A beautifully written meditation on the joys of summer

Hotten is not just good, he is one of the best... He has the eye for a beautifully judged phrase

Hotten has emerged as a worthy addition to the lineage of writers who adhere to C L R James’s aphorism: “What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?”… This will be a worthy addition to any cricketing bookshelf

For those dreaming of summer, The Meaning of Cricket is accessible, fun and elegantly written.

Simultaneously playful and packed with insight … All cricketing life is here... Hotten’s writing is accessible and often moving

Memory and meditation twirled into a lovesong: Jon Hotten hits it out of the park

A collection of Jon Hotten's writing that is lively with insight and anecdote, and informed by the persona of the knowledgeable and fascinated practitioner… On amateur cricket Jon is alternately hilarious and poignant, but it's when he's in his almost-a-pro-yet-somehow-not-quite vein that he truly breaks out. He considers cricket's capacity for revealing us to ourselves.

An eccentric mix of anecdote, personal memoir, historical observation, technical analysis and psychological insight.

Hotten is among the best in the business, as this vivid love letter to the sport proves.

Engrossing book… Hotten explores what it is about cricket that so takes hold of the imagination… Reveal[s] the funny, moving and transformative impact the game can have on life.

[Hotten’s] witty commentary on the great names, absurdities and realities of cricket will give heart to its many mad devotees.

A little gem.

A thoughtful paean…to a beautiful game.

Every so often, a book comes quietly out of the blue and catches the world on its hook. This summer, the UK is set to fall, line and sinker, for the unlikely charms of a volume of quixotic reportage about fishing... The writing is worth savouring for its own sake. Wry humour gives way to vivid description... More people have travelled to space than into the ocean depths, he observes. But “maybe, like the universe, our consciousness is expanding”. Shark Drunk is a book that does just that, immersing you in a watery world where human life recedes to a pinprick of light. It’s a long while before your thoughts make it back to the surface.

The best sports book I'm likely to read this year. Highly recommend you buy it.

A brilliant insight into the journey young kids now make from kicking a ball around in their back garden, through the glossy facilities of academy football.

His research is, as ever, impeccable… No Hunger in Paradise is a fascinating and fitting finale to a trio of books any football lover should own.

Heartbreaking . . . an excellent piece of reportage

The award-winning writer’s new forensic, and sometimes alarming, case study into why some young prospects make the cut – and others fall away – is fascinating…
The FA would do well to read this if they want success

Brilliantly sourced and written… As a portrait of the state of the modern game, No Hunger In Paradise is vital reading. With Calvin’s previous studies, it serves as a record of what football is like today and should place him alongside Arthur Hopcraft, John Moynihan and Hunter Davies in providing the sport with its defining literature

One of the great, and most important, sports books of 2017. Passionate, incisive, gripping.

Calvin is a natural storyteller who is unflinching as he goes behind the scenes and meets the people at the heart of the youth development network.

The book is an eye-opener into the pressures put on young players by clubs, coaches and parents; the corruption and conceit, bullying and harassment. Plus the lengths those clubs and their scouts go to, to recruit kids who have yet to reach secondary school.

Completes his formidable trilogy on the game with a blistering indictment of how it treats its youngest players

Outstanding

As the book unfurls, the march along the marches turns into a eulogy to his father, part memoir, part biography, always a love story. It also contains one of the most unflinching, moving descriptions of death I have read.

This beautifully written book is a haunting reflection of identity and our relationships with the people and places we love.

Stewart provides much food for thought about how we value our past history