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What Sport Tells Us About Life: And Other Revelations From Inside The Mind Of A Professional Spo
Why will there never be another Bradman? How do you win 33 games in a row? Why did Zidane lose his rag on the world's stage? Foraying deep into sport's leftfield, Ed smith asks the questions we rarely ask of our teams and players. When is cheating really cheating? Is the free market good for sport? Can talent be a curse? Does luck matter? His answers, often controversial and always thought provoking, will delight anyone who has ever wondered why sport matters.
- GenresSportsNonfictionSociety
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
11 people are currently reading
118 people want to read
About the author
Ed Smith
103 books8 followersEd Smith is an author and journalist, and a former international cricketer who has represented England, Cambridge University, Kent and Middlesex. Ed Smith's previous books include Playing Hard Ball, On and Off the Field -- the Wisden Book of the Year and shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and The Cricket Society Book of the Year Award -- and the critically acclaimed, What Sport Tells Us About Life. After retiring from cricket Ed Smith became a leader writer for The Times. He lives in London.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
May 18, 2012
Great book which takes a light look at sporting anomalies and why they happen. The author's strong grasp of statistics, sporting history and life-skills of pro sportsmen gives him an unique insight into conundrums.
I like a lot of his writing - but you need a good vocabulary and an ability to grasp long sentence constructions and complex concepts. It's not a "light read" at bedtime.
Recommend
I like a lot of his writing - but you need a good vocabulary and an ability to grasp long sentence constructions and complex concepts. It's not a "light read" at bedtime.
Recommend
May 16, 2021
This book vindicates my belief that a lot of life lessons can be learnt from the field of play.
November 23, 2019
A bit disappointed with this book. More than anything, I struggled to get into synch with his writing style, but I’m also quite critical of too many chapters that didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know / didn’t really have a point, and far too much of a focus on cricket examples
I did though enjoy his story set in Wales and his Zidane and Bradman chapters
However. overall, I wouldn’t recommend unfortunately
I did though enjoy his story set in Wales and his Zidane and Bradman chapters
However. overall, I wouldn’t recommend unfortunately
March 3, 2024
Hard to find a cohesive narrative or link between the chapters, with very few passages that made me pause for thought. Usually I can walk away with one or two quotes from a novel, but even having underlined a few passages, and then going back to re-read them, nothing stuck.
August 23, 2020
Very thought-provoking and interesting. Told me a lot about myself that I did not already realise and put sport's amazing multidimensionality into context.
January 17, 2021
Insightful.
March 3, 2022
well articulated how much of elite sport is mental and discussed interesting topics without taking itself too seriously
Read
April 4, 2023Bit hard to read at times as I don't have as much interest in some of his references but definitely some interesting ideas here.
Read
April 24, 2025More questions than answers. Narrative quiet weak
January 7, 2012
This being my very first book by Ed Smith, i didnt know exactly what to expect. I had read a few articles by him related to cricket and found them a lot less shallow and well thought through than the regular i-will-tell-you-what-i-saw kind of article. Also, Ed Smith came highly recommended by my friend Vishy, and he being quite a discerning reader, I did have high expectations. I was not disappointed.
The breadth of topics ranged from the classic discussion points about talent v/s practice to the effects of free market capitalism to the usually hardly brought up issues of cheating in the game and even the role played by luck.
Overall, I think the author managed not just to stick to the central theme of the book across the book but managed to use excellent analogies to tie in the broader aspects of both sports and life without making it sound too preachy or philosophical. The only misfit for me seemed to be the chapter on marxism, CLR James and Cricket. This chapter somehow didnt quite fit into the scheme of the book and seemed to be more like something added to make up the numbers. It might have been more apt for a book on cricket but not one that necessarily had any place in a general discussion on sport.
