“A joy ride through the wild world of sports from the best sportswriter in the country.” —St. Paul Pioneer Press Steve Rushin, a four-time finalist for the National Magazine Award, has been hailed as one of the best sportswriters in America. In The Caddie Was a Reindeer, he circumnavigates the globe in pursuit of extreme recreation. In the Arctic Circle, he meets ice golfers. In Minnesota, he watches the National Amputee Golf Tournament, where one participant tells him, “I literally have one foot in the grave.” Along the way, Rushin meets fellow travelers like Joe Cahn, a professional tailgater who confesses aboard the RV in which he lives: “It’s wonderful to see America from your bathroom.” And even Rushin has logged fewer miles in pursuit of extreme recreation than Rich Rodriguez, a marathon roller-coaster rider who makes endless loops for entire summers on coasters around the world. The Caddie Was a Reindeer is a ride to everywhere: to south London (where Rushin downs pints with the King of Darts), to the Champs-Elysées (where the author indulges in “excessive nightclubbing” with World Cup soccer stars), and to Japan (where Rushin eats soba noodles with the world champion of competitive eating). Enlightening, hilarious, and unexpectedly heartwarming, this collection is not a body of work: it’s a body of play.

Navigating what at she calls the " extravagantly rich world of nonfiction," renowned readers' advisor (RA) Wyatt builds readers' advisory bridges from fiction to compelling and increasingly popular nonfiction to encompass the library's entire collection. She focuses on eight popular categories: history, true crime, true adventure, science, memoir, food/cooking, travel, and sports. Within each, she explains the scope, popularity, style, major authors and works, and the subject's position in readers' advisory interviews. Wyatt addresses who is reading nonfiction and why, while providing RAs with the tools and language to incorporate nonfiction into discussions that point readers to what to read next. In easy-to-follow steps, Wyatt Explains the hows and whys of offering fiction and nonfiction suggestions together Illustrates ways to get up to speed fast in nonfiction Shows how to lead readers to a variety of books using her "read-around" and "reading map" strategies Provides tools to build nonfiction subject guides for the collection This hands-on guide includes nonfiction bibliography, key authors, benchmark books with annotations, and core collections. It is destined to become the nonfiction 'bible' for readers' advisory and collection development, helping librarians, library workers, and patrons select great reading from the entire library collection!

Experience the electrifying, never-before-told true story of amusement parks, from the middle ages to present day, and meet the colorful (and sometimes criminal) characters who are responsible for their enchanting charms. Step right up! The Amusement Park is a rich, anecdotal history that begins nine centuries ago with the "pleasure gardens" of Europe and England and ends with the most elaborate modern parks in the world. It's a history told largely through the stories of the colorful, sometimes hedonistic characters who built them, including: Showmen like Joseph and Nicholas Schenck and Marcus Loew Railroad barons Andrew Mellon and Henry E. Huntington The men who ultimately destroyed the parks, including Robert Moses and Fred Trump Gifted artisans and craft-people who brought the parks to life An amazing cast of supporting players, from Al Capone to Annie Oakley And, of course, this is a full-throttle celebration of the rides, those marvels of engineering and heart-stopping thrills from an author, Stephen Silverman, whose life-long passion for his subject shines through. The parks and fairs featured include the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Coney Island, Steeplechase Park, Dreamland, Euclid Beach Park, Cedar Point, Palisades Park, Ferrari World, Dollywood, Sea World, Six Flags Great Adventure, Universal Studios, Disney World and Disneyland, and many more.

