The Sports & Outdoors category has 1,991 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 11,712 ratings. The most-rated is Burke's Law.

1,991 audiobooks
Cover art for Burke's Law

Burke's Law

490 ratings

Summary

Number One National Best Seller The gruffest man in hockey opens up about the challenges, the feuds, and the tragedies he's fought through. Brian Burke is one of the biggest hockey personalities - no, personalities full-stop - in the hockey media landscape. His brashness makes him a magnet for attention, and he does nothing to shy away from it. Most famous for advocating "pugnacity, truculence, testosterone, and belligerence" during his tenure at the helm of the Maple Leafs, Burke has lived and breathed hockey his whole life. He has been a player, an agent, a league executive, a scout, a Stanley Cup-winning GM, an Olympic GM, and a media analyst. He has worked with Pat Quinn, Gary Bettman, and an array of future Hall of Fame players. No one knows the game better, and no one commands more attention when they open up about it.  But there is more to Brian Burke than hockey. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and an accomplished businessman with hard-earned lessons that come from highly scrutinized decisions made at the helm of multimillion-dollar companies. And despite his brusque persona on camera and in the boardroom, he is nevertheless a father with a story to tell. He lost his youngest son in a car accident and has had to grapple with that grief, even in the glare of the spotlight. Many Canadians and hockey fans knew Brendan Burke's name already, because his father had become one of the country's most outspoken gay-rights advocates when Brendan came out in 2009. From someone whose grandmother told him never to start a fight but never to run from one either, Burke's Law is an unforgettable account of old beefs and old friendships, scores settled and differences forgiven, and many lessons learned the hard way. 

©2020 Brian Burke (P)2020 Penguin Random House Canada

Narrator: Brian Burke
Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Finding Ultra

Finding Ultra

445 ratings

Summary

Finding Ultra is Rich Roll's incredible but true account of achieving one of the most awe-inspiring midlife physical transformations ever. One cool evening in October 2006, the night before he was to turn 40, Rich experienced a chilling glimpse of his future. Nearly 50 pounds overweight at the time and unable to climb the stairs without stopping, he could see where his current sedentary lifestyle was taking him. Plunging into a new way of eating that made processed foods off-limits and prioritized plant nutrition and daily training, Rich morphed - in a matter of mere months - from out-of-shape midlifer to endurance machine. Ninety days into his physical overhaul, Rich left the house to embark on a light jog and found himself running a near marathon. It was time to scale up his goals. Finding Ultra recounts Rich's remarkable journey to the elite Ultraman World Championship competition, which pits the world's fittest humans against each other in a 320-mile ordeal of swimming, biking, and running. Following that test, Rich conquered an even greater one: the Epic5 Challenge - five Ironman-distance triathlons, each on a different Hawaiian island, all completed in less than a week. But this is much more than an edge-of-the-seat look at a series of jaw-dropping athletic feats and much more than a practical training manual for those who would attempt a similar transformation. Yes, Rich's account rivets, and yes, it instructs, providing information that will be invaluable to anyone who wants to change their physique; but this book is most notable as a powerful testament to human resiliency, for as we learn early on, Rich's childhood posed numerous physical and social challenges, and his early adulthood featured a fierce battle with alcoholism. Ultimately, Finding Ultra is a beautifully written portrait of what willpower can accomplish. It challenges all of us to rethink what we're capable of and urges us, implicitly and explicitly, to go for it. This revised and updated edition of Finding Ultra includes a new and original foreword, a bonus chapter, and updated resources. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2018 Rich Roll (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
Available on Audible
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American Buffalo

