Sportsbiografier

'It's a preposterous plan. Still, if you do get up it, I think it'll be the hardest thing that's been done in the Himalayas.' So spoke Chris Bonington when Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker presented him with their plan to tackle the unclimbed West Wall of Changabang - the Shining Mountain - in 1976. Bonington's was one of the more positive responses; most felt the climb impossibly hard, especially for a two-man, lightweight expedition. This was, after all, perhaps the most fearsome and technically challenging granite wall in the Garhwal Himalaya and an ascent - particularly one in a lightweight style - would be more significant than anything done on Everest at the time. The idea had been Joe Tasker's. He had photographed the sheer, shining, white granite sweep of Changabang's West Wall on a previous expedition and asked Pete to return with him the following year. Tasker contributes a second voice throughout Boardman's story, which starts with acclimatisation, sleeping in a Salford frozen food store, and progresses through three nights of hell, marooned in hammocks during a storm, to moments of exultation at the variety and intricacy of the superb, if punishingly difficult, climbing. It is a story of how climbing a mountain can become an all-consuming goal, of the tensions inevitable in forty days of isolation on a two-man expedition; as well as a record of the moment of joy upon reaching the summit ridge against all odds. First published in 1978, The Shining Mountain is Peter Boardman's first book. It is a very personal and honest story that is also amusing, lucidly descriptive, very exciting, and never anything but immensely readable. It was awarded the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize for literature in 1979, winning wide acclaim. His second book, Sacred Summits, was published shortly after his death in 1982. Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker died on Everest in 1982, whilst attempting a new and unclimbed line. Both men were superb mountaineers and talented writers. Their literary legacy lives on through the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, established by family and friends in 1983 and presented annually to the author or co-authors of an original work which has made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature. For more information about the Boardman Tasker Prize, visit: www.boardmantasker.com

From humble beginnings in a small village in Austria, Arnold Schwarzenegger has come to symbolise the opportunities that exist for anyone willing to work hard. Fiaz Rafiq uses in-depth interviews with Schwarzenegger's peers to tell the life story of the one-time Governator, featuring exclusive interviews.

The brilliant and combative autobiography from the most capped rugby player in history, Alun Wyn Jones.

The authorised biography of Britain's most successful horse trainer.

Ben Lowings examines David Lewis's lifetime of adventure forensically yet sympathetically, to comprehend his determination. Lewis's achievements garnered him awards and honours, but their price had ultimately to be paid by the succession of families he created, then broke apart. We may legitimately ask 'was it really all worth it?'

A wonderfully honest and beautifully-written memoir from one of the most intriguing football managers of the last 25 years.

The gruesome stories of the hardest, most ruthless rugby players from around the world since World War I. As talented as they were fiery, many were just as lively off the pitch as on it. In our era of citing commissioners, super slow-motion replays and trial by social media, some of their actions are quite hard to believe! Foreword by Nigel Owens.

Sonny Pike was the 1990s wonder kid whose legs were insured for a million pounds at the age of 11 - before his football dream was cruelly snatched away. This is the fascinating story of how a young life was exploited in the pursuit of fame and fortune.

From the prize-winning cycling writer Matt Rendell comes a superb, uplifting book on the incredible rise of Colombian cycling

Niki Lauda drove a car for sport, but crossed the line between life and death and fought back to even greater glory. Then it's Lauda vs Hunt, an epic rivalry later dramatized in 2013's Hollywood blockbuster Rush, and he looks back on the strict childhood and parental disapproval that he believes gave him an 'addiction to excellence'.

David 'Bumble' Lloyd looks back at the great characters in the cricketing world who have inspired, entertained and amused him

David Prentice is the Sport Editor of the Liverpool Echo, the city's famous newspaper. His fascinating book charts almost half-a-century of Everton Football Club's history - from a unique insider. It is a fan-fare and a news report. A travelogue and a social comment - and a poignant reflection of how football and journalism has changed forever.

Timed for the 50th anniversary of his legendary Super Bowl "Guarantee," the NFL icon who first brought show business to sports is finally ready to tell the story of his spectacular rise and reign as "Broadway Joe," to his struggles with alcoholism, to the redemption he found in god later in life

The hilarious and eye-opening new book from one of Britain's best-loved figures.

Of all the games mountaineers play, the hardest - and cruellest - is climbing the fourteen peaks over 8,000 metres in winter. Award-winning author Bernadette McDonald tells how Poland's ice warriors made winter their own, perfecting what they dubbed 'the art of suffering'. Winter 8000 is the story of true adventure at its most demanding.

Adam Walker is not your everyday record-breaking sportsman. He took on arguably the toughest extreme sport on the planet - to swim non-stop across seven of the world's deadliest oceans wearing only swim trunks, cap and goggles. Always intriguing, sometimes terrifying, and occasionally very funny, Adam's story is about sport in its truest form.

That Will Be England Gone is a tour d'horizon of cricket in England from April to September.

In horse racing greatness is defined by speed. Being the second fastest counts for little. You have to win. And win. And keep winning until every challenger of your generation is put to the sword. Of the twelve horses lined up on Newmarket Heath that 2011 day, one would do just that. And more. To become the greatest racehorse that has ever lived.