I liked was the way he has drawn from his knowledge / experience on a wide variety of sports like rugby, baseball, football , basketball and of course cricket in various instances to illustrate his point. I might have been a lot less convinced of some of his arguments if they all revolved around the authors experience in his primary sport i.e. cricket. While it may not be necessarily the case, but to me at least, the fact that that topics being discussed are relevant and apply to sport in general and that seems to justify what would otherwise have been a too grandiose title for the book.
While i was quite happy about the range of topics he chose to discuss, I must say that I thought there was nothing new / interesting in his talk about some of the topics. I did end up feeling that all he does in these chapters is state the obvious. While there might be nothing wrong in doing that, i must say i expected a bit more than that especially as some of the other chapters held for me at least, brilliant insights into how professional players both think and play but also how it affects their lives. As a result, my least favourite parts of the book are chapters like 4. Talent curse 6. History matters 8. Luck matters 10. Cheating
My most favourite parts of the book are the chapters on Bradman, Amateurism in sport, Zidanes kiss and Swansea. I especially loved the one about Zidanes Kiss because i found it very insightful. It is one of those events that i saw live on TV and being a hard-core supporter of the Azurri, i didnt mind it at all but I have wondered - many a times - as to why he did it. The authors insight into that seemed to me, to be a very plausible argument and something i would never have thought of - on my own device. I also loved the article about Swansea because it almost made me feel like i was with the author on St. Helens and witnessing its decay. I could almost, feel his pain at what was lost - the connection of elite sport with everyday life. It was definitely one of the highlights of the book for me.
My favourite truism in this book was the following quote in the chapter "What do people see when they watch sport".About the "Passive fan", he writes and i quote They constantly find in sport new versions of old stories - the oldest and deepest stories of all. They may wish these stories would turn out happily more often, but they recognize that they never will. Theirs is a hope tinged with regret, a very human kind of hope
The breadth of topics ranged from the classic discussion points about talent v/s practice to the effects of free market capitalism to the usually hardly brought up issues of cheating in the game and even the role played by luck.
Overall, I think the author managed not just to stick to the central theme of the book across the book but managed to use excellent analogies to tie in the broader aspects of both sports and life without making it sound too preachy or philosophical. The only misfit for me seemed to be the chapter on marxism, CLR James and Cricket. This chapter somehow didnt quite fit into the scheme of the book and seemed to be more like something added to make up the numbers. It might have been more apt for a book on cricket but not one that necessarily had any place in a general discussion on sport.
I liked was the way he has drawn from his knowledge / experience on a wide variety of sports like rugby, baseball, football , basketball and of course cricket in various instances to illustrate his point. I might have been a lot less convinced of some of his arguments if they all revolved around the authors experience in his primary sport i.e. cricket. While it may not be necessarily the case, but to me at least, the fact that that topics being discussed are relevant and apply to sport in general and that seems to justify what would otherwise have been a too grandiose title for the book.
While i was quite happy about the range of topics he chose to discuss, I must say that I thought there was nothing new / interesting in his talk about some of the topics. I did end up feeling that all he does in these chapters is state the obvious. While there might be nothing wrong in doing that, i must say i expected a bit more than that especially as some of the other chapters held for me at least, brilliant insights into how professional players both think and play but also how it affects their lives. As a result, my least favourite parts of the book are chapters like 4. Talent curse 6. History matters 8. Luck matters 10. Cheating
My most favourite parts of the book are the chapters on Bradman, Amateurism in sport, Zidanes kiss and Swansea. I especially loved the one about Zidanes Kiss because i found it very insightful. It is one of those events that i saw live on TV and being a hard-core supporter of the Azurri, i didnt mind it at all but I have wondered - many a times - as to why he did it. The authors insight into that seemed to me, to be a very plausible argument and something i would never have thought of - on my own device. I also loved the article about Swansea because it almost made me feel like i was with the author on St. Helens and witnessing its decay. I could almost, feel his pain at what was lost - the connection of elite sport with everyday life. It was definitely one of the highlights of the book for me.
