Best Rowing Books

Rowing books range from novels to technical advice. We list popular and classic books which you can read. Become a student of rowing by reading rowing books. Let us know if we've missed your favourite.

Top 5 Classic Rowing Books

1. Assault on Lake Casitas - Brad Alan Lewis
2. Boys in the Boat - Daniel Brown
3. Mind Over Water: Lessons on Life and the Art of Rowing - Craig Lambert
4. Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K Jerome
5. True Blue: The Oxford Boat Race Mutiny  - Daniel Topolski

Top Rowing 'Coffee Table' gift books

• The Book of Ted - Sean Colgan
• The Big Picture - Merijn Soeters
• The Wondrous Sport of Rowing - Phil Stekl

Top Rowing Coach and Rowing Technique books

1. Rudern - The East German text of oarsmanship
2. Training for the Complete Rower: A Guide to Improving Performance - Paul Thompson & Alex Wolf
3. Masters Rowing - Training for fitness, technique and competition - Volker Nolte & Wolfgang Fritsch
4. Slowly Forward - Steve Fairbairn
5. Consistent Winning - Ronald Sandler & Dennis Lobstein
6. The sport of rowing - Peter Mallory (available for all to read but not download on the World Rowing website).

Top Rowing novels

1. On The Water - H M van den Brink
2. Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
3. Water Under The Bridge - Simon Murch
4. Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K Jerome
5. The Seven Seat: A True Story of Rowing, Revenge and Redemption - Daniel J Boyne

Top Rowing Biographies

1. My Olympic Life - Anita DeFrantz
2. A Golden Age - Steve Redgrave
3. A Lifetime in a Race - Matthew Pinsent
4. My Autobiography - Katherine Grainger
5. Gold Medal Flapjack: Silver Medal Life - Alison Mowbray

I listed most of the books below - but I don't warrant any typos or missing author names.... this list is still growing.

Please buy from Rowing Stores if possible. (Row2k has a good range).