An inspiring anthology of sports short stories for any father, daughter or parent Thank heavens for Title IX. That dusty piece of 1970s legislation not only made an entire generation of American women fitter and stronger and more self-confident, but it also gave fathers throughout the country a greater opportunity to bond with their daughters. The evidence fills the covers of this collection of essays by a stellar roster of sports journalists, champion athletes, and celebrated writers. In the Introduction, basketball star Rebecca Lobo recalls how her dad’s advice continued to ring in her ears long after she last played hoops with him on the gravel driveway of their Massachusetts home. Sportswriting legend Dan Shaughnessy celebrates his daughters’ eye-opening softball exploits. Chris Evert recounts how her tennis coach father, Jimmy, taught her coolness under fire. Bill Simmons proudly bequeaths his love of the NBA to his preschool-aged daughter. Doris Kearns Goodwin explains how the not-so-simple act of filling in a scorecard for a father can be an act of love. Mike Veeck, minor-league team owner (and son of baseball’s great impresario, Bill Veeck), writes about the terrifying disease that blinded his daughter, Rebecca, and how they learned from his own father’s example in dealing with disability. A companion volume to the acclaimed ESPN Books anthology, Fathers & Sons & Sports, Fathers & Daughters & Sports will appeal to everyone who has been either a father or a daughter, or can see himself or herself in these engaging and emotional vignettes. Whether the stories take place on a court, rink, diamond, in the dressage arena, or in the press box, they are universal in appeal, and will touch the hearts of anyone who has ever shot hoops, kicked the ball around, or played catch with a parent or child—and has seen the positive effect these games have on us.

A funny and endearing novel about the comforts of a never-ending adolescence and the glories of Guinness. For Rodney Poole, a friendly and unassuming lover of clever wordplay and television sports of all stripes, Boyle's Irish Pub is a haven of good cheer, pleasantly pointless conversation, elaborate jokes, heated trivia contests, well-poured pints, and familiar faces. The pressures and demands of the outside world hold no sway there- the crowd at Boyle's is his family, and with family all sins are forgiven. But reality cannot be kept at bay forever, and now Rodney's best friend and partner in inertia, Keith, is getting married and moving to Chicago. Since Rodney has for the most part enjoyed his bachelorhood vicariously through Keith, the prospect of being single, middle-aged, unemployed, and without his pal to while away the nights with is causing Rodney to rethink—or rather, create—his priorities. When Keith introduces him to the lovely Mairead (rhymes with parade), a cheerful career woman who seems to enjoy his bad puns, ambitionless nature, and love of literature, Rodney can spy an honorable path to grown-up-hood at last. But a series of comic mishaps jeopardize his budding relationship with Mairead, his friendship with Keith, and most serious of all, his place on a barstool in the idyllic world of Boyle's.

Edited by Mark Reiter and Richard Sandomir, and featuring contributions from experts on everything from breakfast cereal and movie gunfights to First Ladies and bald guys, The Final Four of Everything celebrates everything that's great, surprising, or silly in America, using the foolproof method of bracketology to determine what we love or hate-and why. As certain to make you laugh as it will start friendly arguments, The Final Four of Everything is the perfect book for know-it-alls, know-a-littles, and anyone with an opinion on celebrity mugshots, literary heroes, sports nicknames, or bacon. Bracketology is a unique way of organizing information that dates back to the rise of the knockout (or single elimination) tournament, perhaps in medieval times. Its origins are not precisely known, but there was genius in the first bracket design that hasn't changed much over the years. You, of course, may be familiar with the bracket format via the NCAA basketball tournament pairings each March. If you've ever watched ESPN or participated in a March Madness office pool, you know what a bracket looks like. The Final Four of Everything takes the idea one step further, and applies the knockout format to every category BUT basketball. In areas where taste, judgment, and hard-earned wisdom really matter, we've set out to determine, truly, the Final Four of Everything.

Picking up where he left off in his acclaimed memoir Sting-Ray Afternoons, Steve Rushin brilliantly captures a bygone era, and the thrills of new adulthood in the early 80s. It begins in Bloomington, Minnesota, with a 13-year-old kid staging his own author photo that he hopes will someday grace the cover of a book jacket. And it ends at a desk in the legendary Time & Life building, with that same boy-now in his early 20s and writing professionally-reflecting on how the hell he got there from what seems like a distant universe. In between, Steve Rushin whisks us along on an extraordinarily funny, tender, and altogether unforgettable journey. From a menial summer job at suburban Bennigan's, to first-time college experiences in Milwaukee, to surviving early adulthood in seedy New York City, this deeply touching odyssey will remind any reader of those special moments when they too went from innocence to experience.