My favourite truism in this book was the following quote in the chapter "What do people see when they watch sport".About the "Passive fan", he writes and i quote They constantly find in sport new versions of old stories - the oldest and deepest stories of all. They may wish these stories would turn out happily more often, but they recognize that they never will. Theirs is a hope tinged with regret, a very human kind of hope
February 14, 2017
One of the things interesting about sport and life as far as conversation and opinion goes (not necessarily the same event) is the amount of polarisation that goes on, art and sport or art and education being opposites for instance, or that sport is trivial and other pursuits are more worthy and serious. Sometimes there's a class basis to this kind of discussion, even regarding what sports you're supposed to like, or play, or watch.
For me, a genuine interest in sport has enabled connection with my fellow males, who otherwise struggle with my intellectual interests. Those who know me from the intellectual side (or what passes for it) can be surprised that I would be interested in football, for instance, or even have played it at some level. These include other males, but also people in general who presume book-reading and writing don't go with chasing a ball around, in whatever format.
By doing so there's a lot missed about people and society in general particularly if you have difficulty in believing anyone can be interested in "A" and if they do, they must be subhuman or a snob and whatever their interest is should be banned, balls or books. Barbara Ehrenreich deals with a variant of this in her Dancing in the Streets, about "collective joy" – it's a great book, even though the "joy" outlined in it isn't to my taste.
Some people love their sport more than anything else – family, children, work, religion. The latter has countless stories on where the boundaries of worship lie. The mother of a friend of mine used to attend football games with him and a small group that included me. The team we were supporting was more important than her husband (who supported a different club), or her 5 children. She didn't really know much about the game in depth, as the rest of us fancied we did, but it was an important part of her life, and so deserved respect.
Ed Smith is an educated man, successful at cricket and writing. I've previously read his book on Luck, which is well worth reading, and a brief chapter here is on that topic. There are other chapters on amateurism, the curse of talent, the free market, price, champions like Zidane, and Bradman, cheating, why history matters in sport, Moneyball etc, what people see when they watch sport and so on.
Smith is a good writer. He's clear in his prose, thinks clearly, gives appropriate examples, including from his experience. It's an advantage if you know something about his sport (cricket) but he also talks about rugby, baseball, soccer and other general observations. This isn't two-dimensional like many sport or general interest texts and there are genuine insights even if you know little about it. It's a nice, relaxing read that gets you to think about all sorts of things, in the context of sport.
For me, a genuine interest in sport has enabled connection with my fellow males, who otherwise struggle with my intellectual interests. Those who know me from the intellectual side (or what passes for it) can be surprised that I would be interested in football, for instance, or even have played it at some level. These include other males, but also people in general who presume book-reading and writing don't go with chasing a ball around, in whatever format.
By doing so there's a lot missed about people and society in general particularly if you have difficulty in believing anyone can be interested in "A" and if they do, they must be subhuman or a snob and whatever their interest is should be banned, balls or books. Barbara Ehrenreich deals with a variant of this in her Dancing in the Streets, about "collective joy" – it's a great book, even though the "joy" outlined in it isn't to my taste.
Some people love their sport more than anything else – family, children, work, religion. The latter has countless stories on where the boundaries of worship lie. The mother of a friend of mine used to attend football games with him and a small group that included me. The team we were supporting was more important than her husband (who supported a different club), or her 5 children. She didn't really know much about the game in depth, as the rest of us fancied we did, but it was an important part of her life, and so deserved respect.
Ed Smith is an educated man, successful at cricket and writing. I've previously read his book on Luck, which is well worth reading, and a brief chapter here is on that topic. There are other chapters on amateurism, the curse of talent, the free market, price, champions like Zidane, and Bradman, cheating, why history matters in sport, Moneyball etc, what people see when they watch sport and so on.
Smith is a good writer. He's clear in his prose, thinks clearly, gives appropriate examples, including from his experience. It's an advantage if you know something about his sport (cricket) but he also talks about rugby, baseball, soccer and other general observations. This isn't two-dimensional like many sport or general interest texts and there are genuine insights even if you know little about it. It's a nice, relaxing read that gets you to think about all sorts of things, in the context of sport.
