Book recommendations?

[Isura]

I would like to start building a library of cricket books. I would like to learn about the history of the game (mostly international level, also english and maybe australian county). Also, I'd like to read some instructional books too, because I am also learning to play this great game!

I got these from my school library, but the choice is very small:

Farewell to Cricket - Bradman
Barry Richards on Cricket
Teaching Cricket Simply - Sutcliffe
The Greatest all-rounders - John Arlott
Greig on Cricket
Test Cricket, a pictorial history - kinda big and colorful

Any suggestions are appreciate.d

 

[Burgey]

On Top Down Under is a good one - I think Ray Robinson wrote it - about all of Australia's test captains.
Bradman by Roland Perry (although he fawns over him too much imo, it has some great descriptions of his innings)
Bradman by Charles Williams
Anything by Sir Neville Cardus
Anything by A A Thomson
The Art of Cricket (or something like that) by Bradman
Great Days in Test Cricket - I'll find the author for you
Great Innings by Peter Roebuck
The Art of Fast Bowling by Dennis Lillee

Just a few to get you started - there are so many.....

 

[Burgey]

BTW, may want to check out this thread as well

http://www.cricketweb.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16551

 

[andmark]

Shane Warne's Autobiography.

 

[Goughy]

If you are looking to start a library then you should look to try and pick books up across topics and time period.

A few I would recommend are

'Beyond a Boudary' by CLR James
'Rain Men: Madness of Cricket' by Marcus Berkmann
'The Art of Captaincy' by Mike Brearley
'Bodyline Autopsy' by David Frith

I'd also second a number of choices others have made in this thread

 

[pasag]

Second Beyond a Boundary but haven't finished it yet, hopefully will over the weekend. Keep the recommendations coming btw. Will look back on this thread next time I go to the bookstore.

 

[archie mac]

Great Days in Test Cricket - I'll find the author for you

Just a few to get you started - there are so many.....

Chris Martin-Jenkins?

 

[jammay123]

a few good books are penguins stopped play by thompson
and crickets strangest matches by A ward

 

[Isura]

Great, keep the suggestions coming. One thing is that I am having a hard time finding some of these books. Many of them are out of stock on amazon, so is there used book dealers that you guys use?

 

[a massive zebra]

Some classics for you to consider.

The Jubilee Book of Cricket K.S. Ranjitsinhji 1897
Great Batsmen: Their Methods at a Glance G.W. Beldham & C.B. Fry 1905
The Hambledon Men E.V. Lucas 1907
The Cricket Match Hugh de Selincourt 1924
Cricket Highways & Byways F.S. Ashley-Cooper 1927
History of Cricket H.S. Altham & E.W. Swanton 1938
10 For 66 and All That Arthur Mailey 1958
The Art of Cricket Sir Donald Bradman 1958
Beyond a Boundary C.L.R. James 1963
Harold Gimblett: Tormented Genius of Cricket David Foot 1982
The Art of Captaincy Mike Brearley 1985
A Social History of English Cricket Sir Derek Birley 1999
C.B. Fry: An English Hero Iain Wilton 1999
Mystery Spinner: The Story of Jack Iverson Gideon Haigh 2000
Bodyline Autopsy David Frith 2002

You should be able to find most of them from ebay, amazon or one of these book dealers.

 

[Perm]

Outside My Comfort Zone- Steve Waugh

I found this book to be a really good read, helped me understand Steve Waugh as both a person and as a cricketer a bit better.

 

[Fiery]

Outside My Comfort Zone- Steve Waugh

I found this book to be a really good read, helped me understand Steve Waugh as both a person and as a cricketer a bit better.

What didn't you understand?

 

[Perm]

Well it just gave me a little bit of insight into how a top professional cricketer handles failure, how he mentally prepared himself and all that sort of thing.

 

[Fiery]

Well it just gave me a little bit of insight into how a top professional cricketer handles failure, how he mentally prepared himself and all that sort of thing.

oh OK, he was a great cricketer...I should have a read some day

 

[stumpski]

I really want to get something by Gideon Haigh - I always like his articles in magazines and on the Web. Can anyone recommend one by him?

 

[steds]

Some classics for you to consider.

...

Mystery Spinner: The Story of Jack Iverson Gideon Haigh 2000

Classic? It's one of the slowest moving books I've ever read. The whole half of the book about where his family comes from/his life before cricket seems to go on forever, dragging itself around in circles. My mum, who is an insatiable reader, started it and lost interest within a day. I only carried on because I wanted to get to the bit where he actually played cricket. Gideon Haigh is brilliant. That book is not.

 

[pasag]

I really want to get something by Gideon Haigh - I always like his articles in magazines and on the Web. Can anyone recommend one by him?

A Fair Feild and No Favour. Basically the collection of his 2005 Ashes articles. Really good stuff.

 

[armchairumpire]

A Fair Feild and No Favour. Basically the collection of his 2005 Ashes articles. Really good stuff.

I am currently reading his latest offering - All Out - The Ashes 2006-07. His usual well written work.

 

[stumpski]

His books don't seem to be easy to buy in the UK ... WH Smith won't be any good, and I tried Maidstone library (which has a pretty good cricket section) without success. I probably need to try a specialist sports book dealer - or I may look on the book stall at Canterbury next time I go.

 

[Dasa]

I really want to get something by Gideon Haigh - I always like his articles in magazines and on the Web. Can anyone recommend one by him?

I quite liked The Cricket War...excellent if you're interested in the whole World Series Cricket saga. I'm reading Game for Anything at the moment - basically a collection of his articles throughout the years. Pretty good as well.