There are many reasons why we love sport... and books are there to tell us why.

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Reading lists

Great books for the sports fan in your life

The inspiring Special Forces soldier who cheated death and learned to live again

Never Will I Die

Toby's sheer grit and determination is a powerful testament to his character. His story demonstrates the true nature of inner strength and courage. I think he's an inspiration to all of us.

Visceral... utterly inspirational. A compelling tale of incredible determination. What makes this account of a journey to hell and back so fascinating is that the devastation of Gutteridge's body somehow triggered the unleashing of his mind.

Toby's truly humbling journey will realign your benchmark for the words determination, hero and inspiration.

'Toby has overcome more obstacle than anyone I know. His is a story of life triumphing over death, and shows the strength of the human spirit.'

'A truly inspiring story of an amazingly driven individual who refused to go quietly and fought back against all the odds.'

In international rugby we speak about putting your body on the line for your mates. Toby's inspirational story gives an unforgettable insight into the men who do that for real, in life or death situations. A remarkable book.

'Toby is one of life's most inspirational men with an amazing life story. He has endured great adversity but continues to face life head on.'

A compelling account of the commitment it takes to be a Special Forces operator and the very brutal consequence of laying it all on the line. Heroic.

Toby Gutteridge (Author) Toby Gutteridge left a difficult and destructive childhood to join the Royal Marines, before becoming one of the youngest-ever recruits to join the Special Boat Service. 
 
 In November 2009, he was shot through the neck during an operation in Afghanistan, and his life changed forever. 
 
 Today, Toby runs Bravery, an extreme sports brand that aims to support and empower those who have dug deep within themselves to overcome their own adversities by finding courage, strength and the resilience to bounce back stronger than ever. Michael Calvin (Author) Michael Calvin is an award-winning writer and Sunday Times bestselling author, whose books have been hailed for their insight and influence. He has collaborated with such celebrated sportsmen as Sir Alastair Cook, Dylan Hartley and Gareth Thomas, and is the only writer to win the British sports book of the year award in successive years.

There's no pain, no theatrical agony. No screaming, no shouting. The kill shot is catastrophic and conclusive. I slump silently on to my knees and topple forward, head first, into the dirt. The lads have seen enough death to assume mine is instantaneous. The lights are out. That's him gone. 
 
Toby Gutteridge was only 24 when he was shot through the neck while operating behind enemy lines in Afghanistan. He survived despite not breathing for at least 20 minutes. Back in the UK, doctors recommended that his life support machine be switched off, but with the defiant spirit that would define his recovery, Toby pulled through. 
 
Now quadriplegic, capable of movement only with his head, Toby has rebuilt his life. His is an extraordinary story of survival against overwhelming odds, and of the power of the human spirit to overcome extreme adversity. Brutally honest and authentic, he builds a compelling picture of the type of person produced by the Special Forces system, and tells of how one split second changed the course of his life forever. 
 
Powerful and inspiring, Never Will I Die is a universal story about our search for purpose, and explores what extreme experience teaches us about what truly matters.

The Boys Who Escaped the Gas Chamber in Auschwitz

Miracle

Michael Calvin (Author) 
Michael Calvin is an award-winning writer and Sunday Times bestselling author, whose books have been hailed for their insight and influence. He has collaborated with such celebrated sportsmen as Sir Alastair Cook, Dylan Hartley and Gareth Thomas, and is the only writer to win the British sports book of the year award in successive years. 
 
Naftali Schiff (Author) 
Rabbi Naftali Schiff is a leading social entrepreneur and visionary in the Jewish community, who has conceived and built numerous successful organisations working to ensure Jewish futures. He is also a globally renowned collator of the testimonies of Holocaust survivors. He has personally interviewed over 200 Holocaust survivors to ensure their testimonies, legacy and values are preserved for future generations. Naftali is committed to constantly identifying new pathways and vehicles to ensure a vibrant Jewish future for all.

