Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
Walking Tall - cover

Walking Tall

Rob Heffernan

Publisher: The Collins Press

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

Deemed too small for his school Gaelic football team at the age of fourteen, Rob Heffernan took up race walking on a whim. Driven by a fiercely competitive nature and a dogged desire to be the best, he strode his way to the pinnacle of the sport, winning bronze in the London 2012 Olympics and becoming world champion in Moscow in 2013. In 2016, he became the first athlete to represent Ireland at the Olympic Games for a fifth time. In this no-holds-barred account, Rob describes his battles with injury, depression and poverty on his way to the top. Even when at his best, he found himself cheated out of medals by those who crossed the dark line into doping. He candidly tells of the confrontations with Athletics Ireland and the Irish Sports Council that raged in the background to his struggle for that prestigious Olympic medal. This is the inside story of how one boy's dream led him from the council flats of his tough upbringing to the winners' podium. It is also a heartfelt chronicle of the sometimes nightmare-ridden journey to become a top athlete in this gruelling sport.
Available since: 10/01/2016.
Print length: 372 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence (Volumes 1&2) - Voyage & Arrival in the States Becoming a Member of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia Battles: Manassas the Invasion of Maryland & Fredericksburg Friendship With J E B Stuart - cover

    Memoirs of the Confederate War...

    Heros von Borcke

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    "Borcke's book is one that no student of Confederate history will forget."—Douglas Southall Freeman.
    Memoirs of the Confederate War for Independence is one of the best account of the American Civil War written from the Confederate point of view. The book was written by Heros Von Borcke, a Prussian cavalry officer, who served in service in the cavalry of the army of Northern Virginia. The Memoirs follow his service that begun in the spring of 1862. He was a direct witness and a participant of many great battles of the American Civil War (Seven Pines, the Seven Days, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Brandy Station). Borcke's participation in the war ended in the early part of the Gettysburg campaign, when he was wounded.
    Show book
  • The Cello Suites - J S Bach Pablo Casals and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece - cover

    The Cello Suites - J S Bach...

    Eric Siblin

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    An award-winning journey through Johann Sebastian Bach’s six cello suites and the brilliant musician who revealed their lasting genius.   One fateful evening, journalist and pop-music critic Eric Siblin attended a recital of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suites—an experience that set him on an epic quest to uncover the mysterious history of the entrancing compositions and their miraculous reemergence nearly two hundred years later. In pursuit of his musicological obsession, Siblin would unravel three centuries of intrigue, politics, and passion.   Winner of the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction and the McAuslan First Book Prize, The Cello Suites weaves together three dramatic narratives: the disappearance of Bach’s manuscript in the eighteenth century, Pablo Casals’s discovery and popularization of the music in Spain in the late nineteenth century, and Siblin’s infatuation with the suites in the present day. The search led Siblin to Barcelona, where Casals, just thirteen and in possession of his first cello, roamed the backstreets with his father in search of sheet music and found Bach’s lost suites tucked in a dark corner of a store. Casals played them every day for twelve years before finally performing them in public.   Siblin sheds new light on the mysteries that continue to haunt this music more than 250 years after its composer’s death: Why did Bach compose the suites for the cello, then considered a lowly instrument? What happened to the original manuscript? A seamless blend of biography and music history, The Cello Suites is a true-life journey of discovery, fueled by the power of these musical masterpieces.   “The ironies of artistic genius and public taste are subtly explored in this winding, entertaining tale of a musical masterpiece.” —Publishers Weekly   “Siblin’s writing is most inspired when describing the life of Casals, showing a genuine affection for the cellist, who . . . used his instrument and the suites as weapons of protest and pleas for peace.” —Booklist, starred review
    Show book
  • My Father's Brain - Life in the Shadow of Alzheimer's - cover

    My Father's Brain - Life in the...

    Sandeep Jauhar

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    “These pages will be a blessing to families dealing with Alzheimer’s. Sandeep Jauhar’s prose is insightful, honest, and moving about a condition that most of us will inevitably encounter in our lifetimes." —Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for StoneA deeply affecting memoir of a father's descent into dementia, and a revelatory inquiry into why the human brain degenerates with age and what we can do about it.Almost six million Americans—about one in every ten people over the age of sixty-five—have Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias, and this number is projected to more than double by 2050. What is it like to live with and amid this increasingly prevalent condition—an affliction that some fear more than death? In My Father’s Brain, the distinguished physician and author Sandeep Jauhar sets his father’s descent into Alzheimer’s alongside his own journey toward understanding this disease and how it might best be coped with, if not cured.In an intimate memoir rich with humor and heartbreak, Jauhar relates how his immigrant father and extended family felt, quarreled, and found their way through the dissolution of a cherished life. Along the way, he lucidly exposes what happens in the brain as we age and our memory falters, and explores everything from the history of ancient Greece to the most cutting-edge neurological—and bioethical—research. Throughout, My Father’s Brain confronts the moral and psychological concerns that arise when family members must become caregivers, when children’s and parents’ roles reverse, and when we must accept unforeseen turns in our closest relationships—and in our understanding of what it is to have a self. The result is a work of essential insight into dementia, and into how scientists, caregivers, and all of us in an aging society are reckoning with the fallout.
    Show book
  • Patriot Presidents - From George Washington to John Quincy Adams - cover

    Patriot Presidents - From George...

    William E. Leuchtenburg

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    The founding fathers of the United States created a unique institution, the presidency, as they were determined to authorize an effective chief executive but wary of monarchy. They endowed this office with broad prerogatives and power but hedged it in with limitations. The presidency that developed over the next generation, however, was fashioned less by the clauses in the Constitution than by the way that the first presidents responded to challenges such as sectional enmity and the vexing Napoleonic warfare that jeopardized maritime rights. 
     
     
     
    Patriot Presidents explores how the presidency took shape from the medley of clauses handed down to George Washington, who said, "I walk on untrodden ground," for virtually everything he did created a precedent. It then follows the overwhelming challenges faced by his successors, from the austere John Adams who spoke passionately in favor of a strong executive, to Thomas Jefferson, a zealous advocate of American liberties, to James Madison, the creator of the first political party, and James Monroe, whose Monroe Doctrine protected the sovereignty of the Western Hemisphere. It concludes with John Quincy Adams, who could be called the prophet of the expansive twentieth-century state of the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and the Great Society.
    Show book
  • Alone in Wonderland - cover

    Alone in Wonderland

    Christine Reed

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Winner of the Indie National Excellence Award for Nonfiction Category.Christine discovered long distance backpacking while surfing the internet at work. She decided that day to attempt to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. One adventure led to another and a few years later she set out on the Wonderland Trail in Mt Rainier National Park.Her Rugged Outdoors Woman persona started as a joke, a nod to the outdoor adventurer that she wished to be. But in the years since, she has come into her own as a backpacker, rock climber, and trail runner. This book is a testament to the decision to name who you want to be and make it so.
    Show book
  • Summary of Tools of Titans - The Tactics Routines and Habits of Billionaires Icons and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss - cover

    Summary of Tools of Titans - The...

    Readtrepreneur Publishing

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0
    Summary of Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Timothy Ferriss
    Show book