I’ve been asked many times, over and over again, to share my recommended reading list of books, so here it is.
Looking at the length of my list, you might think that I enjoy reading, and you’d be right. I love reading, but more importantly, I love what I learn from reading.
Books are amazing. When you consider the collected experience an author has (the one who has written a book), there’s just no way you could gain that understanding for the cost of a book. A book is a very inexpensive way of learning from someone else’s wisdom. When I read a 100-page book, if I come away with just one valuable lesson, that may have been the best value-per-dollar I’ve ever spent. I can’t think of another way that you can make an experience yours for as little cost in dollars, time, and effort as when you read a book.
“Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.”
―Groucho Marx
When reading, I also think about the author’s style of writing, as I want to be a great writer. There’s a saying, “To be a great teacher, you first must be a great learner.” And to be a good writer, you first must be a good reader. So, I read.
Not surprisingly, my go-to subjects are motorsport-related. But I particularly like reading books that have little to no bearing or relationship to driving, then think about ways I can relate what I learned from those topics/ideas/concepts to driving. Reading non-motorsport books help me look at a driving technique or challenge from a completely different perspective, one I never would have had I not read them.
Even though the following list of books is very long, there’s at least as long a list of books that I wanted to include, but decided to put them in “tier 2.” This is just tier 1. And note, these are not necessarily in priority order.
So, here we go…
Thinking Body, Dancing Mind, Chungliang Al Huang and Jerry Lynch
Mindset, Carol Dweck
Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
Lessons from the Art of Juggling, Michael J. Gelb and Tony Buzan
The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge
The Brain’s Way of Healing, Norman Doidge
The Inner Game of Tennis, Timothy Gallwey
Coaching For Performance, John Whitmore
I’ve Got Your Back, Brad Gilbert
Sacred Hoops, Phil Jackson
Motor Control and Learning, Richard A. Schmidt and Timothy D. Lee
Motor Learning and Performance, Richard A. Schmidt and Craig A. Wrisberg
Perception, Cognition and Decision Training, Joan N. Vickers
Switching On, Paul Dennison
The Dominance Factor, Carla Hannaford
How Your Child is Smart, Dawna Markova
Flow in Sports, Susan Jackson and Mihaly Csikszentmihaly
Extraordinary Golf, Fred Shoemaker
Why We Sleep, Mathew Walker
Bounce, Matthew Syed
Talent Is Overrated, Geoff Colvin
The Sports Gene, David Epstein
Endure, Alexander Hutchinson
Head in the Game, Brandon Sneed
The Rise of Superman, Steven Kotler
The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor
Bird By Bird, Anne Lamott
On Writing, Stephen King
Jackie Stewart’s Principles of Performance Driving, Jackie Stewart
Driving in Competition, Alan Johnson
The Techniques of Motor Racing, Piero Taruffi
Going Faster, Carlos Lopez
Zen Driver, K.T. Berger
Engineer to Win, Carroll Smith
Tune to Win, Carroll Smith
Prepare to Win, Carroll Smith
Drive to Win, Carroll Smith
Unfair Advantage, Mark Donohue and Paul Van Valkenburgh
Race Car Engineering and Mechanics, Paul Van Valkenburgh
Inside Racing Technology, Paul Haney and Jeff Braun
Race Car Vehicle Dynamics, William F. Milliken and Douglas L. Milliken
Physics for Gearheads, Randy Beikmann
Data Power, Buddy Fey
Making Sense of Squiggly Lines, Christopher Brown
Analysis Techniques for Racecar Data Acquisition, Jorge Segers
How to Build a Race Car, Adrian Newey
Total Competition, Ross Brawn
My Sweetest Victory, Alex Zanardi and Gianluca Gasparini
Gilles Villeneuve, Gerald Donaldson
Jim Clark at the Wheel, James Clark
Side Glances, Peter Egan
Smithology, Sam Smith (Okay, I admit I’ve not read this entire book because it has not yet been released – it will be soon. But I’ve read almost everything Sam has written, love it all, and know that this compilation-plus-some-new-stuff is coming soon. It’ll be a must-read.)
I’m sure I’ve missed a few books that should be on this tier 1 list, mostly those that are on my iPad and not on my bookshelf calling my name every time I pass, asking to be read a second, third or eighth time. But, if you’re looking at a bookstore gift card (hopefully from a motorsport or independent book retailer) that you just received as a gift, maybe this will give you some ideas for what to read next.
I’d love to hear your recommendations! Please leave the title of any and all of your favorite books in the Comments section below, and feel free to share what you love about them, too.
Happy reading! And Happy Holidays!
Now excuse me, I have a book to get back to.
Jan gave me an early present of Jackie Stewart's auto biography, "Wining Is Not Enough", which is over a decade old now, but I am savoring each of the 529 pages. I thought I knew his history quite well after 50+ years of him being my favorite driver. Not so much based on all the stories he shares in this book, clear back to his Scottish childhood. The sheer joy of winning and the heartbreak of losing so many friends exposes both sides of this sport we all love so much. It will have a spot front and center on my race centric bookshelf.
Merry Christmas!
Books for the fan of the 1979,s and amateur driver wanting to improve: Driving with Style- bio of Peter Revson. Sunday Driver by Brock Yates. The Stainless Steel Carrot by Brock Yates?