Early on the morning of October 9, 1944, seven hundred boys, aged between 13 and 17, were taken out of Block 11 at Auschwitz. The night before, during a visit by Dr Josef Mengele, their identification cards had been stamped with a solitary German word – gestorben – “died” in English. They were then marched by 25 bayonet-wielding SS men to Crematorium 5, stripped, and herded into a gas chamber. 
 
This book is the story of a true-life miracle of the five boys who were pulled from that gas chamber – the only Holocaust survivors known to have escaped such a close brush with the Nazi killing machine – and given a second chance at life. A life, of course, that would be so horrifically snatched from those around them. Five boys, five survivors whose testimonies have been drawn from extensive interviews and whose story is shared in this book for the very first time. 
 
Interweaving the lives of the boys and the grander sweep of history in which they were held, The Miracle of Auschwitz is an unforgettable tale of hope, faith and fortitude in the face of one of the worst crimes against humanity.

Josef Lewkowicz

Michael Calvin

A remarkable story of fortitude and hope. Extraordinary. 
The Times

An incredibly powerful book. 
Good Morning Britain

A riveting, compelling, mesmerizing journey. Josef Lewkowicz is a hero in every sense of the word. The Survivor both terrifies us and inspires us. It's a must read. 
Tova Friedman,author of The Daughter of Auschwitz

A sickening personal tale of the depths of Nazi brutality. Harrowing 
Anne de Courcy, The Telegraph

Josef Lewkowicz's account of his journey through six concentration camps as a teenager makes for horrific reading. But what grips the mind is his Nazi hunting and capture of the despicable Amon Goeth, followed by his determination only to do, and see, good in people. His spiritual voice emerges from a history of pain and loss with a rare and admirable clarity. 
 
Baroness Julia Neuberger

One of the most miraculous and uplifting stories of the Holocaust. 
The Daily Express

A truly harrowing account, humanely told in fast-paced, affecting prose. You won't be able to put it down - even in those moments where the truth feels too hard to read. 
Sophy Roberts, author of The Lost Pianos of Siberia

Heartbreaking and inspiring. Josef Lewkowicz's journey to freedom did not end with his liberation from the Nazi death camps. He witnessed the inhumanity of men who, when given the power, can be so evil as to choose who shall live and who shall die. With captivating realism, Lewkowicz recounts reuniting hundreds of displaced and abandoned Jewish children with their families, an enormous task. If that wasn't enough, he became a Nazi hunter and helped bring some of the worst men in Jewish history to justice. This is a profound and courageous book. 
Maxwell Smart, author of The Boy in the Woods

Josef's story is an account of his unbreakable spirit, unshakable faith and courage in the face of evil. 
The Jewish Telegraph

[A] story of survival and pursuit of justice. Remarkable. 
Jewish Tribune

'No wonder this book is attracting global acclaim. Every sentence is unforgettable.' 
Paul Hayward

How I Survived Six Concentration Camps and Became a Nazi Hunter

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER** 
 
'A riveting, compelling, mesmerizing journey. Josef Lewkowicz is a hero in every sense of the word. The Survivor both terrifies us and inspires us. It's a must read.' 
Tova Friedman, author of The Daughter of Auschwitz. 
 
One of the last great untold stories of the Holocaust, The Survivor is an astonishing account of one man's unbreakable spirit, unshakeable faith, and extraordinary courage in the face of evil. 
 
At only sixteen years old, Josef Lewkowicz became a number, prisoner 85314. Following the Nazi invasion of Poland, he and his father were separated from their family and herded to the Kraków-Plaszów concentration camp. Forced to carry out hard labour in brutal conditions, and to live under the constant threat of extreme violence and sudden death, before the war was over Josef would witness the unique horrors of six of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, Mauthausen and Ebensee. 
 
