Sandy's top 10 (Auto)biographies pick

I liked reading technical books and the library in KJ Somaiya gave me access to tons of new books on Mechanical engineering. Till the end of engineering, the only books I had read were related to Mechanical engineering. It was somewhere in 2012 that I received a book as a birthday present from my Bestie. The book was Timeless Steel - book on Rahul Dravid. It contained comments and articles by various cricketing legends on Rahul Dravid. Over the course of the next 3-4 years. This was the start of my journey into reading non-technical books, that is what I call them.

I found it very tough to read and follow fictional books. I was interested more in autobiographies because it gave insights into what goes inside the head of the champion. I started with sports and then moved to business, entertainment, and what not. In this article, I will list down the 10 books that changed or impacted my life in one way or another.

1. Rafa: My Story by Rafael Nadal - 

This was another book that I received from my Bestie. I had read 2-3 books before I started this. This is the only book I have read it more than once, three times to be specific. The early memories I have of Rafa is of him playing the 2008 Wimbledon final against Roger Federer. The match got interrupted many times because of rain and I had to stay awake post-mid-night to watch Rafa lift the trophy.

The book revolves around the same 2008 Wimbledon final match and this makes the book special for me. The book reveals his personality off the court. He ain't that fierce when he is not on the court. He gets homesick too and he would catch a low-cost flight just to reach home a day early. The key take away for me was Rafa's morning routine. No matter what time he sleeps or how he feels he would be on the court at the same time with his racquet. He stresses the point that practicing on the days when you are not feeling well gives you the confidence to win on the worst of your days. A must-read for Tennis fans.

2. Rahul Dravid: Timeless Steel (Anthology) -

This book came around the time Dravid got retired. It contains articles on Dravid spanning his entire career as a batsman and a wicket-keeper too. As I mentioned earlier I like autobiographies more than anything else, but this book changed my perception. Knowing what your opponents think you help to gain deeper insights. I Loved Dravid for his patience and the same has been highlighted in many articles throughout the book.

3. Rahul Dravid: A Biography by V. Jaishankar (2004) -

A very old book. By this time Dravid had just started into his career. I got this from a friend and he got it from Dravid's family. I was not even aware that such a book existed until I stumbled upon it accidentally. Nonetheless - this gives insights into Dravid's early days into cricket. How he juggled studies and sports.

The key take away in this was - Never Say Never Again. There is a funny story about how he became a wicketkeeper. He was a batsman but in one situation the coach asked that they don't have a keeper now for some reason and would anyone be interested. Dravid - who never says no - picked by the gloves and took additional responsibility. This is later seen in his entire career - he bated at different orders depending on the team requirements. He also kept wickets full time for India so that an extra batsman could be squeezed in. A must read-only for Dravid lovers.

4. Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi -

This is one big book and it actually is what it says - Open. It is funny to think that Andre ever hated Tennis, but that is true. Andre Agassi opens up from his childhood days to the days when he became champion and more. There is an interesting situation when he got frustrated and broke his US Open trophy. He once gave out all his racquets to poor kids and thought of leaving tennis. He highlights how he fell in Love with Steffi Graf and it is an interesting story. In this, he mentions about his trainer and the faith he had in him.

There was a jumbo sale on Amazon and I ordered around 10 books some 4-5 years back. This book was one of them. In all, I have read three books on Tennis and this is the second-best one. Just like Nadal-Federer in this era, we had Andre and Pete Sampras back then. In this book, many matches about them have been highlighted.

5. A Rough Ride: An Insight into Pro Cycling by Paul Kimmage -

This is a whistleblower book. I started following Tour de France a few years back and then landed onto Lance Armstrong's autobiography. That was a good book but we all know what Lance did. Why he did that - some of the answers can be found in the book written by Paul Kimmage. He says that the Tour de France and other races are so brutal that everyone is forced to take some sort of drugs or banned substance. He goes as far as saying that you need performance enhancers just to be able to complete the grueling tours.