386 ratings

Summary

From the host of the Travel Channel’s The Wild Within. A hunt for the American buffalo - an adventurous, fascinating examination of an animal that has haunted the American imagination.  In 2005, Steven Rinella won a lottery permit to hunt for a wild buffalo, or American bison, in the Alaskan wilderness. Despite the odds - there’s only a two percent chance of drawing the permit, and fewer than 20 percent of those hunters are successful - Rinella managed to kill a buffalo on a snow-covered mountainside and then raft the meat back to civilization while being trailed by grizzly bears and suffering from hypothermia. Throughout these adventures, Rinella found himself contemplating his own place among the 14,000 years’ worth of buffalo hunters in North America, as well as the buffalo’s place in the American experience. At the time of the Revolutionary War, North America was home to approximately 40 million buffalo, the largest herd of big mammals on the planet, but by the mid-1890s only a few hundred remained. Now that the buffalo is on the verge of a dramatic ecological recovery across the West, Americans are faced with the challenge of how, and if, we can dare to share our land with a beast that is the embodiment of the American wilderness.  American Buffalo is a narrative tale of Rinella’s hunt. But beyond that, it is the story of the many ways in which the buffalo has shaped our national identity. Rinella takes us across the continent in search of the buffalo’s past, present, and future: to the Bering Land Bridge, where scientists search for buffalo bones amid artifacts of the New World’s earliest human inhabitants; to buffalo jumps where Native Americans once ran buffalo over cliffs by the thousands; to the Detroit Carbon works, a “bone charcoal” plant that made fortunes in the late 1800s by turning millions of tons of buffalo bones into bone meal, black dye, and fine china; and even to an abattoir turned fashion mecca in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, where a depressed buffalo named Black Diamond met his fate after serving as the model for the American nickel.   Rinella’s erudition and exuberance, combined with his gift for storytelling, make him the perfect guide for a book that combines outdoor adventure with a quirky blend of facts and observations about history, biology, and the natural world. Both a captivating narrative and a book of environmental and historical significance, American Buffalo tells us as much about ourselves as Americans as it does about the creature who perhaps best of all embodies the American ethos.

©2008, 2009 Steven Rinella (P)2019 Random House Audio

Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for This Team Is Ruining My Life (But I Love Them)

This Team Is Ruining My Life (But I Love Them)

294 ratings

Summary

Steve Dangle’s incredible odyssey, from self-starting Leafs lover to sports-media star. How do you turn ranting about hockey into a career? Steve “Dangle” Glynn is a YouTuber, podcaster, and sports personality from Toronto who managed to turn a 16-second online rant about the Maple Leafs into a career in sports media. From video blogging in his parents’ house at 19 to yelling on televisions across Canada at 28, Dangle has been involved with some of the most important sports companies in the country.  In between tales of Steve’s adventures, both online and off, This Team Is Ruining My Life is also a kind of how-to (or how-not-to) guide: in an ever-evolving media landscape, sometimes, you have to get creative to find the job you want. This is Steve Dangle and his accidentally-on-purpose journey through sports media so far.

©2019 Steve Glynn (P)2019 ECW Press

Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Offside

Offside

289 ratings

Summary

Hockey's most polarizing figure takes us inside the game, shedding light on not only what goes on behind closed doors but also what makes professional athletes tick. As one of the NHL's most polarizing players, Sean Avery turned the rules of professional hockey on their head. For 13 seasons, he played for some of the most storied franchises in the league, including the Detroit Red Wings, the Los Angeles Kings, and the New York Rangers, making his mark in each city as a player who was sometimes loved, sometimes despised, and always controversial. In Offside, Avery displays his trademark candor about the world of pro hockey and does for it what Jim Bouton's game-changing Ball Four did for baseball. Avery goes deep inside the sport to reveal every aspect of pro athletes' lives, from how they spend their money and their nights off to how they stay sharp and conditioned and employed. Avery also examines his singular career path - while playing the talented villain on ice, he skated out of character in the off-season, taking on unexpected and unprecedented roles: Vogue intern, fashion model, advertising executive, restaurateur, gay rights advocate, and many more. Rollickingly honest and compelling throughout, Offside transcends the sports book genre and offers a rare, unvarnished glimpse into the world of 21st-century hockey through the eyes of one of its most original and memorable players.

©2017 Sean Avery (P)2017 Viking

Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Into Thin Air

Into Thin Air

277 ratings

Summary

One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley. This is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history. In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day eight people were dead. Krakauer's audiobook is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape. As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads his listeners to ponder timeless questions.

©2011 Jon Krakauer (P)2016 Audible, Ltd

Narrator: Philip Franklin
Author: Jon Krakauer
Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Endure

