Triathlon: A Personal History

This appears to be the only publication, apart from Mike Plant's wonderful book Iron Will, that records the early years and development of triathlon. Both the text and the multitude of pictures (with very amusing captions) bring to life the events and colorful characters that shaped the sport. There are many personal (often very entertaining) anecdotes, some scraps of personal philosophy, and references to athletes and others whose names will likely be known to few people outside the sport. There is no attempt at a careful chronology, or thorough analysis of the development of the sport over time, and there is an inevitable emphasis on the Hawaii Ironman race. There is also little narrative thread; instead it is the kind of book one can haphazardly dip into for inspiration and entertainment. This book provides a highly idiosyncatic historical perspective on triathlon, which will certainly be enjoyed by experienced triathletes who have done or are contemplating doing an Ironman race. A thorough history of triathlon remains to be written, but it will likely be a lot less entertaining than this book is.

I picked this book up this weekend at the Columbia triathlon. Tinley was there, and was signing the book. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but so far it looks like a great history of this somewhat unusual passtime.Tinley has been there pretty much from the start, and his collection of anecdotes and photographs from many sources (Mike Plant especially) tells the story very well. Tinley's writing has improved since his early days (some of the articles in "Finding the Wheel's Hub" are pretty tough to read), and, hey, he's Scott Tinley! If you're a triathlete, you should have this book on your shelf next to your training log.

This is an excellent book with one really annoying problem. The proofreading is some of the worst I have ever seen. Lots of misspellings and typos as well as poor grammar. I would love to give this book five stars but it is so difficult to read that I cannot. Great pictures and Tinley is simply an awesome guy. If you are at all into triathlon you must have this book. Just be prepared for major typos.