Crazy about cricket? Mad about Mahi? Waiting with fingers crossed for the World Cup? Here’s a book that will help you navigate your way through the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. Filled with fun facts; quick and quirky history; tell-your-friends-about-it trivia; games; cartoons and information about key players; teams and even stadia; this is the ideal companion to enjoy the World Cup with! So if you want to know: Who was the person who witnessed two ten-wicket hauls forty-three years apart How cricket got its name (Wooden planks; wicket gates and some Dutch is involved.) What were the highlights at each World Cup since 1979 Which 9 ODI records Sachin might break (Let’s hope it is not the one for most runs on a losing side!) Cricket! is the book you must have!
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Cricket But Were too Afraid to Ask explains the often-baffling laws of modern sport in a light-hearted and easy-to-understand way to the new fan/spectator or the 'sport widow'. This is a witty, off-the-wall guide to the rules of modern cricket, as if written by a very patient but understanding friend. Writer Iain Macintosh explains how cricket works and why is it so popular, and reveals the history of the game. He guides the novice through the basic rules of the sport in a bouncy, easy-to-fathom style, but also explains the fast-changing pace of the modern game that has made it even more compelling. If you've ever wondered what a Barmy Army is and how you sign up, or even if you've just wanted someone to sit you down and explain that whole LBW thing, this book is all you ever needed to know about cricket, but were too afraid to ask.
The popular primer to Latino life and culture. Latinos represent the fastest-growing ethnic population in the United States. In an accessible and entertaining question-and-answer format, this completely revised 2008 edition provides the most current perspective on Latino history in the making, including: • New Mexico governor Bill Richardson’s announced candidacy for the 2008 presidential election • Ugly Betty—the hit ABC TV show based on the Latino telenovela phenomenon • The number of Latino players in Major League baseball surpassing the 25 percent mark • Immigration legislation and the battle over the Mexican border • The state of Castro’s health and what it means for Cuba More than ever, this concise yet comprehensive reference guide is the ideal introduction to the vast and varied history and culture of this multifaceted ethnic group.
Mihir Bose was born in January 1947. Eight months later, India became a modern, free nation. The country he knew growing up in the 1960s has undergone vast and radical change. India today exports food, sends space probes to Mars, and, all too often, Indian businesses rescue their ailing competitors in the West. In From Midnight to Glorious Morning?, Bose travels the length and breadth of India to explore how a country that many doubted would survive has been transformed into one capable of rivaling China as the world’s preeminent economic superpower. Multifarious challenges still continue to plague the country: although inequality and corruption are issues not unique to India, such a rapid ascent to global prominence creates a precarious position. However, as Bose outlines, this rapid ascent provides evidence that India is ever capable of making great strides in the face of great adversity. Bose’s penetrating analysis of the last seventy years asks what is yet to be done for India in order to fulfill the destiny with which it has been imbued. The predictions of doom in August 1947 have proved to be unfounded; the growth of the nation in population and capital has been exponential, and there is much to celebrate. But Bose’s nuanced, personal, and trenchant book shows that it is naïve to pretend the hoped-for bright morning has yet dawned.
The spirit of the game was first nurtured on the playing fields of the English public school, and in the pages of Tom Brown's Schooldays- this Corinthian spirit was then exported around the world. The competitive spirit, the importance of fairness, the nobility of the gifted amateur seemed to sum up everything that was good about Britishness and the games they played. Today, sport is dominated by corruption, money, celebrity and players who are willing to dive in the box if it wins them a penalty. Yet, we still believe and talk about the game as if it had a higher moral purpose. Since the age of Thomas Arnold, Sport has been used to glorify dictatorships and was at the heart of cold war diplomacy. Prime Ministers, princes and presidents will do whatever they can to ensure that their country holds a major sporting tournament. Nelson Mandela saw the victory of the Rugby World Cup as essential to his hopes for the Rainbow Nation. Mihir Bose has lived his life around sport and in this book he tells the story of how Sport has lost its original spirit and how it has emerged in the 20th century to become the most powerful political tool in the world. With examples and stories from around the world including how the sport-hating Thomas Arnold become an icon; how a German manufacturer gave Jessie Owens a pair of shoes at the Berlin games of 1936 and went on to dominate the world of sport; how India stole cricket from the ICC; how an Essex car dealer become the most powerful man in Formula 1; and who really sold football out. Praise for Mihir Bose: 'Mihir Bose is India's CLR James.' Simon Barnes, The Times. 'Mihir's insider knowledge is unsurpassed' David Welch. 'His Olympic contacts are second to none. He knows everybody.' Sue Mott.
Will the profusely talented Sanam Khan’s rise to the pinnacle of world cricket be interrupted by the bookies and the powerful match-fixing mafia? Ever since she was fifteen years old, the talented Sanam Khan has only had one dream: to win a world cup for her country. Now, thanks to her own efforts as the captain, her team of talented misfits in the Pakistan Women’s cricket team stand on the verge of realizing that dream. But fate intervenes, and the team’s success attracts the great corruptors of the sport, the match-fixing syndicates that captured the men’s team two decades ago. Will Sanam and her girls succeed where the men failed, or will history repeat itself?
Loopy about lacrosse? Want to get into wing-walking? This is the book for you! Join BBC Breakfast sports presenter Mike Bushell as he swaps his suit for shorts to showcase the thrills and spills of the world's craziest alternative sports. Famed for trying out a dazzling array of extreme sports as a part of his weekend sport bulletin, nobody is better placed than Mike to explain how, when, where and why you might consider joining the ranks of some of the world's most dedicated practitioners of activities with a high level of inherent danger. Find out everything you never knew you needed to know about: shin kicking; elephant polo; worm charming; real tennis; swap soccer; roller hockey.With fun facts and figures and information on how to get involved, this is a must for any sport fan.
Why do normal individual investors repeatedly burn their fingers, and money, when it comes to investing? Why are so many individual investors confused or worried, and at a loss to determine what to do, when it comes to money and making it grow? Why is it that most investors feel ‘I don’t understand this’ and stay away or leave investing to so-called experts? If you have ever wondered if there is a simple way that will help you stop taking those dubious investing decisions, then you need this book. The objective of this book is to provide knowledge, insight and perspective to individual investors on investing for financial independence. This book contains Basic First Principles, Writings that emphasize the Importance of Mindset, and excerpts from Books on Investing you must read. It is not structured as a ‘Step-By-Step Guide to Financial Freedom’. Rather it covers (a) various techniques and considerations, (b) provides balanced perspectives on tools and options for investing, (c) demonstrates to the reader how mindset and temperament are critical in their investing journey, and (d) includes excerpts from important investing books and gurus that the reader can learn from. This book is an attempt to articulate some of the basic first principles that every individual investor must know in his journey to financial freedom but is never told formally or directly. These are, by no means, comprehensive, not all encompassing, and definitely do not hold any secrets to making money. But this collection of writings will serve as a good set of investing basics on techniqies, tools, temperament and wisdom from investment gurus to equip you on the journey to financial independence. Balanced and prudent, and filled with excerpts to learn from, ‘What You Need to Know While Investing for Financial Freedom’ is essential reading for individual investors in their quest for reaching financial independence, and in turn, a more fulfilling life. The author is a former corporate executive, having spent over two decades in the industry building a career and pursuing financial independence. This book is a result of his learnings in the process, along with his passion for writing and investing.
