Sporty books that lend their motivation?

Just bought 

Very interesting so far. He has run 25 Marathons and he is going though what got him started, really enjoying it.

Second vote for Charlie Spedding's book. It actually does talk about his training too but in a pretty accessible way. Very inspiring stuff.

The Dean Karnazes book, UltraMarathon Man, is a "good read". And if you can get hold of Ron Hill's 2-volume autobiography through an inter-library loan (it's quite expensive to buy, but usually your local library can put in a request to "the system" for a quid or so)... well actually his blog (still going) gives you a very good idea of what the book is like, only obviously it covers the time when he was the best in the world.

The autobiography of Steve Ovett back in autumn 1984 called 'Ovett'

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/413kTyzLKnL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

cant swim, bike, run - andy holgs
racing through the dark - david millar
its not about the bike - lance armstrong
the longest climb - dominic faulkner
the man who cycled the world - mark beamont
mad, bad and dangerous to know - ranulph fiennes
captain scott - ranulph fiennes
a race for madmen - chris sidwells
paula:my story so far - paula radcliffe
boy racer - mark cavendish 
a life without limits - chrissie wellington 

those are my faves right now, i am enjoying the other recommendations on here, its always good to have tips for new reading material!!!  

Keep On Running - Phil Hewitt

beaten

Speddings book is a great read, as is Ron Hills epic 2 volume story.

Am reading IronWar at the moment : a controversial but thoroughly gripping look at the relationship/battle of Mark Allen and Dave Scott, two of the best ironman athletes the world will ever see.

Any books by Richard Moore are great, especially In Search of Robert Miller and Slaying the Badger.

Other good ones are First Triathlons, Becoming an Ironman and Running through the wall - all short stories about peoples experiences.

ps: glad people enjoyed mine.

Fido: I can't believe how expensive Ron Hills books are. I got mine for about £4 combined. In a Bourne Sports sale about 18 years ago !

born to run

running with the kenyans

just a little run around the world

The three I was going to recommend have all been mentioned but +1 for Running with the Kenyans, Born to Run and Eat and Run.

Thanks for all of these, have read most but will seek some out from oii's list, am also keen to get my hands on the Ronhill book, I may be thoroughly modern and twitter them up to get an electronic copy released on the Kindle, can't get Paula's book electronically either. The Ghost Runner is another good one.

Feet in the Clouds - a tale of fell-running and obsession (Richard Askwith)

The First Four Minutes (Roger Bannister)

Ghost Runner is a cracking read.

Just finished Keep on Running by Phil Hewitt. I wouldn't recommend it as I found it rather tedious.

Feet in the Clouds is probably the best book I've read on both running and obsession, just finished Ghost Runner which I enjoyed and currently reading Cant... by Ironholgs, which is good also. Another very good book is "What I think about when I think about Running" by Haruki Murakami, you can't tell if he's a writer who runs Marathons or a Runner who write books, but it's a really enjoyable read.