Endure

272 ratings

Summary

Featuring a foreword by Malcolm Gladwell Writing from both the cutting edge of scientific discovery and the front-lines of elite athletic performance, National Magazine Award-winning science journalist Alex Hutchinson presents a revolutionary account of the dynamic and controversial new science of endurance. The capacity to endure is perhaps the key trait that separates champions and determines great performance in any field - from a 100-meter sprint to a 100-mile ultramarathon, from summiting Everest to acing finals. But what if everything we've been taught about endurance was wrong? What if we all have more potential than we think to go farther, push harder, and achieve more? Blending cutting-edge science and gripping storytelling in the vein of Malcolm Gladwell - who forewords the book - Hutchinson reveals that a wave of paradigm-altering research over the past decade suggests that the seemingly physical barriers you encounter are mediated as much by your brain as by your body. But it's not "all in your head." For each of the physical limits that Hutchinson explores - pain, muscle, oxygen, heat, thirst, fuel - he carefully disentangles the delicate interplay of mind and muscle by telling the riveting stories of men and women who've approached (and sometimes surpassed) their own ultimate limits. As the longtime "Sweat Science" columnist for Outside and Runner's World as well as a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and New York Times, Hutchinson draws on his background as a former national-team long-distance runner and Cambridge-trained physicist. But the lessons he draws from traveling to labs around the world and trying out new endurance-boosting techniques like electric brain stimulation and brain endurance training are surprisingly universal. Endurance, he writes, is "the struggle to continue against a mounting desire to stop" - and we're always capable of pushing a little farther.

©2018 Alex Hutchinson (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Narrator: Robert G. Slade
Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Open

Open

184 ratings

Summary

From Andre Agassi, one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court, a beautiful, haunting autobiography. Agassi's incredibly rigorous training begins when he is just a child. By the age of 13, he is banished to a Florida tennis camp that feels like a prison camp. Lonely, scared, a ninth-grade dropout, he rebels in ways that will soon make him a 1980s icon. He dyes his hair, pierces his ears, dresses like a punk rocker. By the time he turns pro at 16, his new look promises to change tennis forever, as does his lightning-fast return. And yet, despite his raw talent, he struggles early on. We feel his confusion as he loses to the world's best, his greater confusion as he starts to win. After stumbling in three Grand Slam finals, Agassi shocks the world, and himself, by capturing the 1992 Wimbledon. Overnight, he becomes a fan favorite and a media target. Agassi brings a near-photographic memory to every pivotal match and every relationship. Never before has the inner game of tennis and the outer game of fame been so precisely limned. Alongside vivid portraits of rivals from several generations - Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer - Agassi gives unstinting accounts of his brief time with Barbra Streisand and his doomed marriage to Brooke Shields. He reveals a shattering loss of confidence. And he recounts his spectacular resurrection, a comeback climaxing with his epic run at the 1999 French Open and his march to become the oldest man ever ranked number one. With its breakneck tempo and raw candor, Open will be listened to and cherished for years. A treat for ardent fans, it will also captivate listeners who know nothing about tennis. Like Agassi's game, it sets a new standard for grace, style, speed, and power.

©2009 Andre Agassi (P)2009 Random House

Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

179 ratings

Summary

The number one New York Times best seller based on years of reporting and interviews with more than 250 people from every corner of Tiger Woods’s life - this “comprehensive, propulsive...and unsparing” (The New Yorker) biography is “an ambitious 360-degree portrait of golf’s most scrutinized figure...brimming with revealing details” (Golf Digest). In 2009, Tiger Woods was the most famous athlete on the planet, a transcendent star of almost unfathomable fame and fortune living what appeared to be the perfect life. But it turned out he had been living a double life for years - one that exploded in the aftermath of a Thanksgiving-night crash that exposed his serial infidelity and sent his personal and professional lives over a cliff. In this “searing biography of golf’s most blazing talent” (GOLF magazine), Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian dig deep behind the headlines to produce a richly reported answer to the question that has mystified millions of sports fans for nearly a decade: who is Tiger Woods, really?  Drawing on more than 400 interviews with people from every corner of Woods’s life - many of whom have never spoken about him on the record before - Benedict and Keteyian construct a captivating psychological profile of a mixed-race child programmed by an attention-grabbing father and the original Tiger Mom to be the “chosen one”, to change not just the game of golf, but the world as well. But at what cost? Benedict and Keteyian provide the starling answers in this definitive biography that is destined to linger in the minds of listeners for years to come.  “Irresistible.... Immensely readable.... Benedict and Keteyian bring us along for the ride in a whirlwind of a biography that reads honest and true.” (The Wall Street Journal)  Ultimately, Tiger Woods is “a big American story...exhilarating, depressing, tawdry, and moving in almost equal measure” (The New York Times). 

