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The Greatest
- The Quest for Sporting Perfection
- Narrated by: Simon Slater
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Sports & Outdoors, Sports Psychology
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Publisher's Summary
What can Roger Federer teach us about the secret of longevity? What do the All Blacks have in common with improvised jazz musicians? What can cognitive neuroscientists tell us about what happens to the brains of sportspeople when they perform? And why did Johan Cruyff believe that beauty was more important than winning?
Matthew Syed, the Sports Journalist of the Year 2016, answers these questions and more in a fascinating, wide-ranging and provocative book about the mental game of sport. How do we become the best that we can be as individuals, teams and organisations? Sport, with its innate sense of drama, its competitive edge, its psychological pressures, its sense of morality and its elusive quest for perfection, provides the answers.
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What listeners say about The Greatest
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- A M
- 11-05-17
Repetitive, and very long winded.
I have read his other book, black box thinking and i felt this book was just repeating many of the facts.
If you haven't listened to his other books you might like this. But it just goes over the same topics and doesn't really offer anything new.
Ive returned the book.
2 people found this helpful
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- Jay Quintana
- 11-14-20
Heard this all before, and from the same writer
If you've read Syed's other books -- Black Box Thinking, Bounce -- then you'll find nothing new here. Were it not for that fact, I'd probably give this three, or maybe even four, stars. The things he covers -- the mental approach to the game, etc. -- are interesting, but he already wrote about it. Imagine if Michael Lewis wrote a sequel to Moneyball that was almost exactly like Moneyball. The only reason to read it would be if you didn't read the original. So, if you haven't read Syed before, then I guess this is worth a listen. Though you're better off listening to his other books. Especially Black Box Thinking.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-08-18
Disappointed,the book doesn't really go anywhere.
For me, this book disappointed. I was very excited by the title and the opening part was engaging. However, it never then kicked off. It was just a series of anecdotal stories from various sports at a top level which never really hung together. I was expecting each story to link into an overall story of how the greatest become the greatest. Maybe it did, but this didn't come across to me in an engaging or clear way.
There were a few interesting nuggets from the stories, but nothing that wowed me.
The reader of this book also kept putting on a weird American accent to quote various sportsman which I actually found very irritating. The summery of my comments above meant I ended up listening to the final third of this book in 1.6x speed just to get through it. I very nearly just gave in which I never do...
3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-18-21
Well read and entertaining
Don’t agree with everything. But is a good accompaniment. Good stories. Interesting opinions. Easy listening
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- Kindle Customer
- 08-08-19
Not what I was hoping for
I'm a big fan of Matthews books. Black Box Thinking and Bounce are high on my recommended reading list for any new team members. unfortunately this is just a stitched together collection of tales, most of which had been previously published.
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- Blessing
- 10-19-18
great book
very good story telling. covers the greatest sports personalities of our time with impressive detail.
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- PMeehan
- 02-25-18
A collection of previously-written articles
Any additional comments?
Having not read any previous of Matthew Syed's work, I was disappointed to discover that rather than a book, it was a collection of articles that Syed had previously written all on the same theme.
He leaned heavily on his experience as a world-class table tennis youth, perhaps a bit too much, as it seemed like he was desperate for people to know that as a youngster, he was one of the best in the world.
The articles were very time-specific to World Cups, Six Nations, Wimbledon tournaments and didn't really stand up like other sporting books that I've read.
Overall I was very disappointed by this book and only listened to a couple of hours of the audiobook.
1 person found this helpful
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- Kurt
- 11-28-17
Very Enjoyable
Overall a very enjoyable book. I would recommend to any sports enthusiasts. A great look at sporting triumphs, the characters of those heros and political impacts of sport.
The narrator was good, the accents however were not, sort of distracted from the point of what these figures were saying.
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- Mr. Jon Barr
- 10-31-17
A great collection of Matthew's journalism
inspiring, entertaining and thought provoking. Why did some riders in the peluton not cheat to win when so many were cheating in world cycling? What are the real lessons of great lived such as that of Mohammed Ali or terrible lives such as that of Jake Le Motta?
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- Zac
- 10-22-17
Another brilliant book by Matthew syed
Carrys on from his previous work very well, somewhat sentimental at times but that does not detract from the overall quality.
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- spencerhudson
- 10-16-17
Fantastic look and reflection on sporting personalities and events what makes them great
I don't follow football or could be considered a sports person, but I wholeheartedly agree sport and competition is important to us all. It's visceral we can't help ourself's and this book explores that aspect of human nature and how we strive for perfection of something arguably so trivial.
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- Mas
- 10-01-17
Really good book. excellent narration.
i have become a fan of MS by now. he has provided an insight into greatness of some of the most successful sports people of recent past. love his way of thinking, clear and non judgmental. excellent book in every way...