'A classic of its kind... His vivid, high powered but never overdramatised account of the ascent still reads splendidly'

After being swept off his feet by an avalanche and left dangling by a rope around his neck, Herzog 'began to pass water, violently and uncontrollably'. Your reaction may be only slightly less extreme as you move from one nail-biting moment to the next in this wonderful 1952 tale of triumph and frostbite.

Quite simply the greatest mountaineering book ever written.

The climb took place before the Himalayas were a tourist attraction and before Gore-Tex cold-weather gear was available in Marks & Spencer. They had no oxygen, little food and on the descent Herzog lost his gloves, got trapped in a storm, was buried in an avalanche and became frostbitten. His descriptions don't stint on the details of maggot-ridden flesh and amputations without anaesthesia

Those who have never seen the Himalayas...will know that they have been a companion of greatness

Informative, entertaining

Easily the most successful club manager ever to coach England, Fabio Capello won Italy's Serie A seven times with AC Milan, Juventus and Roma, and Spain's La Liga twice with Real Madrid - nine league titles in 15 seasons. So what led him to oversee a national team without a major trophy for more than 40 years? One of the strengths of this expertly researched biography is that such enigmas are pondered in a very Italian way, which revels in the availability of several answers rather than grasping for a single truth. In this case, Marcotti suggests managing Italy did not appeal, and points to Capello's long-standing affection for English football and his love of big cities. Other puzzles (was he really unaware that Juventus's boss was fixing matches?) receive similarly complex examination. Capello emerges as a pragmatic imitator rather than an innovator, a mix of sophisticate and martinet - padding around art galleries on his days off, but a believer in "putting a razor blade up against players' arses" if they let him down.

Excellent... an irreverent, entertaining resume of cricket's long history

Brilliantly retold

If you haven't bought Tom English's book about the 1990 match - The Grudge - then do yourself a favour and get it now. It's terrific

Tom English's excellent book, The Grudge, revisits an occasion when sport and politics and ancient rivalry came together

True tales: great stuff

Shudderingly good ... English has a rare talent for getting to the core of a person

Thatcherite politics and rugby come crashing into contact in this rich and textured account