©2018 Jeff Benedict, Armen Keteyian (P)2018 Simon & Schuster Audio

Narrator: Roger Casey
Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Undisputed Truth

Undisputed Truth

146 ratings

Summary

Philosopher, Broadway headliner, fighter, felon - Mike Tyson has defied stereotypes, expectations, and a lot of conventional wisdom during his three decades in the public eye. Bullied as a boy in the toughest, poorest neighborhood in Brooklyn, Tyson grew up to become one of the most thrilling and ferocious boxers of all time - and the youngest heavyweight champion ever. But his brilliance in the ring was often compromised by reckless behavior. Years of hard partying, violent fights, and criminal proceedings took their toll: by 2003, Tyson had hit rock bottom, a convicted felon, completely broke, the punch line to a thousand bad late-night jokes. Yet he fought his way back; the man who once admitted being addicted "to everything" regained his success, his dignity, and the love of his family. With a triumphant one-man stage show, his unforgettable performances in the Hangover films, and his newfound happiness and stability as a father and husband, Tyson's story is an inspiring American original. Brutally honest, raw, and often hilarious, Tyson chronicles his tumultuous highs and lows in the same sincere, straightforward manner we have come to expect from this legendary athlete. A singular journey from Brooklyn's ghettos to worldwide fame to notoriety, and, finally, to a tranquil wisdom, Undisputed Truth is not only a great sports memoir but an autobiography for the ages.

©2013 Mike Tyson and Larry Sloman (P)2013 Penguin Audio

Narrator: Joshua Henry
Length: 20 hrs and 46 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for North

North

133 ratings

Summary

From the author of the best seller Eat and Run, a thrilling new memoir about his grueling, exhilarating, and immensely inspiring 46 day run to break the speed record for the Appalachian Trail. Scott Jurek is one of the world's best known and most beloved ultrarunners. Renowned for his remarkable endurance and speed, accomplished on a vegan diet, he's finished first in nearly all of ultrarunning's elite events over the course of his career. But after two decades of racing, training, speaking, and touring, Jurek felt an urgent need to discover something new about himself. He embarked on a wholly unique challenge, one that would force him to grow as a person and as an athlete: breaking the speed record for the Appalachian Trail. North is the story of the 2,189 mile journey that nearly shattered him. When he set out in the spring of 2015, Jurek anticipated punishing terrain, forbidding weather, and inevitable injuries. He would have to run nearly 50 miles a day, every day, for almost seven weeks. He knew he would be pushing himself to the limit, that comfort and rest would be in short supply - but he couldn't have imagined the physical and emotional toll the trip would exact, nor the rewards it would offer. With his wife, Jenny, friends, and the kindness of strangers supporting him, Jurek ran, hiked, and stumbled his way north, one white blaze at a time. A stunning narrative of perseverance and personal transformation, North is a portrait of a man stripped bare on the most demanding and transcendent effort of his life. It will inspire runners and non-runners alike to keep striving for their personal best.   PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio. 

©2018 Scott Jurek, Jenny Jurek (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Chasing Excellence: A Story About Building the World's Fittest Athletes

Chasing Excellence: A Story About Building the World's Fittest Athletes

132 ratings

Summary

CrossFit trainer Ben Bergeron has helped build the world's fittest athletes, but he's not like other coaches. He believes that greatness is not for the elite few; that winning is a result, not a goal; and that character, not talent, is what makes a true champion. His powerful philosophy can help anyone excel at all aspects of life. Using the dramatic competition between the top contenders at the 2016 Reebok CrossFit Games® as a background, Ben explores the step-by-step process of achieving excellence and the unique set of positive character traits necessary for leveling up to world-class. The mindset and methodology that have produced some of the greatest athletes in the world's most grueling sport can work equally well for golfers, lawyers, artists, entrepreneurs - anyone who's willing to commit totally to becoming better than the best. By Chasing Excellence, you'll discover how extraordinary it's possible for you to be.

©2017 Ben Bergeron (P)2017 Ben Bergeron

Narrator: Ben Bergeron
Author: Ben Bergeron
Length: 3 hrs and 58 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Under the Black Hat

