, wrote about Maddy's life. What started as a profile of a successful young athlete whose life ended in suicide became so much larger when Fagan started to hear from other college athletes also struggling with mental illness. This is the story of Maddy Holleran's life and her struggle with depression, which also reveals the mounting pressures young people, and college athletes in particular, face to be perfect, especially in an age of relentless connectivity and social media saturation. 

Book Title: Where Mountains Come to Swim 

A journey into the mind of a man training to swim across the Sea of Cortez  

Author: Paul Lundgren 

Synopsis: An American endurance athlete Paul Lundgren takes readers into the depths and insights of his first two attempts at swimming the Sea of Cortez. Lundgren shares the challenges he faced before and during his attempts across the Sea of Cortez in Mexico which is 78 miles.