blonde poker forum

I know we have some book worms on blonde, and I am wanting some advice on inspiring books, pref real life/autobiography type stuff

The inspiration can be on any level, mental or physical struggles, business success stories, but just something which gripped you whilst reading. As a simple example I loved Richard bransons book when I read it 5 years ago, it just made me want to get up and go!

Fire away, hopefully we can inspire some good Xmas reading!

Read Mohammed Ali's - very good and paints an excellent picture of boxing at the time.

Only books I really bother reading are autobiographies. I remember reading 'A Child Called It' a few years ago and not being able to put it down.

Just read Agassi's too which was pretty good. He basically hated Tennis his whole life.

I went to a bonfire party last month (obv) and the funniest man i'll probably ever met told me lots of really useful things but his parting gift of knowledge was "If you read one book in your life make sure it is Serious by John McInroe. It will change your life."

Not read it myself but hoping Santa brings it.

You'll do well to find anything better than Lance Armstrong's books for inspiration.

Agree with all those above

Try this too. Outstanding book, with some really surprising and inspirational stuff in it. Won the William Hill Sports Book for 2010 award.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beware-Dog-Rugbys-Hard-Reveals/dp/1847396518/ref=pd_sim_b_1

You don't have to like rugby.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diving-Bell-Butterfly-Memoir-Death/dp/0375701214/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292413089&sr=1-6

My inspirational book will piss on all others, this guy wrote it with his eyelid ffs.

Any of The Dean's books.

I would suggest ' Touching The Void' by Joe Simpson.  The film was OK, but the book is ten times better.

When I was reading 1st few sentences it was his book I was gonna post; excellent book and as you say makes you wanna take on the world- such interesting things have happened to him in his life too.

Like Greeky I'm only really interested in Autobiographys; so much more interesting than fiction IMO. Only reason I've not bought a Kindle is that they dont seem to put Autobiographies as available yet; especially older ones.

A great book is A long way gone; Memoirs of a Boy soldier:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Long-Way-Gone-Memoirs-Soldier/dp/0007247087/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292413190&sr=8-1

About a child soldier in sierra Leone

i read allot of books especially autobiography's and the type.

• check raising the devil ...mike matusow
  anyone can do it ...duncan bannatyne
  the GUVnor...lenny mclean
  ronnie o sullivan...ronnie
  

 biogs:

Nicky Campbell
George Best (Bestie)
Parkinson


Info:

All I ever wrote - Ronnie Barker, a compilation of all his sketches (includes a lot of stuff he wrote and sent in under various aliases) includes also a lot of thought process and where some of his ideas came from

Inspiration:

Battle Cry by Leon Uris - follows a group of American raw recruits from all walks of life through training and into WW11 - based a lot on his own experinces. I read this shortly after finishing my Army training and the majority of the book concerning the training phases was so appropriate and accurate as to wht I had recently went through.

Campbell, Best and Barker I can send you if you wish

Geo

Wow, is your decision making process 'hey they seem like a total cock, I wanna read about them'

Only kidding, I kinda like Bannatyne and was eyeing up his book the other day

The following are fascinating, but not necessarily inspiring biographies:

Any Elvis Bio - the man was a nutter, made Wacko Jacko seem normal.
Mick Foley - he may be a dumb wrestler but it was really one of the most well articulated books Ive ever read
The Dirt - the Motley Crue bio, one of the most brutally honest rise & fall books ever about the most decadent band in rock
Jackie Chan - has had a pretty fucked up life
Amarillo Slims in a World Full of Fat People - great read, shame he is a paedo

Yet to read it, but I hear great things about Tony Cascarinos book

hmmmm maybee yes...
also
frank skinner David Jason and peter Kay all have good biography's

+1 on Skinner, I forgot to include that on my own list. The ways its written almost feels like you are watching one of his stand up routines.

Richard Branson

A few years ago I used to fly with a Hot Air balloon pilot called Dave Fish who flew commercial flights for Virgin from Willen Lake in Milton Keynes.

He told the story that if Richard Branson wanted to come on a flight in his balloon, he would always take his jack russell dog along .

I asked Dave why and he said his dog would keep Richard busy feeding and playing with him.

He had also trained the dog to bite Richard if he tried to fly the balloon, lol

A good read is "As the Crow flies " Jeffery Archer

Also try  http://www.crowbooks.com/

I read Victoria Coren's latest one recently (can't remember the name). Most excellent, I thought.

Ranulph Fiennes,
 Eton,Guards regiment,SAS,walk somewhwere cold,go hot places,up Everest,heart attack,run all over the place=stone cold nutter

Alan Sugar's book seems oddly inspirational (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/15/alan_sugar_autobiography_pleasure/)

This needs more love imo. ;-)

Foleys book is top class - well the first one, also try Nikki Sixx's Herion Diaries - such a novel book, a year in the life diary and all the main cast commenting on passages some years later, is a scary insight into the life of a "Star" and such a novel presentation of a book.

