The writer and editor recommends books on the sporting life. His new book, "The Penalty Kick: The Story of a Gamechanger", is about his great-grandfather, who invented the penalty kick.
The Iliad
Is it too fanciful to suggest that Homer is where the penalty kick and the penalty shoot-out begins? The moment we find Achilles sulking in his changing-room over an intolerable slight to his heroic prowess (actually, it's all about a girl), we are in classic single combat territory, replete with the kind of life-and-death psychology that Harry Kane and David Beckham would understand.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Fever Pitch
Nick Hornby, 1992
A landmark memoir in which football is more than just a thrilling sporting narrative. A young man finds clues to the meaning of life through his devotion to Arsenal: the book that unlocked for me what it means to be a fan.
The Ball is Round
David Goldblatt, 2006
There are many shelves of books about football, but this is the essential guide. An unvarnished history of the game since the industrial revolution, it is well-sourced, dispassionate, comprehensive and impressively lucid.
The Goalkeeper's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick
Peter Handke, 1970
Once the penalty kick was recognised as an existential symbol in Handke's avant- garde crime story, it acquired a resonance that still lingers. From around 1970, penalties became a topic of profound psychological importance, inspiring the emergence of specialist consultants versed in the mysteries of the shoot-out. An Irish invention now became a global televised phenomenon.
What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures
Malcolm Gladwell, 2009
Gladwell (famed for the "tipping point") is a master exponent of sports psychology and sudden death on the football field or tennis court. This collection includes his counterintuitively brilliant essay "The Art of Failure" – read him on "choking" and "panicking" at the penalty spot with your heart in your mouth.
-
Trump’s poll collapse: can he stop the slide?Talking Point President who promised to ease cost-of-living has found that US economic woes can’t be solved ‘via executive fiat’
-
Codeword: December 7, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
Sudoku hard: December 7, 2025The daily hard sudoku puzzle from The Week
-
A postapocalyptic trip to Sin City, a peek inside Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour, and an explicit hockey romance in December TVthe week recommends This month’s new television releases include ‘Fallout,’ ‘Taylor Swift: The End Of An Era’ and ‘Heated Rivalry’
-
December’s books feature otherworldly tales, a literary icon’s life story and an adult royal rompThe Week Recommends This month's new releases include ‘The Heir Apparent’ by Rebecca Armitage and ‘Tailored Realities’ by Brandon Sanderson
-
Wake Up Dead Man: ‘arch and witty’ Knives Out sequelThe Week Recommends Daniel Craig returns for the ‘excellent’ third instalment of the murder mystery film series
-
Zootropolis 2: a ‘perky and amusing’ movieThe Week Recommends The talking animals return in a family-friendly sequel
-
Storyteller: a ‘fitting tribute’ to Robert Louis StevensonThe Week Recommends Leo Damrosch’s ‘valuable’ biography of the man behind Treasure Island
-
The rapid-fire brilliance of Tom StoppardIn the Spotlight The 88-year-old was a playwright of dazzling wit and complex ideas
-
Jane Austen lives on at these timeless hotelsThe Week Recommends Here’s where to celebrate the writing legend’s 250th birthday
-
‘Mexico: A 500-Year History’ by Paul Gillingham and ‘When Caesar Was King: How Sid Caesar Reinvented American Comedy’ by David Margolickfeature A chronicle of Mexico’s shifts in power and how Sid Caesar shaped the early days of television
