Sports & Recreation Audiobooks

Swift, brutal, and utterly final: with knockouts, there are no grey areas; a KO is a KO. But what actually is a knockout, and why are we so fascinated by it? The Knockout is the most dramatic and devastating moment in sport. There is nothing to rival it: Not the last second goal, not the basket on the buzzer, not the putt that drops on the eighteenth green. In terms of its brutality and finality, it stands alone. It's a bolt of lightning; fascinating and frightening; a shot of pure adrenaline that only the very rarest moments can provide. This book examines what it's like for the people at the center of that storm. How does it feel to land that ultimate blow? How does it feel to suffer it? We assess the impact it has on the fighters and the people close to it and ask what it takes mentally, physically, and emotionally for a person to enter into an arena where the stakes are so unimaginably high. Agony and ecstasy, triumph and disaster, hope and despair, self-belief and doubt, The Knockout embraces it all. Part macro, part micro exploration, the narrative will move across the physical, psychological, social, and even philosophical aspects of the knockout. With insights from renowned commentators, as well as fighters, their coaches, doctors and family members, this is a complete look at the finishing blow that brings any match to a sudden close, and the repercussions that follow. Featuring extensive coverage of Froch vs Groves, the infamous match that saw Carl Froch knock out George Groves in the ninth round and gain a controversial win over the super-middleweight champion. The Knockout goes deeper into the phenomenon than ever seen before and explores the idea of male vulnerability and the delicate nature of many boxers, particularly pronounced once they have experienced a knockout.

Andy Clarke (Author), Andy Clarke, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Gas and Flame Men: Baseball and the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I

The Gas and Flame Men is the first full account of Major League ballplayers who served in the Chemical Warfare Service during World War I. Four players, two club executives, and a manager served in the small and hastily formed branch, six of them as gas officers. Remarkably, five of the seven-Christy Mathewson, Branch Rickey, Ty Cobb, George Sisler, and Eppa 'Jeptha' Rixey-are now enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York. The son of a sixth Hall of Famer, player and manager Ned Hanlon, was a young officer killed in action in France with the First Gas Regiment. Prominent chemical soldiers also included veteran Major League catcher and future manager George 'Gabby' Street and Boston Braves president and former Harvard football coach Percy D. Haughton. The Gas and Flame Men explores how these famous baseball men, along with an eclectic mix of polo players, collegiate baseball and football stars, professors, architects, and prominent social figures all came together in the Chemical Warfare Service. Jim Leeke examines their service and its long-term effects on their physical and mental health-and on Major League Baseball and the world of sports. The Gas and Flame Men also addresses historical inaccuracies and misperceptions surrounding Christy Mathewson's early death from tuberculosis, long attributed to wartime gas exposure.

Jim Leeke (Author), Barry Abrams (Narrator)

Audiobook

My Mets Bible: Scoring 30 Years of Baseball Fandom

A love letter to New York Mets fandom—the triumphs, the heartbreak, and everything in between Childhood for Evan Roberts was defined by outings to the old Shea Stadium with his father, always with a scorebook in hand. What began as a gameday ritual replete with misspelled player names and scrawled symbols turned into an obsession with scoring every game he watched, one which persisted as Roberts rose through the ranks at WFAN. Taken together, those scorebooks form a living, breathing Mets diary spanning 30 years of thrilling—and, at times, tortured—fandom. My Baseball Bible is an exercise in memory and nostalgia, and a meditation on the things that stick with us as sports fans. With his personal scorecards as a guide, Roberts brings to life some of the most unforgettable moments in Mets lore, offering a fresh perspective on the highs and lows of being a die-hard fan. Meticulously kept history mixes with personal recollections and behind-the-scenes anecdotes covering touchstone events such as Johan Santana’s no-hitter, Robin Ventura’s grand slam “single”, and the loss that Roberts has never quite gotten over. By turns heartfelt and hilarious, Roberts delivers a thrilling and wholly unique journey through modern Mets history.

