The MVP Machine: How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players by Travis Sawchik, Ben Lindbergh 2019

This is another great bit of sports journalist. These authors take on the subject of latest trends in player development in baseball. There's lots of good info here I can use to help the youngster, and this book really helps to explain what's going on in Major League Baseball. More home runs, more strike outs, better players, and a more boring game.  What makes sense for a team is bad for the sport generally.

Losing Earth: A Recent History by Nathaniel Rich 2018

This is a good bit of reporting about the politics of climate change from 1979-1989.  There was an awareness of the problem then that is just as clear as now.  It seemed the US was about the address the issue, and then the oil and gas people confused people on the science.

Looking back to 1979 provides an interesting perspective on the thing.  It may be that people don't respond to an emergency until they're nearly dead.

Playing for Pizza by John Grisham (2007)

This is novel about American football in Italy by legal thriller author, John Grisham.  This author is really branching out on this one.  Good for him.  It's a well told story in Grisham style about an un-Grisham like subject.  Read it!

The Grind: Inside Baseball's Endless Season by Barry Svrluga (2015)

A look at the routines of players, management, scouts and others in the Washington Nationals throughout the 2014 season.  Major League Baseball is a traveling show.  There's always something new to learn about baseball.

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World Book by David Epstein (2019)

In this book, sports and science journalist David Epstein explores how people become excellent. There's the Tiger Woods model of a guy who got in 10,000 hours of great practice by age 20. But that's the exception.  What usually happens is people experiment, meander, and then, if they do specialize, specialize late.  Late bloomers rule!

It's a well written and inspiring book.

The Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War (Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies) by Victoria E. Bynum 2001

Story of the Southern Yankees in Mississippi in the Civil War and the mixed race descendants of their leader, Newt Knight. It's an interesting read and says a lot about the Southern mentality.

Operation Yao Ming: The Chinese Sports Empire, American Big Business, and the Making of an NBA Superstar by Brook Larmer 2005

This is a great book about 7'5" Yao Ming's journey from the sports camp in Shanghai to the NBA. It's a fascinating read about how Red China did sports back in the day.  I got in lots of extra detail from the Taoster, whose cousin was a ping pong sports camp in the 1980's.  Read it.