'jumping into jeopardy'. wordy yet worthy.

​The author of ‘Jumping into Jeopardy, Chris Haslam, is a good writer who likes to write. Whereas I am, in all modesty, a poor writer who battles a lazy streak to write. Other than quality, the difference that divides us is that I go for brevity, whilst Mr. Haslam is possessed by an alternate writing brief.
Aside for my biases, this is a good and worthy book. Yes, the opening chapters were, for someone whose life has been steeped in fascination of the sport and its history, a telling of the bleeding obvious, yet once the author got into the meat of his book it became a read worth the purchase price.
Let me illuminate without taking away any of the pleasures of the book if you should wish to buy a copy. In case I forget, you can purchase the book on-line from Borzoi Bookshop in Stow-on-the-Wold. It is, I believe, self-published, the reason it is being overly wordy, a book, like so many self-published efforts, no doubt including my shots across the bow of authorship, in need of an editor and proof-reader. On the final point, this book has very few blemishes on the proof-reading front, which, for a self-published book is highly commendable.
The above paragraph is an example of the journey you can expect on turning the first page of ‘Jumping Into Jeopardy’ – you are never quite sure where the author intends to take you, and for that, I thank him. A non-formulaic book is a joy to read, adding the mystery of a walk in countryside new to the eye. 
So, what is this book all about. It is a wonderful introduction to the world of the National Hunt jockey and to racing in general. There is a chapter on becoming a jockey, the weighing room, injuries, the Injured Jockeys Fund – incidentally 25% of the proceeds of the book will be going to the Racing Welfare Charity – female jockeys, trainers, mental health x 2, deaths, the Emerald Isle, and a lot more besides.
There is also an extensive biography of jockey turned trainer Sam Thomas, a chapter devoted to Tom Scudamore and a chapter titled ‘The Jockey Who Thinks Out Of The Box’, that jockey being the vegan jockey David Bass. There are also quotes and passages from well-known writers on the subject.
As I said, if you have lived your life within the horse racing community or have followed it as a dedicated spectator, much of this book will come across as last week’s news. If you know someone interested in the sport but has no great depth of knowledge on the ins and outs of horse racing, this is most definitely the present to buy. This, to the outsider wishing to look in, is a book of enlightenment.
As someone who would like to campaign to have long books banned, believing no book should be weighty enough to kill someone if it fell off a shelf and landed on someone’s head at 340 words + it is too long, with the last chapter of all the chapters in need of an editor’s pen. Instead of a summary of what went before, the final chapter of this book reads as if the author was too much in love with his subject to let go, to say to himself ‘there, I have written my fill’, to pen that most beautiful of literary phrases – The End.