Under the Black Hat

118 ratings

Summary

From legendary wrestling announcer Jim Ross comes a candid, colorful memoir about the inner workings of the WWE and the personal crises he weathered at the height of his career. If you've caught a televised wrestling match anytime in the past 30 years, you've probably heard Jim Ross' throaty Oklahoma twang. The beloved longtime announcer of WWE is already an icon to generations of wrestling fans, and he's not slowing down, having just signed on as the announcer of the starry new wrestling venture All Elite Wrestling. In this follow-up to his best-selling memoir Slobberknocker, he dishes about not only his long career, which includes nurturing global stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and John Cena, but also about the challenges of aging and disability, his split from collaborator Vince McMahon, and the sudden death of his beloved wife, Jan. The result is a gruff, endearing, and remarkably human-scale portrait, set against the larger-than-life backdrop of professional wrestling. Ross' ascent in WWE mirrors the rise of professional wrestling itself from a DIY sideshow to a billion-dollar business. Under the Black Hat traces all the highs and lows of that wild ride, in which Jim served not only as on-air commentator, but talent manager, payroll master, and even occasional in-ring foil to threats like Paul "Triple H" Levesque and Undertaker. While his role brought him riches and exposure Jim never dreamed of growing up in a small town in Oklahoma, he chafed against the strictures of a fickle corporate culture and what he saw as a narrow vision of what makes great wrestlers - and great story lines. When suddenly stricken with Bell's palsy, a form of facial paralysis that makes it impossible to smile, he stared down his greatest fear - being cast out of the announcing booth for good. Picking up where Slobberknocker left off and ending on the cusp of a new career in a reimagined industry, Under the Black Hat is the triumphant tale of a country boy who made it to the top, took a few knocks, and stuck around - just where his fans like him.

©2020 Jim Ross (P)2020 Simon & Schuster

Narrator: Jim Ross
Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for The Boys in the Boat

The Boys in the Boat

112 ratings

Summary

The #1 New York Times–bestselling story about American Olympic triumph in Nazi Germany, the inspiration for the PBS documentary The Boys of '36, broadcast to coincide with the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 80th anniversary of the boys' gold medal race. Daniel James Brown's robust book tells the story of the University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936. The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower, Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered self-regard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled by an enigmatic coach and mentored by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious team. They remind the country of what can be done when everyone quite literally pulls together - a perfect melding of commitment, determination, and optimism. Drawing on the boys' own diaries and journals, their photos and memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, The Boys in the Boat is an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times - the improbable, intimate story of nine working-class boys from the American west who, in the depths of the Great Depression, showed the world what true grit really meant. It will appeal to readers of Erik Larson, Timothy Egan, James Bradley, and David Halberstam's The Amateurs.

©2013 Daniel James Brown (P)2013 Penguin Audio

Narrator: Edward Herrmann
Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Slobberknocker

Slobberknocker

107 ratings

Summary

There are few people who have been in the wrestling business longer than Jim Ross. And those who have made it as long as he has (half a century to be exact) probably made enemies or burned bridges. But that's just not JR. Slobberknocker is the story of how an Oklahoman farm kid with a vivid imagination and seemingly unattainable dreams became "The Voice of Wrestling" to record TV audiences and millions of fans around the world. Jim opens up about his life as an only child on a working farm, who became obsessed with professional wrestling having first seen it on his grandparents' TV. Even though the wrestling business was notoriously secretive and wary of "outsiders", he somehow got a foot in the door to start a historic career, one where he held almost every job in the business - from putting up the ring to calling matches, from driving his blind, drunk boss toward revenge to consoling two naked 600-pound brothers in the shower room after a rough match. With all those adventures and responsibilities, he's also recognized as the man who built and nurtured a once-in-a-generation talent roster that took the WWE to new heights, including "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, and The Rock, to name a few. Listeners will finally get the opportunity to hear never-before-told stories about the politics, wackiness, and personalities of all the biggest stars. But this isn't just a wrestling story. It's a story about overcoming adversity and achieving your dreams, as success did not come without significant costs and unforeseen challenges to JR, including multiple bouts of severe facial paralysis called Bell's palsy. Currently he is the host of the podcast The Ross Report. Any fan of wrestling- from the territory days to today - will be enthralled with stories from the road and behind the scenes. Slobberknocker is the first time Ross tells his story - and you don't want to miss it!

©2017 Jim Ross with Paul O'Brien (P)2017 Novel Audio Inc.

Available on Audible
Cover art for A Walk in the Woods

A Walk in the Woods

101 ratings

Summary

The Appalachian Trail covers 14 states, and over 2,000 miles. It stretches along the East Coast of the United States, from Maine in the north to Georgia in the south. It is famous for being the longest continuous footpath in the world. (Compare this with the Pennine Way, which is a mere 250 miles long.) It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas - 'redneck' country - Moonshine, Lil’ Abner, 'There’s bears in them thar hills.' Remember the film Deliverance? God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake this gruelling hike. Perhaps it was just a long-held ambition to lose weight: he has lost two stone so far. As he recently wrote from the trail to his publisher: ‘Speaking of vigorous exercise, boy have I just had some. Maine was a bitch. I want you to come back and walk it with me so that when you die if you go to hell you will be able to say: “Call this hell? Try walking across Maine in August.'" Reared in the tradition of Mark Twain, James Thurber, and S.J. Perelman, Bryson used his many years in Britain to soak up a peculiarly English sense of irony and humour and to hone a laugh-out-loud style that is uniquely, hilariously, his own.

