New to the catalogue

(Photo Credit: Harper Press)

After the excitement of the Olympic Cycling Road Races at the weekend, it seems appropriate to highlight an interesting new addition to our collections, ‘The Bicycle Book’.

Since the Millennium, the number of cyclists in the United Kingdom has quadrupled. Thousands of people go to work by bicycle every day and the numbers taking it up are increasing. Just what is it about cycling which appeals to so many?

Bella Bathurst examines this growing trend in her latest book and provides us with some fascinating tales about the bicycle in the process.  These range from the interesting, to the bizarre,  to the downright dangerous, such as the woman who water-cycled across the English Channel, the ‘secret life’ of Couriers and even how the bicycle has been used as a war-time weapon.

The history of the bicycle is a thrilling one and Bathhurst is a fantastic story teller.  With its host of characters, and interesting details, this book will appeal to many, not only cycling fans.

You can find further details of The Bicycle Book  on our catalogue.

(Photo credit: SportsBooks)

Usain Bolt is the world’s most recognisable track and field star. He is a firm favourite to retain his sprint titles at the London Olympics this year.

Usain Bolt was a gawky teenager when he took part in the Olympics in Athens in 2004 and departed almost unnoticed after failing to get beyond the heats of his event. Just five years later at the 2009 World Championships he won three gold medals.

Two years later, the eager anticipation of Bolt defending the 100 meters in London in August 2012 saw more than one million people apply for tickets to see the final of that event alone.

Unlike so many other modern track sprinters, Bolt has transformed his sport with a smile, that “trademark” lightning bolt pose and even on some occasions a dance.

Steven Downes’s book reveals the man behind the clowning and the gold medal performances.

You can find further details of Usain Bolt on our catalogue.

(Photo credit: Quercus Editions Ltd.)

With the London Olympics drawing nearer, sport and its place in society are very much in the news at the moment. What is sport and why do we love it?

The Victor’s Crown is an engaging book in which David Potter takes a look at the role of sport in the ancient world. He begins with an analysis of the way competitive sport emerged in Greece during the eighth century BC, before moving on to the original Olympic Games, the disciplines in which athletes competed and the conditions for the participants and spectators.

Our own current obsession with all things sporting pales in comparison to the way in which organised games saturated the culture and politics of the ancient world. The Ancient Greeks devoted more space to recording athletic endeavour than they did to political events.

However, many of the features of the ancient Olympics will be familiar to sport fans today – the competitors with their entourages, the huge crowds, the inevitable politicisation of the event.

We meet the great athletes of the past and discover what it was that made them so great. The rise of the Roman Empire transformed the sporting world by popularizing new forms of entertainment (chiefly a specialized form of chariot racing and gladiatorial combat).

Potter shows us what it was like to be a fan and a competitor, and how to fight like a gladiator.

The Victor’s Crown is not just a history of ancient sport, but also an examination of the role sport has played throughout history.

You can find further details of The Victor’s Crown on our catalogue.