Epic
In Search of the Soul of Sport and Why It Matters
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Simon & Schuster Ltd
Published:21st Feb '19
£9.99
Available to order, but very limited on stock - if we have issues obtaining a copy, we will let you know.
‘For 30 years I was the voice of sport at The Times – but that’s enough about me. What matters is sport.’
This is an autobiography from which the author, award-winning writer Simon Barnes, has been surgically removed. He has reported on six World Cups, seven Olympic Games, cricket on five continents and more than 20 Wimbledons, watching Diego Maradona, Usain Bolt, Sachin Tendulkar and Roger Federer at their peak. Along the way he had soul-revealing conversations with Ayrton Senna and sat on Desert Orchid.
His journalist’s experience gives him perspective, until the addictive madness of sport takes over. Epic is a stunning mosaic of some of the greatest sporting moments in recent years, which build up to provide the reader with a better idea of what sport is for, what differentiates winners from losers, and reveals how sport teaches us how better to enjoy life.
This is sport unplugged. Speaking for itself. Allowing the reader to understand sport with more clarity and depth than ever before.
'Excellent in many ways…his insights are rarely less than wise and informative, and often fascinating…It’s very fine sportswriting indeed. This may conceivably be Barnes’s best work yet.' -- Marcus Berkmann * Daily Mail *
'Brilliant...combining a journalistic eye for detail with a poetic ability to convey the emotions of a unique moment.' * Choice magazine *
'From Eric Bristow and Watford as the second best team in England to Novak Djokovic resurgent and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Barnes was there...caustically brilliant.' * Glasgow Herald *
'Epic weaves together many of the most iconic, controversial and unforgettable moments that coloured the 30-odd years of Simon Barnes’ tenure as a sports writer at The Times. It is an unlikely triumph… He has a sublime ability to bring you ringside without ever involving himself… A sports book like no other.' * Racing Post *
'[Barnes] has re-examined many of the events he attended and taken another look at the figures who tasted glory, disappointment and downright failure...this is sport's story... It truly is an epic tale.' * Sports Journalists' Association *
ISBN: 9781471164217
Dimensions: 198mm x 130mm x 21mm
Weight: unknown
352 pages