©2004 Bill Bryson (P)2004 Random House Audiobooks

Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Moneyball

Moneyball

100 ratings

Summary

Moneyball is a quest for something as elusive as the Holy Grail, something that money apparently can't buy: the secret of success in baseball. The logical places to look would be the giant offices of major league teams and the dugouts. But the real jackpot is a cache of numbers collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors. In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win.... How can we not cheer for David?

©2004 Michael Lewis (P)2012 Audible Ltd

Narrator: Scott Brick
Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Eleven Rings

Eleven Rings

100 ratings

Summary

During his storied career as head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson won more championships than any coach in the history of professional sports. Even more important, he succeeded in never wavering from coaching his way, from a place of deep values. Jackson was tagged as the "Zen master" half in jest by sportswriters, but the nickname speaks to an important truth: this is a coach who inspired, not goaded; who led by awakening and challenging the better angels of his players' nature, not their egos, fear, or greed. This is the story of a preacher's kid from North Dakota who grew up to be one of the most innovative leaders of our time. In his quest to reinvent himself, Jackson explored everything from humanistic psychology and Native American philosophy to Zen meditation. In the process, he developed a new approach to leadership based on freedom, authenticity, and selfless teamwork that turned the hypercompetitive world of professional sports on its head. In Eleven Rings, Jackson candidly describes how he: Learned the secrets of mindfulness and team chemistry while playing for the champion New York Knicks in the 1970s Managed Michael Jordan, the greatest player in the world, and got him to embrace selflessness, even if it meant losing a scoring title Forged successful teams out of players of varying abilities by getting them to trust one another and perform in sync Inspired Dennis Rodman and other "uncoachable" personalities to devote themselves to something larger than themselves Transformed Kobe Bryant from a rebellious teenager into a mature leader of a championship team. Eleven times, Jackson led his teams to the ultimate goal: the NBA championship - six times with the Chicago Bulls and five times with the Los Angeles Lakers. We all know the legendary stars on those teams, or think we do. What Eleven Rings shows us, however, is that when it comes to the most important lessons, we don't know very much at all. This book is full of revelations: about fascinating personalities and their drive to win; about the wellsprings of motivation and competition at the highest levels; and about what it takes to bring out the best in ourselves and others.

©2013 Phil Jackson & Hugh Delehanty (P)2013 Penguin Audio

Narrator: Matt Walton
Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Game Change

Game Change

98 ratings

Summary

From the best-selling author and Hall of Famer Ken Dryden, this is the story of NHLer Steve Montador - who was diagnosed with CTE after his death in 2015 - the remarkable evolution of hockey itself, and a passionate prescriptive to counter its greatest risk in the future: head injuries.  Ken Dryden's The Game is acknowledged as the best book about hockey and one of the best books about sports ever written. Then came Home Game (with Roy MacGregor), also a major TV series, in which he explored hockey's significance and what it means to Canada and Canadians. Now, in his most powerful and important book yet, Game Change, Ken Dryden tells the riveting story of one player's life, examines the intersection between science and sport, and expertly documents the progression of the game of hockey - where it began, how it got to where it is, where it can go from here, and, just as exciting to play and watch, how it can get there. 

©2017 Ken Dryden (P)2017 Penguin Random House Canada

Narrator: Ken Dryden
Author: Ken Dryden
Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
Available on Audible
Cover art for Game Change

Game Change

98 ratings

Summary

From the best-selling author and Hall of Famer Ken Dryden, this is the story of NHLer Steve Montador - who was diagnosed with CTE after his death in 2015 - the remarkable evolution of hockey itself, and a passionate prescriptive to counter its greatest risk in the future: head injuries.  Ken Dryden's The Game is acknowledged as the best book about hockey and one of the best books about sports ever written. Then came Home Game (with Roy MacGregor), also a major TV series, in which he explored hockey's significance and what it means to Canada and Canadians. Now, in his most powerful and important book yet, Game Change, Ken Dryden tells the riveting story of one player's life, examines the intersection between science and sport, and expertly documents the progression of the game of hockey - where it began, how it got to where it is, where it can go from here, and, just as exciting to play and watch, how it can get there. 

©2017 Ken Dryden (P)2017 Penguin Random House Canada

Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
Available on Audible