From salt mines to forced marches, summary executions to Amstetten, where prisoners were used as human shields in Allied bombing, Josef lived under the spectre of death for many years. When he was liberated from Ebensee at the end of the war, conditions were amongst the worst witnessed by allied forces. 
 
With his freedom, Josef returned home to find that he was the only one left alive in an extended family of 150. Compelled by the need to do something to avenge that loss, he joined the Jewish police while still in a displaced persons' camp, and was recruited as an intelligence officer for the US Army who gave him a team to search for Nazis in hiding. 
 
Whilst rounding up SS leaders, he played a critical role in identifying and bringing to justice his greatest tormentor, the Butcher of Plaszow, Amon Göth, played by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List. He then committed his life to helping the orphaned children of the Holocaust rebuild their lives. 
 
The Survivor is Josef's extraordinary testimony.

Michael Calvin

Praise for The Survivor

A remarkable story of fortitude and hope. Extraordinary.
The Times

An incredibly powerful book.
Good Morning Britain

A riveting, compelling, mesmerizing journey. Josef Lewkowicz is a hero in every sense of the word. The Survivor both terrifies us and inspires us. It's a must read.
Tova Friedman,author of The Daug ...

A remarkable story of fortitude and hope. Extraordinary.
The Times

An incredibly powerful book.
Good Morning Britain

A riveting, compelling, mesmerizing journey. Josef Lewkowicz is a hero in every sense of the word. The Survivor both terrifies us and inspires us. It's a must read.
Tova Friedman,author of The Daug ...

A remarkable story of fortitude and hope. Extraordinary.
The Times

An incredibly powerful book.
Good Morning Britain

A riveting, compelling, mesmerizing journey. Josef Lewkowicz is a hero in every sense of the word. The Survivor both terrifies us and inspires us. It's a must read.
Tova Friedman,author of The Daug ...

Books by Michael Calvin

Articles featuring Michael Calvin

Great books for the sports fan in your life

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Praise for The Survivor

A remarkable story of fortitude and hope. Extraordinary. The Times

An incredibly powerful book. Good Morning Britain

A riveting, compelling, mesmerizing journey. Josef Lewkowicz is a hero in every sense of the word. The Survivor both terrifies us and inspires us. It's a must read. Tova Friedman,author of The Daug ...

A remarkable story of fortitude and hope. Extraordinary. The Times

An incredibly powerful book. Good Morning Britain

A riveting, compelling, mesmerizing journey. Josef Lewkowicz is a hero in every sense of the word. The Survivor both terrifies us and inspires us. It's a must read. Tova Friedman,author of The Daug ...

A remarkable story of fortitude and hope. Extraordinary. The Times

An incredibly powerful book. Good Morning Britain

A riveting, compelling, mesmerizing journey. Josef Lewkowicz is a hero in every sense of the word. The Survivor both terrifies us and inspires us. It's a must read. Tova Friedman,author of The Daug ...

Books by Michael Calvin

Articles featuring Michael Calvin

Great books for the sports fan in your life

A remarkable story of fortitude and hope. Extraordinary.
The Times

An incredibly powerful book.
Good Morning Britain

A riveting, compelling, mesmerizing journey. Josef Lewkowicz is a hero in every sense of the word. The Survivor both terrifies us and inspires us. It's a must read.
Tova Friedman,author of The Daug ...

A remarkable story of fortitude and hope. Extraordinary.
The Times

An incredibly powerful book.
Good Morning Britain

A riveting, compelling, mesmerizing journey. Josef Lewkowicz is a hero in every sense of the word. The Survivor both terrifies us and inspires us. It's a must read.
Tova Friedman,author of The Daug ...

A remarkable story of fortitude and hope. Extraordinary.
The Times

An incredibly powerful book.
Good Morning Britain

A riveting, compelling, mesmerizing journey. Josef Lewkowicz is a hero in every sense of the word. The Survivor both terrifies us and inspires us. It's a must read.
Tova Friedman,author of The Daug ...