Steve Claridge's autobiography still has to be up there as one of the best football books written.

White Line Fever - Lemmys autobiog is fantastic as is Neville Staples insight into life in the 60's and 70's as a first generation immigrant leading to the Specials.  For me Adam Ants autobiography is the best I have read, his battle with mental illness in a period when everyone was just happy to milk the cash cow and put his behaviour down as eccentric is quite remarkable.

Oh and before Red and Mr K arrive you have to read Papillon and Banco - both are quite remarkable and about as inspiring as you can get.

Oh and Brian Blessed - Dynamite Kid is incredible, although some 20 years old now the things that man has done, and continues to do put 99.99% of the worlds population to shame.
I do wish he would turn out one for the last 20 years though.

Never really seem to have time to read.....but I bought two audio books for a drive across Europe a couple of years ago,both very enjoyable.

 Frank Skinner (as already mentioned)  and Penguins stopped play  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguins_Stopped_Play)

Thanks for the Thread outrageous; got a list of about 10 books I want to buy now.

Can get most of them on Amazon for a penny + £2.75 delivery

Richard Dawkins books are inspirational. 

The God Delusion (http://www.amazon.co.uk/God-Delusion-Richard-Dawkins/dp/0593055489) and The Selfish Gene (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0199291152) are two for starters (the second one requires some interest in science).

Although saying that, I'd also say that Christopher Hitchens is a far better writer and well worth a read too.

This set of non 10 fiction books for £10 has some decent reads (inc The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly previously recommended).

link (http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100&productId=55512)

must read Angela's Ashes if you haven't

Niall Quinn's autobiography
John Bird's autobiography (the John Bird who founded Big Issue, not the one who performs with John Fortune and Rory Bremner)
and Reach For the Sky - the story of Douglas Bader

Jump for Life by Ruth Altbeker Cyprys.

If you only read one more book before you die, make it this one.

+1, bought the McEnroe book and the Dawkins book today for less than £4 total

excellent book, definately inspirational

Other people mentioned Penguins Stopped Play, Foley's book and Diving Bell & Butterfly. Would agree that these are good.


I'll give a shout for three fiction books that I'd describe as being inspirational.

Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea

I know you said you'd rather swerve the fiction, but these are incred (and pretty short)

Is it really long?

If I only read one more book before I die, I want it to be a really long one.

Are these any good?

Never been a big book lover. Liked Gazza and Collymores autobio's and reading Andre Agassi's atm which is decent

dont know if these are inspiring as such but are interesting and biographical in subject.

The Snowball by Alice Schroeder, basically a biography of Warren Buffett very very good read

Fortunes Formula. William Poundstone, book about betting and investing in the stock market and such, was a really good read both times i read it!

Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell, looks into the reasons people are succsesful, he looks at things from an unusual perspective.

would recommend all of the above.

Just read Tipping Point and Blink back to back and had this ordered ages ago, but still not arrived because of the bluuuudy snow. Gladwell is awesome, I think a lot of people wrongly herald him as an amazing mind who comes up with the stuff he talks about, but he actually is jut a collator of information - it just so happens that that information is fascinating.

these two books are really good in both cases i litrally could not put either of them down ...obviously i think you need to have a opinion of the person you are reading about i !

The only book you'll ever need to read.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ron-Jeremy-Hardest-Working-Showbiz/dp/0060840838/ref=pd_sim_b_2

"Shindlers Ark" by Thomas Kineally the inspired story behind the film Shindlers list.

For the older viewers Bob Geldof "Is that it"

One of my all time favourites, an inspiration against persecution and racial bigotry "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

This is a pretty good book about one mans struggle to make it to the top, really life affirming and reminds you that if you grind away, work really hard and put the hours in over a long period of time, you get what you deserve. Long time coming this book

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Matt-Cardle-My-Story-Factor/dp/0007426704/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292521546&sr=1-1

This is a much better autobiography of a struggle to become successful in life.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Simples-Life-Times-Aleksandr-Orlov/dp/0091940508

My best buy is Paul Peacocks Book at only £5.30 from Amazon

This is a beautiful book, and very pertinent in these times:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harper-Perennial-Modern-Classics-Combat/dp/0007204973/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292531029&sr=8-1

zomg stop the internet for a second

The speeches of Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

Ok, carry on.

Nah, this guy is better

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX39J_YyKbs

you should do 3 things every day laugh,think and be moved to tears.  great great speech from a basketball coach,

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuoVM9nm42E

doing a job on Monday ....every room was like this and the books are two abreast

saves on heating bills i suppose good insulation!

Tikay finally got round to hiring someone to sort out his old place then?

Geo