Entertaining ... Very much like talking to Guy – fast, scattergun-style, slightly confusing and contradictory on occasion! Guy Martin fans will love it.

Thought-provoking, instructive and highly readable. Positively gripping

Skidelsky is excellent at deconstructing the appeal of Federer … This is the kind of book that sports fans will read over the summer, sitting in their gardens or in the stands of the All England Club, with a bowl of strawberries near at hand. It is gentle and wise, discursive but pointed

Brave… Engaging… Ultimately poignant

With clarity he illuminates the champion’s striking position as both a preserver and innovator of the sport

A splendid deconstruction of Federer’s technique

Compelling. Its excellent chapters on the technical changes in the game, the rivalry with Nadal and the relationship between sport and beauty are well worth the admission money

Skidelsky also knows that Federer’s tennis is more than just Federer’s tennis; but for him it is not a metaphor, rather something which has been absorbed into the texture and meaning of his own life

Examines the evolution of modern tennis, the role of beauty in sport and the psychology of fandom

It’s a dry comic look at devotion to sport

This is tennis’s answer to Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch… The book is particularly strong on Federer’s place in tennis history

Very enjoyable biography-cum-autobiography...this is a good book. Skidelsky has a feel for words, for the length of sentences and for tennis. The “sporty one” has finally proved himself

Thought-provoking and beautifully written, Federer and Me is a frank, funny and touching account of one fan’s life

Hooked: from opening lob to final shot

Skidelsky explores the evolution of modern tennis, the role of beauty in sport and the psychology of fandom, weaving his own past into the story

Excellent

One of the areas in which Lister really does a fantastic job is balance of opinion. The author has his own views, some more common sense than others, but he gives column inches to all sides of a story and allows everyone a chance to state their case… here's an excellent balance between sport and life. It gives great insight into some fascinating individuals and doesn't shirk the big issues. It's comprehensive, an easy read and never overstays its welcome… This book is a must read for the cricket fan out there, full of interesting stories, tales from the tour and a really close look at one of the best sporting outfits of all-time.

Cowen is without doubt one of our best current writers on landscape, on a par with Roger Deakin, Richard Mabey and Robert MacFarlane

Wonderful … An eerie haunting book … rendered with hair-raising, almost hallucinogenic, lyricism. Cowen moves on through the seasons of the year and the creatures of the edge land, feeling, more than observing, how the improving circumstances of animal life mirror his own climb out of darkness.

Blending natural history with a novelistic approach, Cowen revives his connection to the evocative, mysterious power of the natural world.

A luminous nature book

Very beautiful indeed... [Cowen] has all the alliterative grace and fresh metaphors of a poet

[A] poetic memoir... This apparently scrappy and overlooked piece of wasteland - a tangle of wood, meadow, field and river - proves to be, under [Cowen's] forensic and magnifying gaze, brimming with riches.

He is engrossed by his landscape, enthralled by the minutiae and evokes the same fascination in the reader