No Visible Horizon: Surviving the World's Most Dangerous Sport

Nov 18, 2024 10:21 AM

Author:J Cooper Ramo

Aerobatic pilots pull through impossibly elegant figures, twisting their planes at hundreds of miles per hour. In a bad year no sport kills more of its participants. To fly well you must depart the land of the possible and enter the place of pure faith. In this book, the author places the seductive art of aerobatic flying within a larger context of the buzz of extreme sports. It is partly an autobigraphical journey through his own ambition to transform himself from an everyday flyer into a serious competitive pilot capable of winning the US national championships, and partly the unforgettable life stories of the greatest aerobatic geniuses who redefined what it is possible to do in the air with a plane. People like Leo Loundenslager, a mild mannered American Airlines pilot who flew figures so hard they made his eyes bleed as he whimpered with pain in the cockpit. This book is an exploration, not simply of a pilot's physical battle against gravity, but of his dream of perfection and his quest for faith.

Reviews

A rollicking tale of bourbon, blondes and blasted Big Berthas

—— Oberver Sports Monthly

To paraphrase the Wild Thing: grip it and read it

—— Scotland on Sunday

A witty account of Daly's intriguing and controversial life and career

—— Golf Monthly

Newsham paints a picture of a troubled and confused man... a moving and well-written biography

—— Sunday Times

Fittingly gritty

—— Telegraph

A revelatory example of how even the most accomplished of champions constantly battle to mask a troubled soul ... it is a highly readable account of the sacrifices required to really create a champion, in which Calzaghe, the man, comes across engagingly

—— Derby Evening Telegraph

His book is not only the day to day battle with the boredom of training, finding the courage to go one step beyond and an utter dedication to a dream, it is also a tribute to the strength that can be found within a loving family

—— Sunday Express

Trower has the perfect pitch for a sentence that illuminates an entire culture

—— Financial Times

His dedication to finding a spiritual dimension to a lost art is hard to fault

—— Wanderlust

Notable for its honesty. The Liverpool defender's published opinion that he is happier retired from international football prompted a media frenzy

—— Martin Pengelly , Guardian

One of the few current footballers worth an autobiography

—— Jonathan Ruppin , Bookseller

Amid the basketful of bland post-World Cup books, McGrath's life story stands out a mile... Fascinating reading.

—— Evening Standard

The Republic of Ireland's most popular sportsman, still adored by fans of Manchester United and Villa.

—— BBC Sport

An all-too honest account of a playing career that just got better and better, despite threatening to go off the rails.

—— Sunday Mercury

An extraordinary book.

—— Irish Independent

Harrowing and brutally honest...a gripping story.

—— Derby Evening Telegraph

Brutally honest.

—— The Irish Post

Less a football autobiography, more repentant confessional.

—— Kevin Hughes , FreeSport

stunning

—— FourFourTwo

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