Kirjahaku

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2025 SPORTS PERFORMANCE BOOK OF THE YEAR'A fascinating and multilayered exploration of what it means to endure'Alex Hutchinson, author of Endure'Engaging... [endurance sport] comes to lyrical life'The TLSThe author of Out of Thin Air, winner of the Margaret Mead Award 2022, journeys through different cultures to find out the meaning of endurance.So many of us are embracing endurance sports – whether it is running an ultra-marathon, taking on long-distance cycling events or even climbing Mount Everest. But what is it that makes us voluntarily do exhausting things? When we lace up our running shoes or jump on our bike, are we embracing freedom, or are we simply reproducing ideas about productivity and competition from the world of work? And what kinds of broader social and spiritual significance does endurance have indifferent parts of the world?To the Limit sets out to rediscover the joy of moving together as a group – whether it’s running the length of the Lake District in a day, or navigating the descents of the Sindhupalchok International Trail Race in Nepal. It shows us how endurance activities can help bring people together, and even change the way we think about the natural world and our place in it.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2025 SPORTS PERFORMANCE BOOK OF THE YEAR'A fascinating and multilayered exploration of what it means to endure' Alex Hutchinson, author of Endure'Engaging... [endurance sport] comes to lyrical life' The TLSThe author of Out of Thin Air, winner of the Margaret Mead Award 2022, journeys through different cultures to find out the meaning of endurance.So many of us are embracing endurance sports – whether it is running an ultra-marathon, taking on long-distance cycling events or even climbing Mount Everest. But what is it that makes us voluntarily do exhausting things? When we lace up our running shoes or jump on our bike, are we embracing freedom, or are we simply reproducing ideas about productivity and competition from the world of work? And what kinds of broader social and spiritual significance does endurance have indifferent parts of the world?To the Limit sets out to rediscover the joy of moving together as a group – whether it’s running the length of the Lake District in a day, or navigating the descents of the Sindhupalchok International Trail Race in Nepal. It shows us how endurance activities can help bring people together, and even change the way we think about the natural world and our place in it.

‘Full of wonderful insights and lessons from a world where the ability to run is viewed as something almost mysterious and magical.’ - Adharanand Finn, author of Running with the KenyansWhat we can learn from Ethiopian running culture – written by an anthropologist and 2:20 marathon runner who trained with the Ethiopians. ‘Ethiopia is a place where I have been told that energy is controlled by angels and demons and where witchdoctors can help you to acquire another runner’s power. It is a place where an anonymous runner in the forest told me, miming an imaginary scoreboard and with a completely straight face, that he had dreamt that he would run 10km in 25 minutes. It is a place where they tell me that the air at Mount Entoto will transform me into a 2.08 marathon runner. It is a place, in short, of wisdom and magic, where dreaming is still very much alive.’ Why does it make sense to Ethiopian runners to get up at 3am to run up and down a hill? Who would choose to train on almost impossibly steep and rocky terrain, in hyena territory? And how come Ethiopian men hold six of the top ten fastest marathon times ever? Michael Crawley spent fifteen months in Ethiopia training alongside (and sometimes a fair way behind) runners at all levels of the sport, from night watchmen hoping to change their lives to world class marathon runners, in order to answer these questions.Follow him into the forest as he attempts to keep up and get to the heart of their success.

Who was George Washington? You probably know him as the first president of the United States, the commander of the Continental army who led American farmers and innkeepers in a victorious eight-year war against the British. But where did he get his military experience? Why was picked to take command of the army? Why was he the only American president ever to be elected unanimously (twice ), and did he really chop down that cherry tree as a kid?In this book entitled George Washington: First Guardian of American Liberty by author Michael Crawley, you'll follow the course of George Washington's life, from his birth at Ferry Farm in Virginia in 1732, to his death at his Mount Vernon estate in 1799. You'll learn how his early fame as a hero of the French and Indian War, and his illustrious marriage to a wealthy widow, led to this farm boy becoming one of the most important men in Virginia, a delegate at the Continental Congress where the Founders of America gathered to decide the nation's fate. The first guardian of American liberty looks serene in his portraits, but he didn't always rise above the fray. Washington fought for what he believed in, and his political convictions shocked contemporaries like Thomas Jefferson. Do you know what kind of country George Washington wanted America to be?