Is this book worth reading ? " Why Die? The Extraordinary Percy Cerutty"

every book is worth reading.

Absolutely.

Yep, definitely worth a read.

Definitely worth reading.

Is the book back in print? How much is it and where?

It will inspire and motivate you to get out and train longer and harder!

Great psycological read, vital for any serious runner

Get out and buy it quick.

Might even pick up some training tips and ideas to impove your running too!

Wow you found that at a bookstore! Snatch that up right away! I had to read it via interlibrary loan from the Library of Congress! It is a quite good read. It's more a biography of the man than a description of his coaching. For that, I'd recommend "Athletics: How to Become a Champion" by Percy Wells Cerutty himself. Incidentally, it is also a good read and is also hard to find.

fasdfasdf wrote:

Wow you found that at a bookstore! Snatch that up right away! I had to read it via interlibrary loan from the Library of Congress! It is a quite good read. It's more a biography of the man than a description of his coaching. For that, I'd recommend "Athletics: How to Become a Champion" by Percy Wells Cerutty himself. Incidentally, it is also a good read and is also hard to find.

Dead right,mate.The latter book you mention is a classic,a bloke ahead of his time.How privileged we were to have him and Lydiard emerge as master coaches at the same time.

There's really only one way to answer that question, and nobody here can do that for you.

I am in the middle of this book right now. I love it. It was loaned to me by a friend... I would buy it in a second.

A great book--extremely well-researched and interesting.It's been out for a few years. I thought it had only one printing and was now hard to obtain at a reasonable price.

absolutely - and would also consider

"Mr Controversial - story of Percy Wells Cerutty"

and not forgetting Herb Elliots bio "The Golden Mile"

to get some additional perspective on Cerutty and his

coaching methods during this era.

running reader wrote:

absolutely - and would also consider

"Mr Controversial - story of Percy Wells Cerutty"

and not forgetting Herb Elliots bio "The Golden Mile"

to get some additional perspective on Cerutty and his

coaching methods during this era.

No Bugles, No Drums by Garth Gilmour and Peter Snell is another good read about the same era.

If you buy the book, buy it on line via an Australian web site. I bought 2 new copies for about $20 each. Some USA sellers will try to sell them for over $100. It is a good read. Cerutty was a real character who inspired himself and others.

The book clearly demonstrates what a chauvinist pig Percy was. I couldn't finish it, because I was so put-off and disgusted by his attitudes.

5KMaster wrote:

If you buy the book, buy it on line via an Australian web site. I bought 2 new copies for about $20 each. Some USA sellers will try to sell them for over $100. It is a good read. Cerutty was a real character who inspired himself and others.

Do you have the Australian links?

kgirl wrote:

The book clearly demonstrates what a chauvinist pig Percy was. I couldn't finish it, because I was so put-off and disgusted by his attitudes.

A women who is a neighbor of mine here in California was on Australia's team at the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff. She knew and worked with "Perce." She has told me he was a "real character," but speaks affectionately about him and has never said anything about him treating her or any of the other women poorly. But from today's politically correct viewpoint, do some of Cerutty's comments now sound a little chauvinist? Probably, but your talking about a man operating in the 1950s athletics world. Get a little perspective. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had slaves. And "chauvinist" in its original and primary meaning, means "an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a blind belief in national superiority and glory," to which Cerruty would probably confess.

I've read the book and think it's great.

z runner wrote:

"chauvinist" in its original and primary meaning, means "an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a blind belief in national superiority and glory," to which Cerruty would probably confess.

I've never seen any hint of Cerutty feeling that way.

Cerutty was all about individual triumph, not governmental oppression.

Yeah, I remember Cerutty writing that a good woman athlete probably is in need more of sympathy than admiration, as it was likely that she would be abnormal in ways.

Cerutty seemed very hung up on qualities of "masculinity" and "feminity". To a degree, his message was to "man up". That would be rather contradictory advice to a woman.

At the same time, I remember that he spoke glowingly of Ruth Cuthbert as being a brilliant athlete.

Women's athletics were in their infancy then, so it should be kept in mind that much of the thinking about women's sports was done as an abstraction not as observation. There was little to observe because the structures for women to compete in sport was few.

That should have been Betty Cuthbert, not Ruth. (I'm working off of memories now 50 years past!).