“This is the book that Blackhawks fans have been waiting for, and I mean really, REALLY waiting for. It was difficult, even as a Blues fan, not to be a little happy for Blackhawks fans these last few years. This book is an excellent argument as to why.”—Will Leitch, author, Are We Winning? and God Save the Fan, founder, Deadspin 

I read four books in third grade. The first was Stuart Little, a kids’ book about a mouse. The second was Chariots of the Gods—only the classics for me—and the third an astronomy book by Patrick Moore, one of those fantastically crusty British crackpots who wore a monocle and after decades of bachelorhood declared women had ruined the world. What can I say? Some little boys dig on dinosaurs. For me it was outer space. Learning about the Messier catalog, which numbers certain objects like galaxies and nebulae, prepared me for French-Canadian hockey names.

I stand by my last choice: Stan Mikita’s I Play to Win. Judging from the rest of the reading list, it was the first grownup book I ever read written by a sane person.