Evan Roberts (Author), Evan Roberts (Narrator)

Audiobook

Our Fight

Brought to you by Penguin. From the moment she burst onto the UFC scene, Ronda Rousey was unbeatable. She repeatedly strung together back-to-back flawless victories, racking up a collection of records and forever changing the face of sports as the UFC’s first female champion. A superstar in her sport, she transcended athletics, appearing in blockbuster films and becoming a role model for women everywhere. Then, on November 15, 2015, it all came crashing down. In OUR FIGHT, Rousey explores the greatest challenge of her life and, ultimately, how she rebuilt her career into something better in the aftermath, including dominating WWE. She recounts how she replaced her pursuit of perfection with the pursuit of happiness and found a blessing in disguise amongst the wreckage. Following Rousey’s relatable journey, OUR FIGHT is a courageous narrative of career changes, marriage, motherhood, and facing your fears. © Ronda Rousey 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Ronda Rousey (Author), Ronda Rousey, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Six Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Wrestlemania

They say to never meet your heroes. Brad Balukjian doesn't listen. From the bestselling author of The Wax Pack, comes another eye‑opening road trip adventure into a pocket of massively popular pop culture-professional wrestling-starring the Iron Sheik, Hulk Hogan, Tito Santana, and many more larger‑than‑life characters of the WWF of the 1980s. In 2005, Brad Balukjian left his dream job as a magazine fact-checker to pursue another dream: partner with his childhood hero, The Iron Sheik (whose real name is Khosrow Vaziri), to write his biography. Things quickly went terribly wrong, culminating in the Sheik threatening Balukjan's life. Now seventeen years later, Balukjian returns to the road in search of not only a reunion with the Sheik, but something much bigger: truth in a world built on illusion. He seeks out six of the Sheik's contemporaries, fellow witnesses to the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) explosion in the mid-80s, along with the man driving the ship, Vince McMahon, to unearth their true identities. As Balukjian drives 12,525 miles around the country, we revisit the heady days when these avatars of strength, villainy, and heroism first found fame and see where their journeys took them. Balukjian plumbs their lives outside the ring, uncovering the pain of the inevitable transformation into their ring personas as myth merged with reality. From working out with Tony Atlas (Tony White) to visiting Hulk Hogan's (Terry Bollea) karaoke bar, we see where these men are now and how they have navigated the cliffs of fame. The Six Pack is fascinating for its humor, honesty, and clear‑eyed look at the spectacle of sports entertainment. Balukjian combines the spirit of a fan with the rigor of an investigative reporter, tracking down former WWF employees who have never spoken publicly on the company's inner workings. But what makes this book so compelling is the humanity beneath each wrestler. Wrestling is perceived as a subculture, a sideshow without a cultural home, somewhere between sport and dance and theater and improv. It is often dismissed by the elites as low‑brow, silly, and simplistic. But ironically, an industry built on illusion is underlain by radical truth, and is arguably among our most democratic forms of entertainment. The Iron Sheik, Hulk Hogan, and the rest of the cast were not pieces on a game board or characters in a comic book movie. They were real people, with families and feelings and bodies that could break. Most of them did, in fact, break; some have been repaired, but none of them will ever be the same.

Brad Balukjian (Author), Brad Balukjian, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Believer: A Year in the Fly-Fishing Life

