Sports writing is a genre that I find particularly thrilling because sports is the ultimate form of non-violent competition, and there’s always something at stake. But as many people will tell you, it’s not all about winning, it’s about taking part. My guest today has written a book which might even argue that it’s not about taking part, but that it’s all about the preparation and the extreme lengths some people go to, in order to gain an edge. 

Ed Hawkins is a sports writer who’s published numerous books including “The Lost Boys” a non-fiction exposé, for which he posed undercover to identify a human trafficking network bridging African & European football, and “Bookie Gambler Fixer Spy” which looks at the devastating effect of large betting syndicates in the sport of cricket. He’s also co-written the book “Why We Kneel, How We Rise” with the Jamaican cricket legend Michael Holding that looks at racism across various sports. 

But the book that caught my eye had a more unusual title “The Men on Magic Carpets”. It’s an examination of some fairly outlandish developments in sports training, starting in the 1960s and is inspired by hippyish philosophies around the paranormal abilities of elite athletes and how these could be enhanced and mastered. 

In this interview, we talk about the evolution of sports training, about the characters who devised some of these crazy methods and about the sports writing genre in general. 

In this interview, Ed mentioned the following books:

Jon Ronson – The Men who Stare at Goats which looks at the US Army’s attempts to channel the paranormal.

Will Storr – The Science of Story-Telling – by the British journalist 

George Orwell – Down and Out in Paris & London, 1984

Norman Mailer - The Fight -> about the Muhammad Ali – George Foreman fight

Dave Meghaessy - Out of their League

Find Ed Hawkins:

Twitter: @cricketbetting

Books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Journalist-Ed-Hawkins/e/B00EZZY6X8/ref=aufs_dp_ftatl_dsk

Follow me @litwithcharles for more book reviews and recommendations!