Lords of the Ring

I've always felt a bit uneasy about boxing but as I get older I'd rather know a bit more about something before damning it out-of-hand.

And in the case of boxing a good place to start is the aptly titled "On Boxing," a novel-length essay on the sport by Pulitzer Prize winning author Joyce Carol Oates.

Sure, there are plenty of other well-received books on the subject but they're usually written by fans - Joyce, on the other hand, who has on occasion been compared to Sylvia Plath, writes as someone with little personal experience of what's been called "The Sweet Science" (another acclaimed book on the subject by A J Leibling) and I think, you get from her writing a unique and considered outsider's view.

As Frank Herbert said:

The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.


Seconds out!