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

• Joe Burk: An American ideal by EJ Woodhouse
• The Good Coxswain Guide - 12 booklets covering training up coxswains 
• Make it last forever by Mike Davenport
• Beyond the Call: the art of being a rowing coxswain the complete guide by Guy Bezley
• CREW: A Guide to Rowing by Sotherlyn Marino
• With Two Oars: Reflections on Sculling by William B Irvine
• Rowing from the inside out: The Art of Indoor Rowing with on the water in mind by Jonathan Drake (Alexander Technique)
• A parent's guide to rowing by Anne Banning, Fiona Harry and Hilary Lloyd
• Strength and Conditioning for Rowing by Alex Wolf
• Long Live Open Water: Tales of Open Water Rowing, Food, Family and Life by Wayne W. Lysobey
• Out of my scull: Mayhem and misadventure on Delaware's Cristina River Danielle Battaglia
• Tight Puddles: A journey through the basics n local water to the demands of elite performance on international waters. JH Cumper
• Strong to Save Your GenX Imperative to die harder and later - David Emerson Frost
• Consistent Winning - Ronald Sandler & Dennis Lobstein
• The Greatest Rowing Stories Ever Told - Goran Buckhorn
• Rowing Science - Volker Nolte
• The Female Body Bible - Baz Moffat, Emma Ross & Dr Bella Smith.
• Rowing against the Current - Barry Strauss
• Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
• Rowing Home - Sybil Terres Gilmar
• Hidden Voices in Rowing - Daniela Nachazelova
• The Book of Ted [Ted A. Nash] - Sean Colgan
• Warriors An epic battle for Olympic Rowing Victory - Danielle Brittain
• Coaching the Coxswain (a guide for the rowing coach who never coxed) - Chelsea Dommert
• The Big Picture - Dutch rowing photos - Merijn Soeters
• The New Toughness Training for Sports: Mental Emotional Physical Conditioning - James E. Loehr
• Skjerpins - Olaf Tufte
• The Last Amateurs: To Hell and Back with the Cambridge Boat Race Crew - Mark de Rond
• My Olympic Life - Anita Defrantz
• Socrates the Rower - How Rowing Informs Philosophy - John Frohnmeyer
• Perfect Balance - Aquil Abdullah
• The Wondrous Sport of Rowing - Phil Stekl
• The Trinity College VIII: Rowing for the Ladies Plate - David Hickey
• Southerners Do Not Row - Scott Collins
• Masters Rowing - Training for fitness, technique and competition - Volker Nolte, Wolfgang Fritsch
• Learnings from 5 Olympic Games - Frances Houghton MBE
• Better Great than Never - Lindsay Dare Shoop
• The Long Win - Cath Bishop
• Winning Head Races - Carlo Zezza
• The Compleat Dr. Rowing - Andy Anderson
• Women's voices in rowing - Daniela Nachazelova
• Water Ready, How to Get and Keep Your Rowing Equipment in its Prime - Margot Zalkind Mayor and Mike Davenport
• A Pearl in the Storm: How I found my heart in the middle of the ocean - Tori Murdoch McLure
• Thor Nilsen - Rowing's Global Coach - Chris Dodd
• Rowing Stronger - Will Ruth
• The Movement of Rowing self-screening strategies for the ankle - Blake Gourlay
• The Nuts and Bolts Guide to Rigging - Mike Davenport
• Assault on Lake Casitas - Brad Alan Lewis
• Long Live Open Water: Tales of Open Water Rowing, Food, Family and Life - Wayne Lysobey
• Red Rose Crew - Daniel J Boyne
• Boys in the Boat - Daniel Brown
• The Shell Game - Stephen Kiesling
• The Complete Recreational Rower and Racer - Stephen Kiesling
• Rudern - The East German text of oarsmanship
• Blood over Water - James and David Livingston
• When Crickets Cry - Charles Martin
• The Amateurs - David Halberstam
• A Golden Age - Steve Redgrave
• A Lifetime in a Race - Matthew Pinsent
• My Autobiography - Katherine Grainger
• Gold Medal Flapjack: Silver Medal Life - Alison Mowbray
• Flat Water Tuesday - Ron Irwin
• Wanted: Rowing Coach - Brad Alan Lewis
• On The Water - H M van den Brink
• Navigating Early - Clare Vanderpool
• Rowing Through the Barbed Wire Fence - Rima Karaliene
• Course Correction: A Story of Rowing and Resilience in the Wake of Title IX - Ginny Gilder
• The Sculler at Ease - Frank Cunningham
• Mind Over Water: Lessons on Life and the Art of Rowing - Craig Lambert
• Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K Jerome
• Water Under The Bridge - Simon Murch
• Something In The Water (about the Skibbereen Rowing Club) - Kieran McCarthy
• The Complete Book of Rowing - Steve Redgrave
• A Text book of Oarsmanship - Gilbert C Bourne
• Periodisation - Tudor Bompa
• Drawn to the Rhythm - Sara Hall
• Suga Water - Arshay Cooper
• The Baltimore Blues - Laura Lippman
• Ready All! - George Yeoman Pocock and Crew Racing
• Boathouse Row; Waves of change in the birthplace of American Rowiing - Dotty Brown
• The Story of World Rowing - Chris Dodd
• Kelly, a Father, a Son, an American quest - Daniel J Boyne
• Rowing For My Life: Two oceans, Two lives, One Journey - Kathleen Saville
• Let’s Take The Long Way Home; a memoir of friendship - Gail Caldwell
• The Way of a Man with a Blade - Hugh Robert Arthur Edwards
• Disappointment River : Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage - Brian Castner
• True Blue: The Oxford Boat Race Mutiny  - Daniel Topolski
• The Legendary Casey Brothers - Jim Casey and Jim Hudson
• Training for the Complete Rower: A Guide to Improving Performance - Paul Thompson & Alex Wolf
• The Seven Seat: A True Story of Rowing, Revenge and Redemption - Daniel J Boyne
• The Kiwi Pair - Hamish Bond and Eric Murray
• Will it Make the Boat Go Faster? - Ben Hunt-Davis
• Four Men in a Boat: The Inside Story of the Sydney 2000 Coxless Four -Tim Foster & Rory Ross
• Rowing to Latitude: Journeys Along the Arctic’s Edge - Jill Fredston
• The Men of Kent: 10 Boys, A Fast Boat and The Coach Who Made Them Champions - Rick Rinehart
• Once a Runner - John L Parker Jr
• Pulling Through - the story of the Kings Cup - Bruce Coe
• The Oarsmen: The Remarkable Story of the Men Who Rowed From The Great War To Peace  - Scott Patterson
• Essential Sculling - Daniel J. Boyne
• The Complete Sculler - Richard Burnell
• Slowly Forward - Steve Fairbairn
• Sculling in a Nutshell - Gordon Hamilton
• Rowing Rudern, The GDR Text of Oarsmanship - Dr. Ernst Herberger, et al
• High Performance Rowing - John McArthur
• Skillful Rowing - Ed McNeely & Marlene Royle
• The Art of Sculling - Joe Paduda
• Tip of the Blade: Notes on Rowing - Marlene Royle
• Rowing and Sculling, The Complete Manual - Bill Sayer
• Advanced Rowing: International Perspectives on High Performance Rowing - Charles Simpson & Jim Flood

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