In Rafa's book, Nadal says that non-professionals play sport to be fit and for recreational purposes, but at the professional level they are just pushing their limits every day and this leads to injuries which then affect their performance. After reading this book and other cases I felt that let us remove the restrictions on drugs. let athletes have what they want and then let them compete.

This book is for those who want to understand the workings of professional sport and politics and games that are played behind closed doors.

6. Losing my virginity by Richard Branson -

Branson has written many books and this is just one of them that I read. The book revolves a lot around his passion for hot air ballooning. The other major area covered in this book is Virgin Musin, Virgin Airlines, and a few other virgin ventures.

There is a good amount of content about the legal battle between British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. This gives great insight into how a competitor can use unethical means to breakdown your business. Apart from that, it is about managing cash flow. Selling or buying a venture to stay alive in the business. I liked one interesting business case - Richard wanted a video entertainment system for all his flight. Let us say it takes X million dollars for that. Richard was sure that the bank would not give him X million dollars for this. So went to aircraft manufacturer and ordered a dozen planes and asked them to fit existing Virgin planes with video entertainment. Now he went to the bank and asked for X Billion dollars (not millions) and he got the loan passed.  Basically, bank won't give you a loan easily for 1 million but it will easily give you a loan for 1 billion.

7. How to Build a Car: The Autobiography of the World’s Greatest Formula 1 Designer by Adrian Newey -

I stumbled upon this at Mumbai airport - Crossword. I didn't buy this book immediately - it was one of my costliest purchases. Then I came to Chennai and told my flatmate - Kartik about this and he was interested in this. Now in Chennai, Crossword is not present in Phoenix, the mall where we go often. Google at help told us about a location where can find the shop but the shop was inside a building and it took half an hour to spot the building after reaching the street. Luckily they had just two copies left and I picked it up. Before that day I had no idea who Adrain was and I had given up following F1 a decade ago.

Now, this is an interesting read. It talks about how Adrain found out loopholes in the regulations and designed a fast car. At times he came up with designs that were damn fast and that made FIA introduce new laws that banned such inventions. It was a constant fighting battle. This also covers technical details about many design modifications. Adrain also speaks about his journey and moves he made from one team to another. He was a Race engineer for some time and gives insights from that perspective too. A must-read for all F1 and automotive enthusiasts.

8. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela -

One of the biggest books I ever read. Took me 6 months to read it and I don't remember much of the names given in the book, There are just tons of name. One must read who likes politics. This is really a long long walk to Freedom - so many events and the cases fought behind them have been explained. I won't be able to tell much but a must-read to understand the price of Freedom one pays.

9. A Champion's Mind: Lessons from a Life in Tennis by  Pete Sampras -

This is about a student who crosses the last T. He mentions about minor things that he pays attention to while playing tennis. A half an 'mm' off from his shoes would throw his game off. He would fight against his urge to have Cheese Pizza and etc.

The details of his training and work ethic are stunning. He just sleeps in a completely dark room so that his game is not affected. Reading this book just after Open by Andre Agassi helps to connect many dots in between.

10. Faster than Lightning My Story by Usain Bolt -

This completely opposite to what other athletes follow. Usain Bolt is a chilled guy who enjoys his life to the fullest and doesn't shy away from any chance of partying. He won't be the first person to show up on the filed to work out but once he arrives - he gives his all. Winning multiple Gold medals at Olympic for three consecutive years is no joke. It spans more than a decade and that requires some sweat and blood.

Read this book to understand that you can enjoy your life the way you like to and still be the Fastest Man Alive. He also mentions about the struggles of being a professional athlete. He has to inform the authorities about his travel plans. The authorities can then come knocking on his door at any time and he has to pee in front of them for a doping test. I won't recommend this as a must-read. Read it when you are out of other critical sporting biographies.

Here I come to an end. Let me know which books among the list above have you read. Let me know which topic would you like me to cover in my next top 10 lists.

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