Books like Don't tell me what to do by Michael Hardcastle

Jonathan Swift’s comic tour of absurd societies—Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, and the Houyhnhnms—satirises 18th‑century politics, human nature, and the perils of travel.

Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm recounts the 1991 Nor’easter that swallowed the fishing boat Andrea Gail, blending vivid survivor accounts, maritime history, and meteorological science into a gripping tale of human endurance against nature’s fury.

A tribute to a lifelong obsession, Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby captures the fever pitch of fandom in Great Britain, from its agony and ecstasy to its defining role in young men's coming-of-age stories.

When a literary agent becomes engaged, her life shatters as her twin sister reveals a secret intimate bond with their stepfather, unraveling family ties and testing the agent's newfound stability.

Inverting the pyramid is a pioneering soccer book that chronicles the evolution of the game's tactics and the lives of the itinerant coaching geniuses who have spread their distinctive styles across the globe. Through Jonathan Wilson's brilliant historical detective work we learn how the South Americans shrugged off the British colonial order to add their own finesse to the game; how the Europeans harnessed individual technique and built it into a team structure; how the game once featured five forwards up front, while now a lone striker is not uncommon. Inverting the Pyramid provides a definitive understanding of the tactical genius of modern-day Barcelona, for the first time showing how their style of play developed from Dutch "Total Football," which itself was an evolution of the Scottish passing game invested by Queen's Park in the 1870s and taken on by Tottenham Hotspur in the 1930s. Inverting the Pyramid has ben called the "Big Daddy" (Zonal Marking) of soccer tactics books; it is essential for any coach, fan, player, or manager, of the beautiful game.

**‘A history of modern Spain told through one of world football's most intense rivalries’** ***Independent*** **‘Sports Book of the Year’** ***Sunday Times*** It’s Messi vs Ronaldo, it’s Catalonia vs Castilla. It’s the nation against the state, freedom fighters vs Franco’s fascists. It’s majestic goals and mesmerising skills, red cards and bench brawls. It’s the best two teams on the planet going face to face and toe to toe. **It’s more than a game. It’s a war. It’s Barcelona vs Real Madrid.** Only, it’s not that simple. From the wounds left by the civil war to the teams’ recent global domination, historian and expert on Spanish football, Sid Lowe lifts the lid on sport’s greatest rivalry. Lowe has spoken to the biggest names and the forgotten heroes who defined their clubs. Men like Alfredo Di Stéfano and Johan Cruyff as well as the only survivor of the most politically charged game in history, the Barcelona striker who knocked Madrid out of the European Cup for the first time ever, and the president who celebrated his club’s defining moment by taking a midnight dip in the Thames. By exploring the history, politics, culture, economics and language, while never forgetting the drama on the pitch, Lowe demonstrates the symbiotic nature of the relationship between these two football giants. In doing so he reveals the human story behind this explosive rivalry.

An English tourist impersonates a new king in a fictitious European Kingdom of Ruritania, leading to political intrigue and a thrilling adventure set in 1894.