March 23, 2010
A book by an English professional cricket player is a collection of essays on sports' lessons for life. Some are quite insightful, and Smith is both well-read and knows a decent amount about other sports, particularly baseball. That said, the essay for me that would have been the best--whether capitalism is good for sports--was completely off the mark, missing the point that European soccer is pure capitalism, leading to amazing club teams that often hemorrhage money while American sports, particularly football, are incredibly socialist with salary caps and revenue sharing such that tiny markets like Green Bay and Jacksonville have teams and LA has none. He seemed to conclude that parity rules in soccer, when it doesn't, and focused too much on baseball and cricket where the money wars are different.
September 12, 2016
I'd give this 3.5 stars if I could, but on this scale I believe in rounding up. Sometimes the top-heavy cricket stories, followed by rugby stories in second place, felt a bit relentless when there are so many sports to choose from. However, I check this feeling and decide I'm being harsh; to have a professional sportsman that can write - and express his own thoughts - so well is a rarity! Plus, these are sports I tend to not to watch often (baseball gets many mentions too) so it was an interesting insight into a different area of team sports.
This was a great choice for a long weekend holiday in Dorset, a quick but thought-provoking read. Also, Smith's book references have given me cause to note down three books for future reading, so it's been a definite success.
This was a great choice for a long weekend holiday in Dorset, a quick but thought-provoking read. Also, Smith's book references have given me cause to note down three books for future reading, so it's been a definite success.
January 6, 2009
It was never anything other than an effortless pleasure to turn each page. You obviously have to love sport, and cricket in particular, but Smith has an easy and sincere style which is greatly helped by Smith being a current sportsman, whose been at the top of his game, and who writes his own words. Some of the philosophical stuff tried a little too hard to be profound, but that's easily forgiven and this is a thoroughly recommended read to anyone with a passing interest in sport.
April 16, 2009
Without wanting to damn with faint praise, it is a really interesting book. Sport is ultimately all about having fun, but Ed Smith adds an analytical and intellectual approach to the meaning of sport which, grafted onto his own experiences as an international sportsman, casts some events in a totally new light. I love books about sport that also make you think, and this is almost up there with Simon Barnes' book for quality.
June 5, 2008
Extremely insightful and thought provoking. Very readable chapters on a number of aspects of why we love sport so much. Whether it's talent, luck, cheating or history Smith has a way of explaining the importance of different qualities that combine to make successful sportmen or sportswomen tick.
July 3, 2011
The early chapters were mostly pop psychology - and really didn't say much at all. A couple of the later chapters were fairly interesting - especially the chapter on his Welsh roots. Overall, it was all a bit random and didn't really seem to reflect the statement on the front of the book.
September 28, 2012
I'm in the middle of a very good run of sports books at the moment. Illuminating and entertaining from someone who was also good enough to play for England. Shove it in the Christmas stocking of any thinking sports fan.
October 21, 2013
Very good book in so much detail it appealed a lot to me. Sometimes it is hard to understand but never the less so good. This book is great for other reasons like if you find a chapter hard or boring you can skip it! All you have to read is the intro and the chapters that appeal to you.
April 4, 2009
great book, particularly sharp on why england won the ashes in 2005
January 4, 2011
The book begins well but drags you later on.
A cricket fan might love the book but for the rest, it's very mediocre.
A cricket fan might love the book but for the rest, it's very mediocre.
April 24, 2012
One of the best books about Sport and Life. You do not have to be interested in sport to enjoy this.
June 12, 2013
Right up my street
April 13, 2017
An interesting reflection on the role of sport in society from one of the better sports writers out there. Doesn't really have a coherent structure throughout so it feels more like a collection of essays on the topic, but it's a good read for sports fans who are looking for a bit of ammo when trying to explain to non-sports friends about why sport matters. 6/10
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews