Pelé: His Life and Times

by Harry Harris

With exclusive access to Pelé, award-winning sports writer Harry Harris charts his meteoric rise from humble beginnings in Brazil to his first international at the age of 16. Superb athleticism, speed of thought and execution, and astonishing ball control helped him become the only player to have appeared in three World Cup-winning sides, and to have scored more than 1,200 goals in his senior career, a feat that is now unlikely ever to be equaled, let alone surpassed. Pelé remains the best soccer player of all time, despite the extraordinary exploits of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar, and legends such as Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff. Now revised and updated to bring the story completely up to date, this is a tribute to a world-class sporting hero, a great sportsman and, to this day, an inspiration to millions.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports, Football, Biography

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 26, 2001

About the author

Has written one of the most influential football columns in the country for more than three decades, where his work on Fleet Street has seen him awarded the British Sports Journalist of the Year award on two occasions

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Reviews

[Sunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

so my top 3 is : 1. maradona, 2. pele, 3. zidane - but learnt lots more about Pele here that i never knew. he only played for 2 professional sides - Santos and Cosmos, he was a lot more violent at times than he is percieved to believe. a much better businessman than he is known for also. teh biggest thing that comes out in the book is the way he felt like giving back to the community and other children all the time - and do it naturally. he had some intersting opinions on some of the english footballers of the 60-90s era also which were eye openning. to have won the world cup at 17 - not many people in the world will evver be ablee to say that.

[Edgar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. It had really good descriptions of Pele's skills and what he felt during games, wins or losses. The only thing that I didn't like was that the author started writing about more political things than soccer things. Other than that, the book was really good. It described Pele's conflicts in life and also the moments of happiness.

[Romteen · Rating 3 out of 5]

good book if you like soccer or you think he's really cool otherwise your wasting your time

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the best book! awesooooooome

[Greg Parlane · Rating 4 out of 5]

If anyone is a Pele' fan this is a great book of his life and football. A must read if you're a true Pele' fan.