What are the real secrets of sporting success, and what lessons do they offer about life in general? Matthew Syed explains why Tiger Woods doesn't "choke", why the best figure skaters are those that have fallen over the most and why one small street in Reading - his own - has produced more top table tennis players than the rest of the country put together.
As a three-time Commonwealth table-tennis champion and two-time Olympian, Matthew is perfectly placed to show just what it takes to get to the top in any discipline. And as an award-winning writer for the sports and comment pages of the Times - and holder of a prize-winning degree from Oxford University - he knows the facts, the science and the personalities better than anyone.
In his book Matt overturns myths and outdated thinking to show "why it is that top sportsmen seem to perceive faster, smarter and deeper than the rest of us." He draws on the latest in neuroscience and psychology to discover why so many top athletes are superstitious, and meets the Hungarian man who turned his daughters into three of the best chess players in history - and explains how.
Along the way, he introduces an extraordinary cast of footballers, cricketers, baseball players, speedskaters, scientists and experts - and interviews the East German athlete who became a man, and her husband. Matthew's book is crammed full of fascinating stories and telling studies, insights and statistics, all brought together to make a wonderfully thought-provoking read.
Matthew's book is not simply the Freakonomics of sport though - it looks at big questions such as the nature of talent, what kind of practice actually works, how to achieve motivation, drugs in sport (and life) and whether black people really are faster runners. Fresh, ground-breaking and tackling subjects with wide appeal, Matthew's book is sure to be one of the most talked-about of the year.
