Reading List

I’ve put together the beginnings of a More Than Mind Games reading list here.

At the moment, it’s little more than a bald list of titles under a variety of headings, but I’ll try to annotate it more fully over time. If I had to boil it down to absolute essentials, I’d plump for

  • Madness Explained by Richard P. BENTALL (Where we are in terms of understanding mental illness and in treating it)
  • The Feeling of What Happens by Antonio DAMASIO (Emotion, consciousness and the brain)
  • Seeing Red by Nicholas HUMPHREY (an example of a modern theory of consciousness)
  • Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness by Daniel DENNETT (The philosophical challenge in understanding and studying consciousness)
  • Cloughie: Walking on Water by Brian CLOUGH (The best reflections and discussion of the realities of football management, wrapped up in a compelling memoir)
  • The Glory Game by Hunter DAVIES (What it’s really like inside a top club – 35 years old and still unique)
  • All Played Out by Pete DAVIES (Football culture in England through the prism of the 1990 World Cup Campaign)
  • Serious by John MCENROE (Inside a winner’s mind)
  • 3:59.4: The Quest to Break the Four Minute Mile by John BRYANT (Excellent on changing cultures in British sport as a whole)
  • In terms of the whole passion/commitment debate, Clough’s book is pretty much definitive.

    It’s a serious list. Here’s why it has to be. A story of a brave man taking bad advice – and one good reason why parts of British sport remain spooked by sports psychotherapy. Watch this and see if you blame them! Very much my worst nightmare:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMPdDMlMEhc]

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