Books about rowing

[gregsmith01748]

Hi,

I just read a couple of books by Brad Alan Lewis

Wanted: Rowing Coach - an OK book about coaching the UCSB club men's rowing team
Assault on Lake Casitas - A better book, about winning the double scull gold in the 84 olympics. I read it in one sitting.

I'm wondering if others have read them and what they think of the books?

These formed the beginning of my journey into "pantheon of rowing literature". I'm basically trying to get as much of a background in on the water rowing before going out and making a fool of myself, and I must face it, I am also generally obsessed with getting on the water, so I find reading about it pretty fascinating.

I also stumbled upon a not very good legal drama with a rowing subplot ("Hostile Environment"). I don't recommend running out to get that one.

Are there other books, fiction or non-fiction, that I would enjoy reading? I'd appreciate any suggestions fiction or non-fiction, instructional, inspirational, scull, sweep or erg.

Thanks in advance.

[ChrisH]

"The Amateurs" by David Halberstam. Story of the 1984 Olympic single scull trials.

[Bob S.]

"Alone," subtitled "the man who braved the vast pacific and won," by Gerard d'Aboville.

IBSN1-55970-218-4

Bob S.

[Byron Drachman]

Hi,

I just read a couple of books by Brad Alan Lewis

Wanted: Rowing Coach - an OK book about coaching the UCSB club men's rowing team
Assault on Lake Casitas - A better book, about winning the double scull gold in the 84 olympics. I read it in one sitting.

I'm wondering if others have read them and what they think of the books?

These formed the beginning of my journey into "pantheon of rowing literature". I'm basically trying to get as much of a background in on the water rowing before going out and making a fool of myself, and I must face it, I am also generally obsessed with getting on the water, so I find reading about it pretty fascinating.

I also stumbled upon a not very good legal drama with a rowing subplot ("Hostile Environment"). I don't recommend running out to get that one.

Are there other books, fiction or non-fiction, that I would enjoy reading? I'd appreciate any suggestions fiction or non-fiction, instructional, inspirational, scull, sweep or erg.

Thanks in advance.

I had the same experience. Once I started to read it I could not put it down. I also enjoyed The Shell Game by Stephen Kiesling. I have a couple of favorite instructional books:

The Art of Sculling by Joe Paduda and also The Sculler at Ease by Frank Cunningham. Joe Paduda writes beautifully and he has a neat sense of humor. I managed to buy The Sculler at Ease by searching under used books because it was out of print. Both these books make a nice introduction to sculling, and at first glance you might think The Sculler at Ease is out of date and therefore not so useful but I found all kinds of useful things in the book that I haven't seen in other books.

[gregsmith01748]

Thanks Byron! I'll try to find both of them. From what I've heard, it won't be enough to keep me dry while I learn though!

[Tinus]

Maybe I am a strange fellow but I like Nolte's Thesis 'Die Effektivität des Ruderschlages' and the old German rowing textbook 'Rudern' (Herberger et al.).

Also nice is Fairbairn's 'Chats on rowing'.

[gregsmith01748]

I just read The Amateurs and I enjoyed it a bunch. It was very interesting to read about the same event (1984 Olympic sculling) from two different perspectives. There was an intensity to Brad Lewis' account since it was first hand that I found compelling, and then the even handed, journalistic style of the amateurs really filled in the gaps.

If you read one, read the other.

I also hugely recommend the new Heart Rate Training book from Benson and Connolly. Mike Van Beuren has talked about this book elsewhere on the forum and I just received it a few days ago. It has very good, well researched background on HR based training, and some specific training guidelines for rowing. It the first book that I've read in a while where I couldn't resist the urge to take notes in the margins. By the way, it is firmly in the camp of go like he'll on interval days and keep it below 75% MHR on your other training days. Why is it so hard for me to keep it that light for distance days?!

Finally, a big thank you to byron for recommending The Art of Sculling. It has a lot of science to go with the art in the title, and that suits me fine. It has made me even more eager to go out and row a real boat instead of a pretend one!