Moneyball

I read Moneyball on a flight to Philadelphia. I nearly finished it in one go. Until this book I thought "couldn't put it down" was just a thing pretentious people said.

I was headed over for a festival organised by my favourite band - The Wonder Years. I flew solo, met some wonderful people, loved the festival, even went to a baseball game. It was one of the best trips I've been on.

The book follows the building of the 2002 Oakland A's team from a group of players rejected from the major leagues for a variety of reasons - weight, appearance, attitude - but statistically good ball players. The A's won 103 games this season, and won a record-breaking 20 games in a row with $93 million less than the New York Yankees.

The Brad Pitt movie is one of my favourites and I was hoping for more of the same. In fact the book is a lot more interesting. Some of the drama has a bit less sting, and it's more about numbers and journalism and the state of Baseball in 2003. If you're into Baseball (even passingly like me) or statistics or sport history or the movie or any of that, I'd recommend it.