BookTalk
Motorcycle racing is a passion in Spain, a country which has
lain at the heart of a sports management story to rival Formula
1. In the luxury edition MotoGPTM Dorna: 25 Years (l), well-
known commentator Nick Harris presents an officially
approved celebration of world championship motorcycle
racing from 1992 to 2017. He looks also at the role played by
Spain-based DORNA, the international sports management
and marketing group that became involved in 1992 and set
about standardising the ailing competition, which had run
since 1949. Harris writes that the company introduced a new
era of direction and harmony, and of sporting and commercial
success.
Other soccer books worth a look
include: Sir Matt Busby (l), Patrick
Barclay’s definitive biography of
the Scot who became a football
management legend with
Manchester United; Brave New
World (l), Guillem Balague’s inside
account of Tottenham Hotspur’s
2016-2017 season; The Man In
White Boots (l), David Tossell’s
biography of Alan Ball, the
youngest of England’s World
Cup-winning team of 1966; and
Angels With Dirty Faces (p),
Jonathan Wilson’s footballing
history of Argentina. If the oval
ball is your thing, seek out
Wrecking Ball (l), a captivating and humorous memoir-so-far by
Billy Vunipola, a rampaging forward with Saracens and England.
Among soccer titles published
this month, Pogba (p), by Luca
Caioli and Cyril Collot, stands
out. When the UK club
Manchester United re-signed
their former youth player Paul
Pogba for a then world record
fee in the summer of 2016, they
made a powerful statement.
Together with the signing of
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, it signalled
their determination to attract
the best players in the world to
their Old Trafford stadium,
despite three seasons of
underachievement. In the four
years since he had left ‘The
Reds’, Pogba had blossomed into a midfielder of undoubted
world class. This is an in-depth portrait of one of modern
football’s greatest talents.
Language learners take note. Berlitz are publishing a bargain
value Spanish Picture Dictionary (p), covering 2,000 words and
developed by a team of language experts for everyday
situations: money, numbers, family, shopping, work, filling in
forms, and so on.
If you are heading for Barcelona in defiance of recent events
there then Barcelona Top 10 2017 (p), an updated edition in
Dorling Kindersley’s Eyewitness Top 10 series, could be for
you. It is pocket-sized guide to the 10 Best of Everything in the
city and has a handy pull-out map.
Key: (l) hardback or large paperback (p) small paperback
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