AJ Hackett at the launch of his book <i>Jump Start</i>.
AJ Hackett at the launch of his book <i>Jump Start</i>.
Jump Start
AJ Hackett (with Winston Aldworth) Random House, 2006
This bungy-jumped all the way through Hackett's life as a pioneer of New Zealand adventure sports and tourism.
He plummets through childhood karting in Milford streets to his original jump off the Greenhithe Bridge to his famous tuxedoed leap from the Eiffel Tower (followed by a swig of Champagne among the gendarmes). He rebounds to describe the science of his craft, his split with business partner Henry van Asch and the global expansion which took a toll on his personal life.
His transition from encyclopedia salesman to tsar of the human rubber band is encapsulated by his realisation: "You have to believe the reason you succeeded once was because you're bloody good, not simply because of dumb luck."
"There are many of us and we are all the same," he wrote. "At some cathartic moment in our stunted childhoods, this ridiculous sport inveigled itself into our consciousnesses like a virus and never left.
"Now we stumble cheerfully through life ... while at the back of our minds a small but insistent question lurks. What's the test score?"
Readers are treated to the formation of his Captain Scott Invitational XI at Oxford University, chosen out of dry-humoured deference to the polar explorer's place as "history's greatest runner-up".
Anecdotes abound from Berkmann's casual acknowledgment that his CSI XI career average in 252 matches is 4.1956 to a forgetful mate being thrilled when he could finally create his own pin number. He chose - 7515 - Clive Lloyd's test aggregate.
Rod: The Autobiography
Rod Stewart (with Giles Smith) Random House, 2012
Singer Rod Stewart performs at the Wal-Mart shareholder meeting in Fayetteville. Photo / AP
Welsh comedian Rob Brydon once suggested to an audience that they ask themselves a question at times of ethical dilemma: What would Rod Stewart do?
Certainly Stewart is no moral crusader but the loveable rogue presents a rollicking, self-deprecating tale with the help of ghost writer and Times satirical sports columnist Giles Smith. A charming device introduces each chapter, outlining what 'our hero' will do next.
The septuagenarian singer makes the cut via his love of football. He supports Celtic, plays for the Los Angeles Exiles and kicks autographed balls into the crowd at concerts.
His marriage with rock stardom (and even Our Rach) dwarfs the sporting aspect, but the lifelong, almost myopic pursuit of pleasure intrigues.
I entered with a preconceived idea he'd be a lightweight narcissist but his passion for music, partying, model railways and women (probably in that order) won me over.
His catalogue of mistakes and humility, and the acceptance he is no saint, kept the pages turning.
He sounds like a world-class raconteur to have a beer with. And how wife No 3 Penny Lancaster tied the old dog to the porch remains one of life's minor miracles.
Do No Harm
Henry Marsh Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2014
Not technically a sports book, but makes the grade because neurosurgeon Henry Marsh cycles to work...
I'll be thrilled if anyone can convince me there's a more compelling autobiography to read this year. Marsh grips you from the first page, cutting into a brain to remove a tumour.
"The idea that my sucker is moving through thought itself, through emotion and reason, that memories, dreams and reflections should consist of jelly, is simply too strange to understand," he wrote.
His candour wrenches you through the full emotional spectrum from the joys of success, fits of pique with Britain's NHS, fronting families after operating table deaths and helplessness dealing with aneurisms.
I even loved his arrogance queuing at a supermarket after a triumphant day at 'the office'.
"'And what did you do today?' I felt like asking them, annoyed that an important neurosurgeon like myself should be kept waiting."
Second Wind: The Memoirs of an Opinionated Man
Bill Russell (with Taylor Branch) Simon & Schuster, 1979
Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Russell. Photo / AP
Copies are scarce (I ordered one from the United States) but if you love sport, you will revere, or at least respect, Russell's views.
As an 11-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, he figures in greatest basketballer debates but his insight on life trumps that.
Just digest his thoughts on the duel with Wilt Chamberlain, hedonistic lifestyle, team dynamics, corruption and owing fans nothing.
Russell's claims about NBA cocaine habits in the 1970s and the lack of relationship fidelity in professional sport were dealt with matter-of-factly, but no less fascinating. "If a bomb had gone off in our road hotel on any given night, it'd be safe to say there'd be a large number of extra bodies in the wreckage."
And on his multiple NBA championship-winning team-mates: "Most of us were oddballs by society standards."
Russell was once asked by a gambler to fix a match. He replied, "you can't afford it", recognising the impact it would have on his reputation. If only some cricketers took his advice.
Equally compelling is his pursuit - as a top black sportsman in America's changing civil rights world - of liberty and equality on issues of race, sexuality and socioeconomic issues.