The author of the instant fishing classic The Optimist wades into deeper waters and shares new wisdom, humor, and experience in seven extraordinary fly-fishing expeditions that mark one year in his journey through the middle part of life when worldly demands increase even as fishing continues to beckon—and must be pursued. In David Coggins's previous book, The Optimist, he tackles the techniques of fly fishing and meditates on its virtues, recounting his triumphs and frustrations. Now, in The Believer, he deftly mixes travel, local cultures, further fishing challenges (some knee-buckling in their disappointment), and details his own experience as life and love crowd his time to fish. Self-consciously—and self-deprecatingly—Coggins embarks on seven far-flung fishing voyages, away from screens and social media, not answering his phone, reveling in humanity's undying yearning for a quest, for the rituals and rites of passage that mark transition. For David, these journeys not only showcase his skill as an angler—including to Norway, Scotland, Spain, Cuba, and Argentina, as well as road trips to Wyoming, Tennessee, and the Catskills—they also signal the end of his fly-fishing youth. But that doesn't mean that David will sell all his rods and hang up his hat; rather, that his relationship with his fly-fishing obsession will evolve. And he's okay with that—mostly, especially if he can catch an elusive salmon or a ferociously strong tarpon or the mysterious and almost invisible bonefish. The Believer is a humble, humorous call for the journey that is part of the destination, where the search for greater self-awareness leads to patience, observation, and endurance. And, since this is fly fishing, after all—there's always the possibility of abject failure and leaping, glorious reward. Wry, entertaining, thoughtful, and relatable, The Believer will hook both anglers and non-anglers alike.

David Coggins (Author), Scott Brick, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Out of Mind

In 2015, climber and documentary maker Joe French was filming in the Himalaya when tragedy struck and he found himself caught in an earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people. Miraculously, he survived – but this wasn't the first accident from which he was lucky enough to escape. On a previous expedition to the Himalayas, Joe's team of Sherpas had been wiped out by an avalanche. Back in Scotland, his wife Julie was fighting her own battle against cancer and, on his return, Joe found himself at home caring for their two young girls. Suffering from a form of PTSD, Joe attempted to find peace again, using his love of the outdoors to ground himself in nature. Running barefoot through the forests and glens around his house in Scotland, he discovered the means to stop going out of his mind.

Joe French (Author), Stewart Crank, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook

Gold from Iron: A Humble Beginning, Olympic Dreams, and the Power in Getting Back Up

A daring and improbable story of Olympic gold from blue-collar origins Every summer in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Nick Baumgartner went to work pouring concrete, taking on the harsh physical conditions of the construction trade to support his professional snowboarding dreams come winter. To limit travel time while he trained for the Olympics an hour and a half away from home, he lived out of a crusty, old construction van, parked anywhere he could find a spot. And in 2022, after seventeen years of failure—all the crashes, injuries, and personal setbacks—he won Olympic gold at forty years old, becoming the oldest Olympic snowboard medalist in history. In this candid and affable memoir, Baumgartner details his journey from a one-stoplight town to the podium in Beijing. Tales of crisscrossing the globe on the racing circuit and competing in four Olympic Games sit comfortably alongside Baumgartner’s reflections as a single parent and his affectionate portrayal of Iron River, Michigan, the community that raised him. More than just a sports story, Gold from Iron is a tale of massive dreams, constant sacrifice, and the lessons that can be learned racing down an ice-covered course on a carbon fiber board.

Nick Baumgartner (Author), Dan Bittner (Narrator)

Audiobook

Arctic Traverse: A Thousand-Mile Summer of Trekking the Brooks Range

A lyrical memoir that interweaves wilderness, homeland, cultural connections, historical figures, humor, and gritty experiences across northern Alaska From the award-winning author of Ice Bear: The Cultural History of an Arctic Icon comes an intimate exploration of Alaska's northernmost mountain range with observations on Indigenous cultures, conservation, and intense cross-country travel, all shaped by respect for the land. Follow author Michael Engelhard through tussock-studded tundra for a remarkable tale of bear encounters and white-knuckled river moments, as well as poetic reflections on a vast, untamed landscape. A trained anthropologist, Engelhard evokes classic writers like Edward Abbey, Barry Lopez, and Ellen Meloy with profound dives into human and natural history and vivid meditations on Alaskan wildlife, flora, and geology. When he embarked on this thru-hike, fewer people had completed it solo in a single push than had dived to the floor of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of Earth's oceans. Much more than a captivating account of a human-powered solo thru-hike and float, Arctic Traverse illuminates the spirit of Alaska, drawing on encounters with Indigenous elders, guided clients, scientists, and others as well as on Engelhard's long-held dream and his experiences of the land itself.

