AbeBooks' Reading Copy

I spotted this NFL story this morning that begins with Bill Belichick’s collection of football books. Bill Belichick’s library is believed to contain the world’s third-largest collection of football books behind only the Library of Congress and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His collection of more than 800 titles is housed at the U.S. [...]

Anyone for a signed Lance Armstrong book?

The Observer interviews Joseph O’Neill, author of Netherland. In case you don’t know, the book concerns a cricket team in New York among other themes. There is a wonderful quote in the interview. As a teenager, O’Neill played cricket for the Netherlands’ under-19 side. He kept up the sport in England and, when he came [...]

If news were to break that Michael Phelps was actually a sophisticated android and not actually human at all, it really wouldn’t surprise me. With the way he waltzes past world records, it’s a wonder how anyone else stands a chance. He now has six of his eight attempted gold medals and in doing this [...]

Anyone for signed Michael Phelps books? Could be a nice investment if he bags eight out of eight?

First there were the near riots when the Olympic flame was making its way though Paris and then there were the reports of opressionwhile China tried to clean up its act. Whispers of crisis in Beijing are nothing new to the Olympic Games. The Olympics have been plagued with accusations of lying, cheating, doping, racism, [...]

From The New Yorker’s excellent book blog, The Book Bench…(this is one of my go-to blogs now) 9:45 A.M., Manhattan-bound D, Pacific to West Fourth. Young woman wearing red bandanna, light striped cotton T-shirt, and loose blue jeans, cuffed at the ankles. Smear of red lipstick. Intermittent scowls fail to cease even when acquiring a [...]

National Book Award and PEN/Hemingway Award winning author Sherman Alexie wants to testify in trial to prevent local NBA franchise the Seattle SuperSonics from moving the team to Oklahoma City as the team’s owner wishes. As reported by the Seattle Times, the team’s lawyers do not want to let him. Alexie, an extremely vocal opponent [...]

Talking of baseball, our friends at Fine Books & Collections magazine have provided a fascinating article on rare baseball books. Now I can grasp the concepts behind many rare cricket books but baseball is not my strong point so this article was an education for me. While the historians hit for accuracy in their books, [...]

Polar opposites but lots of people love America’s pastime or messing about in the garden…. The Chicago Sun-Times reviews the latest baseball books. The St Louis Post Dispatch reviews some of the latest gardening books.