The London Reading List No.50

Tuesday is great London books day on The Daily Constitutional. Give us your own recommendations at the usual email address

Wisden Cricketers' Almanac Wisden is the most famous sporting book in all of the UK. Founded in London in 1864, it has been published every year ever since.
Named for the founder, one John Wisden, it is known to its acolytes as the Bible of Cricket.
The modern edition runs to over 1500 pages and features stats, facts, reviews and comment. The comment pages often deal with controversial cricketing issues of the day. For all its sedate Englishness, cricket often throws up issues of great scandal – from ball tampering (no sniggering at the back, there), to the issue of the aggressive “Bodyline” bowling of the England v Australia series of the 1930s (which went as far as to create a diplomatic incident) to the modern leagues of the professional era: there’s always something that’s “not quite cricket” in the world of cricket.
There’s also a section on the labyrinthine rules of the game – including an explanation of the fabled Duckworth-Lewis Method, named for Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis, the two English statisticians who invented it. The purpose of the Duckworth Lewis Method has been boiled down by Wikipedia thus: “a mathematical formulation designed to calculate the target score for the team batting second in a limited overs match interrupted by weather or other circumstance.”
The above should provide the novice with some illustration as to how complex this glorious English game really is. Indeed it is just this complexity that helps to make the game so fascinating, and is perhaps the reason why the game has inspired more great literature than even baseball.
Although less commercially popular in the UK than either football or rugby union, cricket has the ability to speak to all levels of English society. Famous fans down through the years have included Lilly Allen and Harold Pinter.
For those on the outside looking in – North and South Americans, Europeans, East Asians and even Scots among them – the game must rank alongside the State Opening of Parliament and the Changing of the Guard as a quirkily ritualistic spectacle. And as such it will either repel or enthrall the uninitiated. If you fall into the latter category, then Wisden is the place to start.
Wisden is published annually and you can buy it at their website www.wisden.com
England are currently hosting the West Indies on tour, with the vitally important three Test Match series against South Africa forming the centerpiece of the summer. As the summer progresses we will post some London-themed cricket facts and trivia – our little attempt to ensure that the English national summer game isn’t swamped utterly by Olympic mania!
With our London Reading List reaching Number 50 with this post, we are taking the opportunity to give the series a little rest – so that we can catch up on the reading recommendations sent in by London Walkers. The Reading List will return later in the year. In the meantime, you can still nominate your fave London books at the usual email address.