Michael Engelhard (Author), Patrick Lawlor (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America

In the decades directly following the Holocaust, American Jewish leaders anxiously debated how to preserve and produce what they considered authentic Jewish culture, fearful that growing affluence and suburbanization threatened the future of Jewish life. Many communal educators and rabbis contended that without educational interventions, Judaism as they understood it would disappear altogether. They pinned their hopes on residential summer camps for Jewish youth: institutions that sprang up across the United States in the postwar decades as places for children and teenagers to socialize, recreate, and experience Jewish culture. Adults' fears, hopes, and dreams about the Jewish future inflected every element of camp life, from the languages they taught to what was encouraged romantically and permitted sexually. But adult plans did not constitute everything that occurred at camp: children and teenagers also shaped these sleepaway camps to mirror their own desires and interests and decided whether to accept or resist the ideas and ideologies their camp leaders promoted. Focusing on the lived experience of campers and camp counselors, The Jews of Summer demonstrates how a cultural crisis birthed a rite of passage that remains a significant influence in American Jewish life.

Sandra Fox (Author), Sharon Freedman (Narrator)

Audiobook

All in Stride: A Journey in Running, Courage, and the Search for the American Dream

Professional distance runners Elvin Kibet and Shadrack Kipchirchir grew up in rural Kenyan villages. Though their lives began in poverty, both were driven to reach their full potential, to gain an education, and make a difference. And they would find their way to do just that through the high-pressure world of distance running. In All in Stride, Johanna Garton tells the gripping and inspiring stories of Elvin and Shadrack. Beginning with their upbringing in Kenya, Garton follows the runners through their journeys to the United States, their running for Division One universities, their blossoming romance as college students, and ultimately their service as U.S. soldiers and professional runners. Woven through the narrative is the story of Samantha Schultz, who also competed for the U.S. Army. Like Elvin and Shadrack, she struggled with several obstacles throughout her journey, including poor coaching, over training, and disordered eating, a condition that plagues so many young female athletes. More than just a running story, All in Stride takes listeners behind the scenes to explore the difficulties Elvin and Shadrack faced, including adjusting to an entirely new culture in the U.S., bigotry and intolerance, the stresses and joys of global competitions, the thrill of being a part of the race to break the two-hour marathon, joining the U.S. Army's World Class Athlete Program, and discovering the ever-changing landscape of what it means to be an American.

Johanna Garton (Author), Adenrele Ojo (Narrator)

Audiobook

Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball

A page-turning work of narrative nonfiction chronicling the incredible story of one of America's most iconic, charismatic, and still polarizing figures-baseball immortal Pete Rose-and an exquisite cultural history of baseball and America in the second half of the twentieth century Pete Rose is a legend. A baseball god. He compiled more hits than anyone in the history of baseball, a record he set decades ago, which still stands. At the same time, he was a working-class white guy from Cincinnati who made it; less talented than tough, and rough around the edges. He was everything that America wanted and needed him to be, the American dream personified, until he wasn't. In the 1980s Pete Rose came to be at the center of the biggest scandal in baseball history. Baseball no longer needed Pete Rose, and he was magnificently, publicly cast out for betting on baseball and lying about it. The revelations that followed ruined Pete, changed life in Cincinnati, and forever altered the game. Charlie Hustle tells the full story of one of America's most epic tragedies, the rise and fall of Pete Rose, one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Drawing on first-hand interviews with Pete himself, his associates, as well we on investigators, FBI and court records, archives, a mountain of press coverage, Keith O'Brien chronicles how Pete fell so far from being America's "great white hope." It is Rose as we've never seen before. This is no ordinary sport biography, but cultural history at its finest. What O'Brien shows is that while Pete Rose didn't change, America and baseball did. This is the story of that change.

Keith O'brien (Author), Ellen Adair, Keith O'brien, TBD (Narrator)

Audiobook