The Code of Competition

Stu Walker delivers a long-awaited tenth book that is filled with surprises. Using anecdotes from golf, tennis, football, sailing, running, and many other sports, Walker shows how competitors are impelled by their genes to follow an altruistic Code of Competition. Yet they must find the courage to violate this Code to achieve their egoistic purposes. He demonstrates that success in competition comes most importantly from resisting the Code. Competitors must resist the Code that creates pressure, pecking orders, blowing it, resentment, and guilt. And they must resist the Code s assumptions that outcomes should be based on deservedness and that victory and hubris require atonement.

Stu Walker can rightly claim a lifetime of successful sailboat racing. He has competed in the Olympics and won many championships in sailing. In addition to a full medical career as a pediatrician, he is a prolific sailing writer. This is his tenth book. His detailed analytic writing is legendary and has been required reading for serious sailors. We might have a side debate about whether any sailors are serious, or we could read this book and learn the characteristics of serious competitors. Dr. Walker has been on both sides of this question and this book will drive the reader to introspection about his or her current state of mind and where it might go next.