A rich original of the first rank

One of the best writers in the English language... His work embeds itself into one's consciousness and refuses to be dislodged

The Natural by Bernard Malamud shows the agony, destruction and pathos that come often with great sports talent

This book established that we could have a serious adult baseball novel by playing with the parallels between mythical elements in the game and mythical elements in literature

Bernard Malamud's The Natural that still leads the field [for novels about baseball]. It is one of the landmarks of a period in US fiction when Jewish novelists dominated the scene with work of the highest ambition

An unusually fine novel... In his telling and always deliberate use of the vernacular alternated with passages evocative and almost lyrical, in his almost entirely successful relation of baseball in detail to the culture which elaborated it, Malamud has made a brilliant and unusual book

Whilst undeniably a book about climbing, it manages to be more than that . . . Perhaps the most gripping moments in the book happen away from climbing altogether . . . One of the most insightful climbing books of recent times, The Push comes highly recommended.

Totally captivating . . . beautifully constructed and passionately written

Exquisitely detailed ... The Push achieves the rarest of adventure reads: it thrills with colourful details of courage and perseverance but it enriches readers with an absolutely captivating glimpse of how a simple yet unwavering resolve can turn adversity into reward ... Caldwell is not just unflinchingly forthright in The Push, but his writing flows with the grace that defines his climbing ... While Caldwell excels at vividly illuminating his exploits - descriptions of climbs, his awe of nature, the physical challenges - his writing shines brightest as he examines his inner life ... he shows that pursuing a life pursuing adventure should inspire anyone

If you want to be inspired by a great leader, if you want to feel what it takes to do what no one thought possible, if you want to be absorbed by a heroic journey--Tommy Caldwell's story is one of the best you could ever hope to find

You always know that Caldwell's going to make it to the top of that 3,000-foot hunk of Yosemite granite. The book's raw honesty helps it transcend the hackneyed sports-autobiography genre

Probably the greatest living athlete most people have never heard of

Of all the new non-fiction books with Olympic connections, this is the finest and most inspiring.

A brilliant & very important book. Vital, highly recommended. Tempted to say it's Michael Calvin’s best yet, which is some praise.

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