For anyone wanting to understand the roots of British cycling's recent triumphs, The Race Against Time is essential reading, and it is Pickering's thorough research that makes it so.

Two rivals, two ways of thinking about the world, very nicely told.

Super.

Chris Boardman and Graeme Obree are both highly individual characters and brilliant bike riders in their own right and this book from Edward Pickering does them proud with a detailed look at how they contested the Hour record throughout much of the ‘90s. The story telling is excellent as befits two such strong characters. Boardman could be seen as the establishment Team GB figure reserved and scientific while Obree was a working class maverick riding home-made bikes using parts of his washing machine. To a degree you can paint their rivalry as that between science and art but ultimately both were united in their quest to go faster and their quick intuitive minds.

A great read about a wonderful episode not just in British cycling but in world cycling too. Pickering brings a fresh perspective to the telling of the tale and strips away some of the myths that surround two riders who have become living legends.

The bare essentials is hardly how the modern sport of cycling is best described. With the genius behind the two-wheeled success of Team GB and Team Sky Dave Brailsford describing his philosophy as the 'aggregation of marginal gains', the attention paid to the smallest engineering, physiological and psychological detail is obvious. It is an evolution that is retold quite thrillingly in Edward Pickering's book The Race Against Time. This is the story of the 1990s rivalry of Chris Boardman vs Graeme Obree and their battle for the one hour track cycling record. Boardman remains well-known today thanks to his TV work as a pundit, Obree meanwhile has become a virtual recluse, a superbly gifted athlete who doubles up as an inventor. It's a great story, which in many ways created the base for the later success of Hoy, Pendleton, Wiggins, Cavendish, Froome and Trott.

Holy shit! That’s longer than a Grand Tour. And is that Hannibal as in Hannibal Lecter? It’s gonna be a bloody massacre . . .

Lowe not only regularly pokes fun at the entire undertaking but ... he knows how to construct a coherent, amusing and, most importantly, inclusive narrative. There’s also a neat element of travelogue here too, as Lowe eats his way through a succession of delightful meals in picturesque settings across Spain, France and Italy. Lowe’s amiable approach makes it seem like it would be the most natural and exciting thing to do in the world. Finish Climbs And Punishment and you’ll immediately want to get on the bike, which is, in the end, the highest praise indeed.

Roger Deakin is the perfect companion for invigorating armchair swim. Engaging, thoughtful and candid, he also has a wonderful eye

A brilliant and compelling view of Britain from a few inches above its neglected waterways

One of the more entertaining football tomes to be published in recent times.

A funny and poignant tale for anyone who's ever dreamt of quitting their day job to embark on an adventure

A salient overview of the past quarter-century

The deserving winner of this year's William Hill Sports Book of the Year award

This is a breakthrough book by one of the leading young lights of Australian writing

Despite it being an almost impossible subject to write about, Krien has produced a brilliant, disarming, thought-provoking book

A thought-provoking book that every aspiring male footballer should be made to read…as part of their apprenticeship

A worthy, if unexpected, winner

A depressing but essential read

an intelligent and unsettling exploration of how sport’s macho culture and exclusion of women enable abuse